Exceptions to the Rule
Midsommar Is One Heck of a Film
Dear All,
This is the latest episode of Don’t Press That Button, a newsletter about books and music and movies and cats and baseball and whatnot. As the name would indicate, we are very cautious about buttons around here. Buttons are tempting, but so are a lot of things.
Also, buttons can carry germs. Have you read about the norovirus? Oh, boy, I do not want anything to do with that. It is on the loose. I have a real dread of anything that makes me sick to my stomach. Many years ago on my birthday, back when we lived in the city, I was teaching a class uptown, and then afterward, I took the train home and didn’t feel quite right. Kelly made me a beautiful jambalaya and delicious carrot cake, and sometime around midnight, I remade their acquaintance. I have never eaten those foods again.
Did I have a norovirus? Did I get it from a button? Did I press a germy button and forget to wash my hands? Don’t know, can’t rule it out.
The button below is germ-free. All it does is subscribe you to this newsletter. That’s it. And it’s free! If you’re new here, and you’d like to stick around, you can safely do so by clicking on it.
You May Be Surprised
I bet most of you are familiar with Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels. I’ve read three of them and I think they’re extremely cool, and much more artful than they get credit for being. Reacher kicks huge, hilarious amounts of ass, and it’s a joy to read about it. I also find it delightful and very funny that the villains in the novels can’t see that they are messing with the Ultimate Dude, and surrender is the only option. That said, the access Child gives to the point of view of his villains lets readers understand what it is they want even if (in the entries I’ve read, anyhow) their desires aren’t incredibly complicated. They may be essentially nuts or essentially venal, but they operate in a way that makes total sense inside the world of the novels.
Here’s the thing: all the action in the novels occurs in an alternate universe where Jack Reacher cannot lose.1 I knew this going in, and in the abstract, it didn’t sound like something that would appeal to me at all. For one thing, it seems to rule out any suspense; he’s going to save the day. What’s the fun of a story that’s essentially fixed for the hero, a man whose only true weakness is that there are probably some carnival rides that he’s too swole to ride on? A lot, as it turns out, but you have to submit to the project. Child commits so wonderfully and so urgently to the whole premise, he’s able to knock away my resistance to the rigged aspect.
We all bring intensely subjective standards to the stories we read or watch. We all know people who have ruled out entire genres, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If you can’t buy into secret underground cities populated by vampires, you can’t buy into secret underground cities populated by vampires. I know someone who just can’t watch any movie featuring Michael Douglas; she sees Michael Douglas and it all just seems like bullshit to her.2 I generally don’t care for novels or films that are devoid of any humor. (Again, this strikes me as a totally subjective standard — an absolutely smile-free book can be artistically successful and I don’t begrudge another person for liking it.)
Every once in a while, though, you disregard your preconditions and end up giving a try to something that you are convinced isn’t for you and, it turns out, is for you. The Reacher books were like that for me, and I recently had a similar experience with the film Midsommar.
***MIDSOMMAR SPOILER ALERT***
I had held off on seeing the film because I took one glance at Florence Pugh’s expression of hopeless anguish on the poster for Midsommar, and the message I was received was that this was a story about a character who is crushingly doomed.
Now, it’s fine with me if the characters in a story come to bad endings. It can even be telegraphed. I mean, the title The Tragedy of Macbeth isn’t exactly hiding the bad news. But I want the story to give the characters a choice. Macbeth doesn’t have to kill anybody, right? He lets his greed get the better of him. If it feels like they have no chance to survive, no choice to make, for me, the narrative circuit is closed in a way that makes it difficult to invest in the characterizations. The sense that their sacrifice is inevitable pushes me away. That’s another of my story hang-ups.
