The Witch Movie Project Ep 1 - 'The Wicker Man (1973)' vs 'Midsommar' - The Witch Movie Project

Episode Transcript
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(00:17):
Oh my gosh, I'm scared already.
Are you scared, Courtney?
Oh yeah.
The violin, the witch, witch laughing.
Like what in the worldhave we started here?
Like, what is this?
What is this?
Why are we here?
This is the witch movie project, asyou probably have figured out by now.

(00:38):
If you've clicked on this, you'veseen it, you saw the logo, you
saw our amazing pictures.
We've got those takendown at the, uh, the mall.
Remember that, Courtney?
Yeah, I had to polish my horns.
Well,
So let's tell people out there howthis project really came about.
And you know what?
I'll just tell you.

(00:58):
This is my selfish project.
And basically these were themovies I was going to watch anyway.
I just was looking for a suckerto talk to me about them with.
And instead of asucker, found a real witch.
Who could actually bring some insightto these movies that I, I really do love

(01:19):
the, the, the horror genre, period.
And then the sub genres of witch, folkhorror, you know, all these other things.
And Courtney, Courtney here,Courtney Pearl, host of Practically
Magic on Ride the Wave Media.
I'm just Blane, by the way.
Host of Radio Daybreak,CEO of Ride the Wave Media.

(01:39):
But, Courtney.
Tell me, I asked you, how didyou think this was going to go?
I love movies and I thought tomyself, there's probably a lot of
movies made about witches that areportraying them in a certain light.
Maybe I can bring some insight intopaganism and, um, and also share my

(02:01):
love of the movies and how they're made.
You do that very well aswe've been working on this.
Now, this is, this is, we've beentalking about this all summer long and
we had a list of probably 40 moviesand then we narrowed it down and then
we decided to pair these movies up.

(02:21):
Courtney, tell us how this is actuallygoing to work for the people out there.
This is the first episode, soyou haven't missed anything yet.
Oh yeah, and you can always go back.
We have two movies we'rereviewing every episode.
Well, sometimes there'sa little bonus third one.
I'll just tease that out there,
Oh,
we have two movies each week.
We're reviewing, picking apart, goinginto detail about, and and even

(02:45):
sharing some of our experiences withthis movie and watching the movies.
And it's all leading upto a final event, Alive.
Broadcast.
Podcast of our show whilewatching a witch movie with us.
boy.
I cannot wait.
Listen, this event.

(03:06):
is going to be on October 26th,presented by Novel Daybreak
by Crescent Communities.
We love this place.
There's their, there'stheir and their card.
Listen,
We love them.
I fell in love with this location

(03:27):
the first time I ever walked there,and we've been, we've been at
Novel time and time again now, andI can't wait to, to go and see it.
and partner up with them and have thisevent because literally this is going to
be us doing a live podcast taping andshowing the movie that you guys vote.
We're going to let, is thathow it's going to work?
We're going to let them vote betweentwo movies and we're going to break it

(03:48):
Yeah.
I can't wait.
this is kind of inspired, I'm not goingto say it, kind of, this was inspired by
Joe Bob Briggs and what he's done for 40plus years of keeping the drive in alive.
And we're just going to have to do a drivein inside because we don't have one yet.
But this is a passion projectand I'm super excited about it.

(04:14):
I know you're amped up aboutit, like, how can you not be?
I'm all in.
All in.
in.
The first episode, stickaround for it right now.
The first two movies were not witchmovies, but they were folk horror movies.
And I think it was a great, I thinkit's going to be a really good

(04:34):
setup and foundation for the restof what we talk about later on.
As this series progresses,takes you through September,
October, and who knows?
It might go forever.
For eternity.
What do you think, Courtney?
Could you do this forever?
Possibly.
We should I hope we get Not onlyinvited to host some more movie

(04:57):
screenings, but hey, maybe we end upin our own horror movie at some point.
What do you think about that?
Hey, and I'd be open to doing a,a rom com series for Valentine's
Day or something like that.
I love that idea.
Let's go see this first episode.
Make sure we get some people hooked herebefore we start planning the rest of it.
All right.
Okay.
All right, Courtney.
Let's get to our first two movies.

(05:19):
I know we set this thing up aslike, uh, the witch movie project.
Our first two, though, don'tnecessarily involve witches.
Am I right?
Per se, per se, right?
Not on the surface, not on the surface.
We are actually going to start with
the folk horror genre.

(05:42):
Am I right there?
That's, that's what this is.
It's, it's
Yeah.
Folk horror.
And we don't want to, we don't wantto give away the movies just yet.
Even though you probably justread the show notes or the
title and figured it out.
But Let's just say that one of these folkhorror movies started this whole thing.
It started the genre, it started,it very much inspired the other one.

(06:07):
Now, I'm not talking about Bloodon Satan's Claw, that was 1971,
that was a little bit earlier.
Or, The Witchfinder General,that was probably your first
folk horror movie in 1968.
This one was a couple years later,but it really put on the map.
This genre and Courtney, I broughtyou into this and said, Hey,

(06:29):
you got to check this movie.
I don't think you'd ever seeneither one of these movies
that we're going to talk about.
No, And I love horror movies.
I mean, I love movies.
I'm a movie buff anyway.
So I'm a little torn becausewhen you look at like.
themes of paganism and witchcraft inhorror movies, I'm torn with the idea
of the propaganda against witchcraft,but also the movie is so good.

(06:54):
So I get you gotta love it.
Heh heh.
the first movie we were talkingabout, we'll talk, we'll get, we'll
tell you the name in a minute.
You've already, you'veprobably already guessed it.
The next movie very much tookinspiration from this movie.
There's no way it didn't.
Uh, I believe thedirectors even said that.
Yes, absolutely.

