A Spooky & Gay Crossover! Part 2: Midsommar

The Popculty Podcast

After a little unplanned hiatus, Popculty is BACK with Part 2 of our Halloween crossover event! Friend of the pod and Spooky & Gay co-host Carver Casey joins me once again to slice and dice Ari Aster's second film, Midsommar-- the one we actually liked (mostly)! Is it a 'good for her' movie? Cult propaganda? A surprisingly cathartic exploration of grief? We've got thoughts! Plus, side-trips into final girls, the dark history of dance marathons, and of course, Florence Pugh supremacy.
Carver's horror recs:
Next of Kin (1982) dir. Tony Williams
12-Hour Shift (2020) dir. Brea Grant
Pet (2016) dir. Carles Torrens [TW: Not for the squeamish!]
SJ's horror recs:
Evil (4 seasons, Paramount+)
Dead Ringers (1 season, Amazon Prime)
The Last of Us (1 season, HBO/Max)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) dir. Halina Reijn
Fear Street trilogy (2021) dir. Leigh Janiak
References:

• Midsommar, except it's just Dani looking at Christian like he's the shittiest boyfriend ever, set to Wii music
• Florence Pugh on the Off Menu podcast
• The Grim, Depression-Era Origins of Dance Marathons - Atlas Obscura
• Atlas Obscura podcast: Hargaberget

Follow Carver on TikTok.

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챕터

1. Summary (??) and trigger warnings for 'Midsommar' (00:00:00)

2. Our viewing experiences (00:01:43)

3. Christian: Gaslight, Gatekeep, GTFO (00:05:06)

4. Folk Horror (00:08:34)

5. Foreshadowing FTW (00:09:09)

6. The details! (00:11:39)

7. Florence Pugh supremacy (00:13:18)

8. Good for her? (00:18:54)

9. Florence Pugh: "I felt immense guilt for leaving Dani" (00:23:39)

10. Race: hits and misses (00:27:27)

11. Some things we like (00:33:57)

12. Collective grief vs. individualism (00:35:01)

13. The dark history of dance marathons (00:41:09)

14. The Harga folk legend (00:42:38)

15. Connecting 'Hereditary' and 'Midsommar' (00:45:22)

16. A purging of grief: The end scene dissected (00:46:28)

17. Morals of the story (00:49:07)

18. Ableism (and sooo many white guys) again! (00:49:55)

19. Is Dani a Final Girl? (00:53:22)

20. What would a gender-swapped version of this movie look like? (00:56:33)

21. Horror recommendations (00:58:20)

22. Signing off (01:02:35)

23. Outro (01:04:13)