I finally watched Midsommar on a whim, though. I knew I was taking a lot from a poster and some previews and some general chatter, and felt like I should give it a chance. If you haven’t seen the film, the story, briefly, is that a group of young Americans travel to a remote Swedish commune that turns out to be a murder cult. After the first ten or fifteen minutes, I never thought it was possible for Pugh’s character Dani to come out all right in the end. Dani has been traumatized and orphaned by family tragedy, and she is desperate for love and support. However, her boyfriend, Christian, and his friends are self-involved dipshits. As the situation at the commune grows increasingly dangerous, it’s beyond belief that any of them possess either the will or the capacity to help her, and they don’t. Meanwhile, Dani is already making a heroic effort to hold it together, and that’s before two commune members ritualistically bash their brains out on some rocks and people start vanishing. She can’t stop the madness by herself, and she doesn’t. In the end, although Dani outlives her companions and is awarded an honored position in the commune, our last glimpse of her, wearing a lunatic smile, is grim.3
So, I was basically right: Dani is, indeed, doomed. The story never suggests any off-ramp, anything that she could do except not take the journey in the first place, and she really had to take the journey because Christian is her sole remaining bulwark. It was exactly what I don’t usually like.
And you know what? I loved it! The writer/director Ari Aster is a brilliant visual artist who frames and stages his scenes beautifully, and who makes the most of the perversely bucolic background. Pugh’s performance as Dani is heartbreaking; she’s so real, there’s no way to maintain a distance from the character. All the supporting characters, ill-fated dipshits or not, are vividly portrayed and interesting. Finally, the whole wild scenario is stunningly imagined. You will fear Sweden! I couldn’t deny it.
Here’s to taking more reading and watching risks in 2025.
The Latest
I have two events scheduled for the release of the Self Help graphic novel, one on March 1 at Vortex Books & Comics in Columbia, PA, and the other on March 2 at Four Color Fantasies in Winchester, VA. At each store, we’re going to be raffling a package of the single issue B covers along with a script page signed by both Jesse and me. If you’re in the vicinity of either store, I’d love to sign a comic or a book for you.
Flyer designed by the inimitable Jim Baker! If you’re not close by and want something signed, I suspect that both stores would be willing to work out a mail order for you if you rang them up. My friends at Oblong Books can also help you out with that.
While the graphic novel collects issues 1—5 of Self Help, the story is only halfway home. After stealing the identity of self-help guru Darren Hart, con artist Jerry Hauser has thus far proved to be light on his feet, but his problems are manifest. How is he going to pay off Darren Hart’s debt to a killer Finnish gangster? What can he do to keep from being murdered by the white supremacist gang that he ratted on? Where will he dispose of the pool man’s severed foot? And what the heck is going on in that cabin? The sequel series Self Help: Lie Another Day runs for another five issues and will answer all these questions! The great Antonio Fuso is the artist on the new sequence, assisted by colorist Emilio Lecce, and we are deep into production on that. Catch up with the graphic novel and look for it in the late spring. Here’s a sneak preview from issue 6.
I was flattered to receive a mention for my contribution to The Drive-In: Multiplex, “Behind Screen 9,” on Ellen Datlow’s list of the Best Horror of the Year Recommended Stories. Thanks again to Chris Golden and Brian Keene for inviting me to participate, and to Joe Lansdale for creating the world of The Drive-In in the first place.
The Psychic Benefits
It’s been far too long since I chatted with my friends at the Paranoid Style. Let’s get into it!
Dear Paranoid Style,
You’ve spent your share of time on “The Road.” It’s your calling and you have to do it, but thinking back to the germy buttons mentioned above, I wonder, is keeping healthy a concern when you are traveling from one juke joint to another?
PS: Oh yes. I too have a great fear of any dread illness, particularly of the GI variety — I came down with what I can only assume was food poisoning a couple of years ago and let's just say that I think I finally understand what Joni Mitchell was talking about when she was talking about looking at love from both sides, but instead of love, I mean food, although food is a love language according to the bags of Fancy Feast we purchase for the fuzzbots.
Recommendations
Los Angeles is one of the best places. If you can, please support any of the many worthwhile charities that are supporting victims of the wildfires or the LAFD.
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All Best,
Owen
In fairness, I should reiterate that I’ve only read three Reacher novels. Maybe he’s more vulnerable in other books.
There are other interpretations of Dani’s smile, but I’m sticking with mine.