(07:15):
And it's.
Pagan festival.
Uh, now
this thing These twomovies are disturbing.
Let's just set that up.
We should say that up front.
This is disturbing content.
So It's gonna be fucked up That'sthat's the way to put it right courtney.
Oh yeah, and I even read that, um, the

(07:37):
studio
execs wanted, um, the makers of thismovie to, um, write a happy ending.
Um, you know, I'm going toassume That we can spoil things.
This is for an audience that watchesthe movie or who will watch it spoiled.
So, they wanted rain, basically,to end the movie and uh, the, uh,

(08:00):
the creators, director, writersof the movie were like, nope.
Yeah,
No, we're ending it.
just like it is.
They stood their ground and that'sthat's that even back, you know,
that's hard to do in hollywood That'shard to do anytime in hollywood.
The first movie we're talkingabout is the wicker man
point blank wicker man You've alreadyguessed it in our second movie.

(08:21):
Courtney You
Midsummer.
one of them 1977 so not themore recent Wicker Man Right?
73.
73.
1973.
73.
Right.
We've got a movie from1977 on another show.
That's, uh, Suspiria.
Oh Yeah.
I got it mixed up.
So that's a teaser for the next one.

(08:42):
There you go.
There you go.
But
let's start with Wicker Man.
Yes.
this thing, you got someheavy hitters in this movie.
You had, uh, oh, Christopher Lee,
Yes.
Who said
this
was his favorite movie to be in?

(09:03):
which I was a little shocked.
I mean, he's been in alot of really good stuff
And, um, he said that not only was thishis favorite movie to be in, but he thinks
he had, he did the best in this movie.
Of all the movies that he's been
in.
He, like, praising his own performance.
So, I'm like, that's a big deal.
don't know.
I know Christopher, Christopher Leeeven would take interviews With anybody

(09:26):
and everybody to talk about this movie.
He didn't take one with us.
You know, we didn't ask himWe maybe maybe we'll check
Not yet.
But but he would so it'd be reallyweird for Farmers out in iowa to turn on
their morning tv and there's christopherlee there you're talking about in
the 70s This is before social media.
So it's not everybody doing a selfieSo to see a bona fide celebrity

(09:49):
on your local television channel
mind blowing right like that's crazy.
Yeah Yeah, and
he must have really wanted to dothis project because he actually
did not accept payment for
I love it That that's that's insane to me.
Is that amazing?
He was so eager to step away fromthe sort of Dracula villain that he

(10:11):
had played, he was sort of gettingtypecast, and he was so willing to do
something different than that, thathe was like, I'll do this project.
for free.
Hey,
Amazing,
another all star performance inthis movie is Edward Woodward.
Now, he's the one who, from the verybeginning of the movie, uh, he goes to
the island, he's Sergeant Howie, and hegoes to this remote, let's just set it

(10:36):
up, he goes to this remote Scottish island
Mm hmm.
because there's a disappearanceof a girl named Rowan.
Now, When he gets to this island, rightoff the jump, you, you already know,
like, something, something's not right.
Like, it, it's, sure, it looksbright and cozy, but even when
he looks at the dark across theway, something, something's off.

(11:00):
Something's off.
It's the atmosphere,
of elderly gentlemen standingthere waiting for him to arrive.
Um, I also took note that the boatthat brought him from the plane, um,
had the evil eye on it, um, a symbol of,uh, protection or perhaps even, um, uh,
depending on how you use it, it couldbe towards someone as like a curse,

(11:22):
like someone's eye is on you, or there'ssomeone's jealous or envious eye on you.
So, just a quick shot.
I, I took note of
let me give you a little, let me giveyou a little trivia on that boat.
So that boat was actuallyowned by a resident there.
That's, that was not a prop.
It was owned by a residentthere and they used that boat.

(11:44):
That boat stood until about2004, somewhere in there.
And then it, I think itdisappeared or got destroyed.
That was not a prop.
The evil eye boat was actually there.
Um,
that is interesting.
Yeah.
That means that that was still apretty prevalent tradition there.
And I know there are a lot of likeremote areas of Italy and, um, you
know, islands that still very much inthe tradition of using the Evil Eye.

(12:07):
Um, I think it's making a comeback too,
So.
evil eye is making a comeback.
I mean, everybody hits that evileye sometimes, you know, you've
got to lock it in on people.
So
the movie though,
from Mayer, you just feel this, uh,you can, it's, it's almost like.
It's like the rollercoaster and it justgoes straight down because you start

(12:30):
delving into this you get encapsulatedby this Atmosphere that's crazy.
Um, I I described this moviewhen you watch this movie
you you it's one of those thatYou're not just watching a movie.
You're like, oh my god,there's something special here.
This is something different Whether that'sa good thing or a bad thing you get this

(12:51):
this sense of dread both these movies do
Yeah.
And aren't you just as frustratedwalking through interviewing these
townspeople when Sergeant Howie is in.
in, um, interviewing people.
He cannot get a straightanswer out of anybody.
The first, the group of men on the dock,it's like, have you seen this woman?
It is, have you seen this little girl?
Do you know who she is?

(13:11):
They're like, nope, no idea.
We don't know who that is.
And then they're like,
do
you know this woman?
Oh, yeah, we know May.
She works the post office.
And then they're like, well,does she have a daughter?
Oh, that's not her daughter though.
Yeah
Everywhere he goes, it's like, does this
girl exist?
And people are like, no,maybe She may be dead.

(13:34):
We don't know.
And all along, you can, You
can see Sergeant Howie slowly drivinghimself mad, going like there.
It's, it's taking its tollon, on Sergeant Howie.
And it, it takes its toll on youas a, as a viewer watching this.
It takes its toll on you becauseyou're like, give me a straight answer.

(13:57):
Um, because as a viewer, youdon't know what's going on.
You, you really don't know.
Well, who is this rowing girl?
You, you're not really sure.
When he opens up the casket lateron the movie, which we'll get to,
Mm hmm.
but this, but this atmosphere,
bright, sunny,

(14:18):
Yeah.
dark,
disturbing stuff happening, uh, youknow, it's two, two giant contrast of
how to make this thing come together.
It's, it's, it's wild how that the,uh, it's, it's, it's crazy how the

(14:38):
director put all this together.
And thought this out that I can makeit this happy looking place, but
there's this real dark underbelly RobinHardy did a great job of doing it.
So
Isn't that just, um, similar to Midsommar?
It's the same idea.

(14:59):
And I'll, I'll, you know, kind of get tothis later when we talk about that movie.
But in comparison,
they're
both like kind of idyllicplaces on the surface, right?
Like the sunny communityfeeling, everyone knows everyone.
It seems like this communityreally does know how to come
together and support each other.
And there's, um, cycles of.

(15:20):
uh, death and rebirth and they'reall kind of involved in it.
So it's, I mean, on the surface, withoutthe dark underbelly of what's really going
on, you kind of get a sense of like, well,this wouldn't be a bad place to live.
I don't mind this.
Right.
absolutely absolutely, and Theypaint that picture very well.
You're like, oh, it's not that bad.
But if you really look, there are tinydetails that in both movies that show

(15:45):
you that things are not as they seem.
You have in the Wicker Man,
they're going wild in the bar.
Like that bar scene is already crazy.
You
And what they're
singing about, it's like, ew.
Like dirty old men talkingabout the, uh, um, singing.

(16:07):
Um, some kind of folk songabout the landlord's daughter,
it's,
and how promiscuous he is.
yeah, it's crazy.
And then you had Willowplayed by Brett Eklund.
Willow, the barkeep, you gotthe naked dance from her.
Uh, Which,
Which I have some info by
the
oh yeah, go ahead with that.
I wanna hear that.
Yeah.
So, um, when doing some research on the,uh, kind of background, I looked at, um,

(16:31):
Mental Floss had done, um, Mental FlossMagazine or Mental Floss, uh, website did
some background on this movie and it wasreally fascinating because Brit Eklund,
who plays Willow, the landlord,the innkeeper's daughter.
um, she did.
She did not do her singing and voice.

(16:53):
She had someone dub, someone dubbedover the singing and voice because she
didn't quite get the Scottish accent.
Couldn't quite get it right.
Um, so that was dubbed over.
She had a, uh, a butt double.
So when it shows her dancingfrom behind, it's not her.
I think she,
but she, had,
you can actually see when the dancerdoes the, the head turn, you can

(17:16):
actually see the face in one shot.
And it's not her.
You're like, man, that'snot, that's not her.
No, I think the hair is evenlike way longer than her
hair.
It's a blonde woman for sure, but it'slike, no, it doesn't quite match up.
Um, but what's interesting is that,um, because she did kind of semi nude
scenes in that dancing part, she's kindof trying to seduce the main character.

(17:38):
Um, I guess she had dated Rod Stewart,uh, later, and he was very jealous of
her having done those scenes, and hetried to get the negatives from the
film and, um, burn them or destroy thembecause he didn't like the fact that
that image and her nakedness was outthere in the world and things like that.

(18:00):
He wasn't able to get those.
The, uh, the originals.
So, it's just interesting.
I do think that the movie wasbanned for just a little bit when
it first came out because of that,even though it was a but double, not
even, it wasn't even Brit Ecklin.
Yeah.
was just the type of scenes withher anything below the waist was not
her but they still He still he stillheld it up, which is that's wild.

(18:24):
That's wild.
The 70s were a different time.
Hey
I know, it was interesting, it wasinteresting because I'm not, I had seen
many movies from that, that era, but Idid make note as we were watching, like,
the opening sequence and, uh, he gets
to
the uh, sweets shop to talk to what'ssupposed to be the missing girl's mother
and, The, um, the woman's daughter isthere and they're, she's painting a

(18:48):
rabbit and I, I just took note of likethe aesthetics in that scene is I was like
why are all the sweets in the sweet shop?
It seems like the sweets and stuffedanimals made around that time are
all so hideously ugly and creepy.
yeah
I had to write it down.
I was like, why are theyalways so weird looking?

(19:09):
They weren't cuddly or sweetor, or delicious looking.
They all look a little
gross to me.
yeah.
Maybe it's just my, when I wasborn time period, but that's just
but we got to talk about that We gotto talk about just the background stuff
the set like there's there's a hitand stuff all throughout both movies
wicker man Like I said the bar scene.

(19:31):
I mean the hotel itself is calledthe green with the green man in You
Green Man Inn, yep,
Yep.
got some relevance.
God of the Forest, Green Man is somethingthat even in today's, um, Neopagan
Circles, uh, are very well known.
He's the cycle of birth, death,and rebirth, which is a theme
that you see a lot in this movie.

(19:52):
So, um,
Green Man Inn, it fits definitely.
What I have to say about,
uh,
in the making of this movie,both movies actually, is, um, I'm
impressed with the research done.
I
actually expected a lot ofthings to be incorrect and
made up because I I don't know.
I just thought a movie being made in1973 would be like, we'll just throw

(20:13):
a bunch of stuff that looks pagan orthat looks like what we think pagan
is, but we don't, you know, not haveto be real about it, But I'm impressed.
They did their research and alot of the stuff in this movie
is from actual pagan influences.
I mean, the, so the apples, Imean, is apple is an apple not a
symbol of something that's pagan.

(20:34):
Tell me, do you know what that is?
Like, what is that?
Because they were everywhere andeven very early on in the movie,
you, you start seeing apple pop up
Yes.
And the apple is a very, uh, veryprominent symbol of the Isle of Apples,
which is the Isle of Avalon in KingArthur tradition, or in, the legend

(20:57):
of King Arthur, Arthurian legend.
legend.
Yeah.
Yes.
The Isle of Apples is the islandshrouded in mist that is, you know,
world, and it's where the witch ofMorgan Le Fay, Arthur's sister lives,
and he gets taken there for healing.
so, you know, a place of evil, aplace of magic, or a place of healing.

(21:20):
It can be all of those things.
It's, References, all those things.
And so apples and apple orchardsare, you'll see a lot of that symbol,
the star that you makewhen you cut an apple.
The seeds are in a five star.
There's symbology in that.
So,
Interesting.
Now, now what other symbology orsymbolism did you, did you capture?

(21:42):
Did you catch in this movie that I, Imight have missed, you know, 'cause my.
My non, you know, my non Celtic priestesseye didn't this stuff, so what did I miss?
Oh,
that's what I was looking for.
I was like in, into it, lookingin all of the like corners of
everything, looking for symbols.

(22:03):
Um, I did notice that some of the lyricsin the songs as you're listening, I
always read, I always watch a moviewith subtitles, so I got to write
down like some of the symbols, um,one of the symbol, uh, one of the,
um, Lyrics in the song saidFair Maid White and Red.
I
believe it's Willow singing
it when she's seducing thesergeant with her little naked

(22:25):
dance that she's doing in the other room.
But she, um, talks about Fair Maid Whiteand Red, and white and red are, uh,
symbols in England of, like, the blackand the white, or the dark and the light.
Um, The colors on the English flagare, um, and the, on the royal
crest are usually white and red.

(22:47):
in Glastonbury, they have thesacred springs, which are the
white spring and the red spring.
Interesting.
The part of it symbolizes, like,divinity, some of it, and then the
red symbolizing, like, the bloodand the bloodline, of royalty.
And I think it's really interesting that,and I'm going to kind of skip around
a little bit because I'm talking aboutthe ending a little bit for a second.

(23:08):
They needed somebodywho was a virgin, right?
And if you've seen the movie,you know what I mean when I
say they needed someone, but
she's trying to seduce him here.
She's trying to see,like, she's testing him.
And in a lot of Celtic
There
are sovereignty goddesses.

(23:30):
and the sovereignty goddesses roleis to test someone to To make sure
they're worthy of something, to beworthy of, of kingship, usually.
So, you know, here we haveWillow kind of playing the part
of this sovereignty goddess.
She's kind of testing him withher, like, I thought you were going
to come to my room last night.

(23:50):
And he's like, Oh, well, I actuallydon't believe in that before marriage.
She's And she's like, too bad.
And
we find out later that wasactually an important part.
Like they needed that.
Right.
So
it's just interesting.
if, he had have fallenfor the siren willow,
Yeah.
would that have, would the moviehave just ended there with a

(24:12):
nice sex scene and we're out?
Because they wouldn't havehad a virgin anymore, right?
Yeah.
I
wonder that I've, I thought about that.
I'm like, maybe.
It would have saved his life, if you will.
So,
sex will save your life.
I don't think we can actuallypromote that but sure, you know,
I mean, in most horror films,sex is usually the thing that

(24:35):
kills, the, gets the people
killed.
Right.
I
mean, that's usually typicallythe theme that we see.
So
in this case,
We're onto something.
there.
There's there's something there now
We gotta talk more about this musicbecause one of the main symbols
in this thing was the maypole now
Oh, I gotta talk about this.

(24:57):
Is that not
interesting?
now when when we when we seesergeant howie walking through
and He walks past the maypole withthe kids dancing around it and they're
singing that song the first time isaw i had to run it back i had to run
it back and see and hear this songagain but it's i've got the lyrics

(25:18):
I
did
too.
I wrote them down.
I'm like, ooh.
it's the one where it says in thewoods there grew a tree and a fine
fine tree was he i might have togo out into song here and on that
Could be a musical.
yeah and on that land there was a branchand on that branch there was a nest and
in that nest now this thing just goes onand on and on And it goes all the way to

(25:40):
from the, that grave, there grew a tree,which is the whole cycle of it, right?
Yes,
you see symbols of death and rebirthall through this movie, everywhere,
including when the sergeant has aflashback of his Christian, um, sacrament.
They're talking about resurrection andthe death of Christ and the rebirth of

(26:01):
Christ and so even in his Christian comefrom, we're seeing those same symbols
come through this movie over and overand over again, which is fascinating and
the Maypole, that song.
for sure.
It's talking about, like,the cycle of, uh, death.
It says, um, On the tree madea bed, on the bed laid a woman,

(26:26):
on the woman there was a man,
from
the man there came a seed, fromthe seed there came a boy, from
the boy there grew a man, andfrom that man there was a grave.
So you're like, birth,death cycles again, right?
and then that's just a, you couldloop that over and over and over.
That's what it is.
It was the 18 year cycles orsomething is what they, they lived on.

(26:49):
Seasons, they called it.
They even, they even say,Hey, what happens at 72?
Well, we're going to go andthey don't, it's wild though.
Right.
Um,
Yeah.
We find
out what happens.
So, what I thought was interestingabout the Maypole in this,
um, in this scene,
The seasons were in midsummer, right?

(27:11):
The 18 year.
the seasons were midsummer.
Yeah, but same themes.
The same themes are runningthrough each movie, kind of in
their, in their different way.
But, uh, I thought it was interesting thatthey had young boys doing the Maypole.
Yeah.
That's not typically whatyou see in pagan situations.
I mean, like, just from what I knowabout the tradition is that it's

(27:33):
usually the maidens or the youngwomen of the village that are doing
the maypole because the pole isitself a phallic symbol of fertility.
So,
We see nothing but femalesaround the Maypole in Midsommar.
So, that's a great point to point out.
Was there something deeper
I was kind of wondering about
that.
Um, that's, yeah, that'sinteresting because Huh.

(27:56):
I never noticed that.
Thank you for pointing that out.
There is this huge clash though of the
Religion and culture, basically.
I just call it culture because theyeven tell them this is the culture.
Both movies tell you this is the culture.
This is what we're raised in.
This is what we're happy with.
But the religion sideis like, no, no, no, no.
You can't be happy with that.

(28:17):
That's not how it works.
When Lord Summerisleand Sergeant Howie meet
and they have the discussion andhe says, you've got fake biology.
You've got fake religion.
What is this?
And he says, basically, he said, didthese kids even know who Jesus is?

(28:39):
And he hits him with that one,that one line, basically, where
he says, uh, wasn't Jesus born avirgin and impacted by a ghost?
And then you see,
I wrote that down too.
I was like, perfect.
you see his face, you seeSergeant Howie's face.
And then, and then LordSummeris even says,

(29:01):
sit down to absorb the shock.
But it's when you put it in thatcontext, he just made those, he made,
he made their culture, their paganism.
Even with that first world religion,we'll just call it, because right
there, the, the stories withoutthe names on it was no different.

(29:21):
And he showed him that that was a hard,that was right in the middle of the movie.
To me, that was one of the hardesthitting moments in that movie
to, to show it tight together.
Um,
Yeah, because it shows you that, Itdoesn't make, like, even if they're all
just stories, or let's say they're allmade up, these gods, these deities, these,

(29:43):
whatever it is, um, or Jesus born froma virgin, but conceived by a ghost, um,
it
doesn't make any of them less sacred.
You, I mean, you can argue thatthey could all be just as sacred.
It's the meaning we put behind it.
It's the devotion.

(30:04):
And obviously, Sergeant Howeyis very devoted to his faith
and very devoted to his values.
But what we're seeing, even in today'sculture, is when does that, You know,
perpetuate onto other people and whatthey should or shouldn't believe.
I love the way that the school teacherexplains death and she's like, well,
when we die, we become the trees and webecome the plants and we become the air.

(30:28):
And I'm, it reminded me of, uh,when an interview with Neil Tyson
Degrassi, the famous scientists,most people know, um, he's kind of,
kind of our modern age Einstein.
We all look to him for scientific.
Uh, expertise.
And I saw an interview wherethey asked, um, so what, do you

(30:48):
believe in life after death?
What do you, what do youbelieve happens after we die?
And he basically said almost the exactsame thing this teacher just described,
which is our energy gets reformatted intothe, into the earth and into the sky and
into the consciousness of, um, all beings.
And like, energetically,this is what we know.
This scientifically, this iswhat we know about energy.

(31:09):
So it's like, what'sreally the difference here?
I mean, one comes with a story, theother is a scientific explanation,
but is anyone really wrong or right?
Or, yeah, so.
very interesting and
I love how I honestly I in the 70s, Iwonder how this went over, you know,

(31:30):
I wonder in that era Were peopleopen to this idea were they like?
Oh, yeah I'd love to live on thisisland who cared like that sounds
like my kind of living or is it
Terrifying like do yousee that wicker man?
The only modern day thing I can thinkof for that here is burning man But they
don't put a person in that statue whenthey burn it Um, how about that reaction?

(31:54):
That he, when he walked over the hill,
Yeah,
did you see that?
I noticed that too, um, that
they did not prepare him.
He had not seen, um, the actorhad not seen the Wicker Man until
they pulled him into that scene.
So the recording, the reaction was
perfectly genuine.
right?

(32:15):
Yeah.
And also when he got in that thing,here's a, it is a funny note.
When he got in there, they actually had agoat above him and the goat peed on him.
Uh, so that's
Yeah,
Yeah, no animals were harmedin the making of this movie.
However, the goat did
the goat did pee.
I bet,
he was a
bet

(32:35):
A little bit.
Edward Woodward gives a hellof a performance right there.
I guarantee, he had to beterrified out of his mind.
Uh, Because they actuallyburnt that thing.
Like, and I don't knowwhat that consists of.
Like, I don't know if that's a coupleof guys drinking a six pack of beer
saying, all right, we'll get it here.
I don't know.
That's how I would run it, butI'm not an arsonist or whatever.
What are you going to havea legal license to do that?

(32:58):
Yeah.
Well, I do want to note one thingabout the scene when he comes
back to talk to Lord Summerisle.
Um, when, when he's playing thepiano and they're kind of discussing,
uh, it was the second time Ithink that they came back around.
Um, he is wearing a, uh, lace collar,uh, I think they called it a jabot or
jabot, I'm not sure how you say it,but, um, I said if he wanted to get

(33:20):
away from the Dracula, uh, performances,this maybe wasn't doing him any
favors.
He was wearing this very Draculalike outfit, but with a Scottish kilt
that
was a Royal Stuart plaid.
It was the red plaid kilt.
Just,
If anybody wanted to know what thename of that specific Scottish plaid

(33:43):
kilt
he was wearing in thatscene, that's what it was.
Royal Stuart.
I love that.
Hey, well, I might have to have thatfor my Halloween costume this year.
I'll
That's a good one.
I'll have to do that.
So this movie, The End, It reallyjust boils down to, it's a, a powerful

(34:03):
commentary on in, in the time.
It was a powerful commentary on theclash of beliefs, whether it was Pagan,
whether it was religious, and the powerof community, because that community,
there's no change in what they were doing.
And I think that's a very key takeawayto take from this as a overlying theme.

(34:25):
It was clash of beliefsversus the power of community.
Yeah.
and they did stick togetherand they would have to, right?
Because obviously this man was asergeant, a police officer in Scotland.
He's going to go missing.
He says at one point he has a fiance.
So
I
think that the community is goingto have to stick it together to, uh,

(34:46):
You know, close the community and belike, this, we take this to our grave.
If someone comes looking forhim, we don't know where he went.
And they all stuck together withthe story of Rowan, the missing
girl, so that they could trap him.
And they did it.
Um, but I would argue one thing thatis something to think about when it
comes to these beliefs is, um, I don'tknow many pagans personally that would

(35:11):
actually sacrifice neither animal norhuman for any reason whatsoever, but
I mean, which is the worst crime inthat a human sacrifice once in a while
versus the damage done in the 15 to1700s by Christians who were colonizing
and, burning witches and, taking

(35:36):
over and genocide and, um,
Yeah,
so, I mean, you could kind of like,outweigh the evilness there, or
the sin, um, which, which beliefshave, have the worst of it.
I don't know.
Something to think about.
Final thought on Wicker Man, andthen we're gonna get to Midsommar.
Yeah.
What do you got?

(35:57):
So, my biggest takeaway is going tobe, in both movies, the comparison
of the, of the main characters.
So you have Sergeant Howie,he's sticking to his Christian
beliefs, even to the very end.
He's like, I will be resurrected inthe name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I mean, this is a very big deal for him.

(36:18):
This is like, he's, he's thinking,these people are all crazy
and mad and I'm the right one.
I'm the one who did, youknow, stuck true to my
faith
a mortar.
and my And then you have, The maincharacter in Midsommar, who, I believe,
the
theme of that movie is similar to this

(36:41):
outsider coming to a community, and
It
kind of is her story of embracingit more than it is her being
like, No, this is wrong.
I'm sticking to my guns about Christianityor my other belief or, you know,
whatever beliefs I have or whatever.
It's, it's a different kindof, um, a story that we end up

(37:02):
with.
Right?
Yeah, it's totally opposite, honestly.
Like, the way you lay it out right there.
So, let's get into it.
You wanna get into Midsommar?
Oh, yeah.
Alright.
I'm excited.
I love this movie.
I actually, I enjoy this movie,but not in like a joyful way.
You know, um,
It's tough to watch.

(37:23):
tough to watch.
I'm gonna lay this out, though, alittle bit different than the horror.
Movie that it actually is, but I'mgonna also say that this is a revenge
movie This is a breakup movie just ait is if you really watch this thing
in the arc that it goes This is abreakup movie because right from the

(37:45):
very beginning You see that Danny'sboyfriend is shitty like this guy's just
Yes, thank you.
Oh my gosh.
And I have, okay.
So
I have to say first when the moviestarts, because if someone hasn't seen
it yet, or if they're watching it, like.

(38:06):
In, in tandem with what ourcomments are, pay attention to
the mural in the opening sequence.
And any murals, like on tapestries, onthe walls, they're all foreshadowing.
And the mural in the openingsequence, when I paused on it and
really looked at it, I was like, Ohmy gosh, this is the entire movie.

(38:28):
Basically, they've laidout the entire movie.
it's, it goes from, uh, right to left,like it goes the opposite direction.
And I wanted to note also on that,that mural is bright, it's colorful.
And then what happens?
It opens up in the middle to thedarkest, most dreary looking scene.
It's snowy, it's isolated.

(38:50):
We haven't used that word yet.
Isolation was both of these movies.
Was the biggest thing.
When, when, going back to WickerMan, when, when, uh, Sergeant Howie,
when he finds out his plane can'tstart, that sense of isolation and
alone, you were, you felt with him.
You're like, oh, no, he's trapped.

(39:12):
Same thing, same thingfrom the very opening shot.
There's that symbolism, that Ari Aster,
the
director, there's no, there's, I can tellyou right now, he did not not plan this.
To go from this bright mural who told thewhole story to this underneath it dark.
Damn.
winter scene.

(39:34):
Yes.
And filmed in Utah, by the way.
Oh, whoa
Yes.
This was filmed in Utah.
I might not have known that we should
That opening scene with Dani,Dani is the main character, her
parents and sister and their home.
Um, the home was a home in Draper.
And that scene, the winter sceneis, um, is the Salt Lake Valley.

(39:57):
we may have to go out there andget some footage over There I
might have to go toward a house.
We may have to go see that I don'tknow bad stuff happened in that house
in the very opening of this movie.
Mm
We see some we see somethingIt's so disturbing that you're
like, uh, yeah, this is this thismovie's gonna fuck me up like it's
yeah.
Yeah, definitely has to setthe stage for the grief, right?

(40:20):
There has to be this intense,traumatic, heavy grief that the main
character Danny, is coming from.
Like, right from the beginning, right?
And this is all within thefirst 12 minutes of the movie.
This is before the opening credits.
You basically get to seehow shitty her boyfriend is.

(40:42):
Blowing off her Basically worryingabout her sister not texting
her back, calling her back.
She can't get a hold of her parents.
You can see the dread in her.
And her boyfriend just He's smokingresin or something, whatever he's doing.
And the weird thing is, is That he's sucha piece of shit that he doesn't notice

(41:05):
that she is completely disturbed.
And if somebody's acting likethat, they've got some intuition.
Something's wrong.
You know, so
Yeah.
Yeah.
not being there for her setsup some stuff for later.
Yeah.
And I have to say allof that, all of that.
And there are several points throughoutthe beginning, probably the first half

(41:26):
of the movie that set this up, but the,um, the experience that she has with
boyfriend and his friends, it was sotriggering to me, and I'm not alone.
This is why I'm mentioning it,because I am sure there are
going to be other young women.
um, Or even middle aged women likeme who understand that feeling.

(41:47):
Cause I was coming from a spacein my youth where I didn't have
a lot of friends of my own.
And so when I met my husband, who was myboyfriend, he and his circle of friends
became my social group completely.
Like I was, I was alone otherwise.
And so there were times when, youknow, he would want to like, go hang
out with his friends and I wouldbe the tag along girlfriend, right?

(42:10):
That awkwardness.
That's like.
they make her feel socrappy about herself.
It was like, Oh, I knowthis is all too familiar.
I know this feeling.
Not that anyone purposely made me feelthat way, but I know that feeling.
And I felt for her because she wasjust trying really hard to just be as

(42:33):
small
and Unburdened, not a burden toher, to this group as possible.
And yet she still was made to feellike she was the burden constantly.
Oh
After going through the biggest tragicEvents that you could possibly think of

(42:54):
and they literally that she walks intothe room and they're like, oh she's
they're like, Oh, I guess youcan come to Sweden with us.
Sure.
think her boyfriend christian isn'tbad or is it bad enough there's
his friend mark he's a shithead too
I hate Mark.
I am so okay with what happens to Mark.

(43:15):
Okay?
Yeah.
credits where you even see Who you knowari's name and and the name of the movie.
It's This
awful, and they don't, they don't stareaway from showing you any of this.
You see the holes in the mouth of thegirl, of her sister, the, the crying

(43:38):
that is not edited.
It's you can, FlorencePugh, she played Danny.
This is a, this is a performance.
I don't know how she got in.
Like, she's gotta be,
she could have got an Oscar forthis, this awesome performance.
And you, like,
I think so.
I hurt, I hurt for
She's incredible.
Yeah.
the crying.

(43:58):
the grief that she
shows.
oh my gosh.
You can feel it in your body.
You can feel it.
And the rest of the movie.
It really sets the tone for the restof the movie, because you know this
is not gonna, gonna go, go good.
They go,
what about, hold on, beforethey get to land in Sweden,
what about that transition?

(44:19):
That, the, Opele, the, oh, the,Rico Suave here, trying to swoop in.
He's the only one thatlikes Danny being around.
And he gives her those
seductive eyes right from the get.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
that's really setting something up.
This is setting up, um, the theme ofbelonging like she does not feel and she's

(44:45):
made to feel like she does not belonghere She does not belong on this trip.
She does not belong with ChristianChristian is kind of like Not even really
hiding the fact that he was gonna breakup with her and now he feels like he can't
Because she's gone through a tragedy.
So he kind of has to stay with her and
he's not hiding it Well, he'sdefinitely treating her like I mean,

(45:06):
I'm going to a party, but you, don'thave to go if you don't feel up to
it.
and then gets there and
so, yeah.
She finds out, oh, you're going to Sweden?
Like, in two weeks?
Like,
Yeah.
and he's like, well, I wasgoing to make me think about it.
Well, Pele, it does not, it doesnot, he does not have to work very
hard to go to look at her and to justfeel, you know, have a conversation

(45:33):
where she feels like, I see you.
I'm sorry for what happened to you.
Um, happy birthday.
Like all of these moments where he getsa chance to be like, you deserve to be
seen,
Danny.
right?
Draws a picture of her.
Like, a beautiful picture.
Mm hmm.

(45:54):
Oh, it's just something Ido for people's birthdays.
Yeah, right.
Come on, man.
We see through this.
But
the transition from when they, I'm gonnatalk about the actual film transition
before they get to Sweden when she'stalking to Pele and she gets upset and
she goes into the bathroom and then itdoes, she's in the airplane bathroom.

(46:15):
Did you notice it?
Yeah, that
too.
that.
Ari did a great job of somehowputting that together where
you, as a viewer, you didn't havea choice to get out of this trip.
You're there now.
You're already, you'realready on the plane.
You're going to Sweden.
So it's almost like you'reisolated as a viewer.

(46:36):
Yeah.
Um,
But it makes you feeleverything from her perspective.
because you're feeling like her, like,bam, all of a sudden she's on the plane.
I mean, this is probablywhat it feels like in grief.
There's like no weeks and months.
It's just like, everythingis happening right now.
And she's propelling forwardbased on just momentum.

(46:56):
Not really because she's gotany energy to go through it.
And I was going to say lots offoreshadowing in the beginning.
if you notice in the parents'bedroom, there's a picture of
Danny, on the nightstand and thenthere's a crown of flowers right
over the picture of Danny.
so lots of cool foreshadowing going on inthe beginning in the opening sequences.

(47:19):
I don't want people to miss that.
Um, but
in that opening?
Because I love that.
I want to know moreabout that kind of stuff.
Yeah.
Um, so.
Let me see.
I wrote down some, uh, some things that,uh, there's a picture and I'm not sure if
it's Christian's room or Dani's room, butshe's in grief and she's kind of sleeping.
There's a picture on thewall of a bear and a princess

(47:42):
Ah.
kind of like hugging thebear or kissing the bear.
Um, there's a name for that painting.
I can't remember what it'scalled, but that was also an
intentional foreshadowing there.
So you want to watch out for stuff like
I love that.
So they land in Stockholm andthen have a four hour drive.

(48:03):
I didn't even know you could drive fourmore hours after you land in Stockholm.
Anywhere.
Like, I thought it was, youknow, I've never been over there.
I love the Swedes.
I do.
I have some friends who live over there.
And I've always wanted to go over there.
But I don't know about goingto one of these things.
But it does look fun from the beginning.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
their Pele shows.

(48:24):
I mean, they bring themdown this dirt road.
It looked a lot like where I grew up.
I love it.
Until you get up there and you seethese, you see the, he's like the young
kids or whatever it was and This isthe beginning of the Harger community,
the Harger community, I believe it was.
They get off.

(48:45):
They're like, oh, we're onvacation Oh, here's some rooms
Yeah!
Sounds
Again, another opportunity to makeDani feel like a burden because
she's like, you know what, Ithink I maybe want to get settled
in before I do all that, but that's fine.
You guys go ahead.
And then Christian's like,well, no, I feel like
I
can't do it right now.
And then he's like, we're going to wait.

(49:07):
I'm going to do it with Danny later.
And then Mark's like,what do you mean later?
And it's like, Oh, that scenewas just, again, another
reiteration
of like, here's Dannytagging along the girlfriend.
Christian won't go on a trip without her.
All that kind of, yeah.
Yep, and he his friends aren'tthe best people anyway, honestly,

(49:27):
they're they're the um, Josh'sgoing over there for his thesis.
Like he's going over there takingin the culture He gets into a little
trouble later, but we'll get to that.
But literally,
He's focused.
in, this is fun.
Like, we're tripping balls.
Yeah.
Then it starts, you're like, wait aminute, something's not feeling right.

(49:49):
Even when she looks down at her foot andshe sees the grass growing through, you're
like, or the hand or whatever it was.
I'm
yeah.
The grass is going through her hands.
So again, you're seeingit from her perspective.
So she's like, and then someonementions family and it triggers her.
And she's, you know, having a bad trip.
Cause she's like, um, you know, but you'refeeling that disorientation with her.

(50:09):
Aren't you?
Like you're feeling like.
How I imagine I would feel on shroomswhen I'm like not feeling so good
and I'm like, oh my gosh, where am I?
I just, I want to feel normal.
She just flew to the middle ofnowhere, halfway around the world.
top of that, you got the sun.

(50:29):
Yes.
To a viewer, to who's there, it'scrazy because He asked, one of
them asked, they say when they'reon the shrimps, what time is it?
And he says 9 o'clock and that's whenMark freaks the fuck out It's like,
Right.
be 9 o'clock It can't be 9 o'clock Andthey freak me out because it's broad
daylight I did notice on the There's alittle, there's a little, I don't think

(50:51):
it's an easter egg, but maybe it is, butin Wicker Man, he asks, what time is it?
And she says, a little after nine.
So, I noticed it was two, it was nine p.
m.
for both Wicker Man and Midsommar,so I thought that was kind of cool.
that disorientation, because,
is disorienting.
I don't know if you've ever beenup North, but I remember going

(51:13):
to Alaska, visiting Alaska, andwhen we arrived, it was like 10pm.
We
were going to check into ourhotel, It total daylight outside.
I was so disoriented.
I'm like,
I
mean, Mark isn't wrong there.
That's disorienting.
That's uncomfortable whenyou're not used to that.
And you're like, wait,
people
are out mowing their lawns right now.
It's, it looks like themiddle of the day and it's.

(51:35):
your mind is like, it's supposed tobe night or bedtime or something, but
I wrote down in my notes, just, it'sjust funny that you said the friends.
I just wrote Mark is an asshole Just
He is, man, he really is.
because he's like everybody lay down.
We all need to lay downbecause I want to lay down.
So everybody lay down with me.
Come on, everybody.
We're doing it with me.

(51:56):
I love how he was the one that waslike all about everybody do this
everybody do this and he's the firstone having a Bad trip and bitching about
yeah, everybody lay down like that.
Yeah, that's what I expectedfrom a guy like that I think
we've all known people like that
know.
Yeah.
So that's just it.
That's in my notes.
Just Mark is an asshole.
Like we're just agree on that.

(52:17):
Moving on.
the next day So after they they getthere they get so they trip balls.
They have all that 30 35 minutes in35 minutes in is when they actually
arrive At the Horga, you see the big
open arch, whatever that thing is.
Is that symbolized anythingor was that just art?

(52:39):
The sun, they talk aboutit a lot in this movie.
Like we are making theseofferings to the sun.
The sun is really important
um,
at this summer solstice.
It's midsummer.
Um, so their festivalis all about the sun.
It's going to be a, like, a, In orderto have bountiful harvest, which
again is like in Wicker Man, um, therituals are all about, uh, you know,

(53:04):
coming from a place of survival.
We won't survive winter without this.
So we are doing everythingpossible, including rituals
and offerings and singings and
festivals, um, to honor the godsof the sun, the earth, Fertility,
anything that's gonna feed us our foodthroughout the winter and make sure we

(53:26):
survive, that's what it's all about.
So yeah.
Yeah, They're doing all the,
all the stuff.
So, the festivities kind ofbegin when they get there.
And you start seeing someof that foreshadow come in.
Even when they say, you know what, whenhe says, What are those kids doing?

(53:47):
And he's like, Oh, they'replaying skin the fool.
And they're laughing about it.
So
I noted
that the second time.
That's not a, that's not a, sure it'sa game for kids, but that's because
they're gonna do that later in life.
Like it's, that was
little foreshadowing there.
Oh, they're playing skin the fool.
There's one of their party that isgoing to play the part of the fool,

(54:08):
and it's exactly who you think it's
gonna
be.
Exactly.
And then you see, there's school.
And you find, and this is when it'sreally, I mean, we've already seen
all these red flags of, this is.
Something, somethingweird's going on here.
Um, but this is a real big one.
When they go behind there like, oh,the kids are doing their school.
Oh, what are they learning?
Oh, it's rune carving class.

(54:29):
You're like, that's
Yeah.
not, that's not actually school.
You know, you're thinking, oh,they're doing math by the creek.
No, no, no, no, no.
Rune carving, which comes into play later.
well, consider that the runicalphabet is, um, and by the way,
just to clarify, because, um, thismovie did make up its own runes.

(54:53):
Um, they call it the Elder and theYounger Futhark or something like that.
They talk about it whenthey look at the stones.
Um, it's based off of Scandinavianand Nordic runes, but it's not
like they made it up for the movie.
Um, I think probably because theydidn't want to associate like
these negative connotations withactual culture, uh, that exists.

(55:14):
But the runic alphabetis that it is just that.
it's an alphabet.
It's letters.
So it would be essentially thesame as children sitting around
learning their alphabet, carvingtheir letters into stones and wood
to learn how to read and write.
So yeah, we could take it incontext with like, okay, so this
is just the cultural alphabet.
This is their cultural school.

(55:36):
I think.
For me, most of the movie until youget to certain practices that are
inhumane, um, I think that this communeand society are quite wonderful.
I'm
looking at it much like thecommunity in Wicker Man.
at The beginning, you're like,sunshine and roses, these
people have it figured out.
They're a community.

(55:56):
They take care of each other.
They take care of their young together.
They take care of their
Old, to
a certain point.
Yeah.
To a
I say that with a, an asterisk, right?
Like,
Now
to a certain
I'll, I'll accept that Courtney, but I'mgonna have to, I'm gonna have to call
you out a little bit on that because.
I think he specifically says somethingalong the lines of they're carving runes.

(56:20):
It's their, it's theirform of power, you know?
So he does give a littleextra piece to that.
I love when you're tryingto say, ah, it's okay.
It's okay.
Yeah, it could be taken that.
And also, just so everyone knows, theNordic runes are a power that Odin
sacrificed nine days hanging from a tree

(56:43):
to
get the wisdom from the, from the Fates.
So.
that is also power.
And, I don't know, in thatcontext, they're both.
They're one and the same.
They're an alphabet, areading and writing system.
But you could dare say that our.
uh,
Modern day alphabet in English has poweras well if you decide to put power to it.

(57:04):
So,
It's so cool.
So cool.
I love it.
the, after they walk, this is ontheir way to their, their, their room.
Then they walk up tothis, this fucking barn.
It's just a barn, right?
Like that's what it is.
Yeah.
And you're like, oh my God, they'regoing to be sleeping in there.
We're like, Hey.
Let's get what's happening here.
You know, this ain't no Best Western.

(57:24):
That's what they're thinking.
And, they open the doors.
And what do they see?
Is this the, the, um,where all of the children
sleep?
they're sleeping.
Where everybody's sleeping.
it's like a, it's like this, um, Idon't know, like massive bunk bed
And it's the walls.
The ceiling.

(57:44):
And it's beautiful.
It's a mural.
It's all these
Oh yeah, the carvings andpaintings and murals all over
the wall that tell stories.
I think that's amazing and incredible.
But they're also pointing out thatlike there's fertility symbols on
these walls or like kids sleep here.
There's pictures of dicks
Yeah, I know.
It was like all over.
It's just sexual positions.

(58:05):
I saw stuff I didn't even see before.
Like, it's
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Could you imagine being a kid?
They sleep in there from 0to 18, he says, in the movie.
So, like, you're a kid inthere, and a teenager, and this
is what's all over the walls.
Would you be more
or
less sexualized if thiswas your upbringing?
I mean,
less desensitized to it, but alsothat comes into play later when
you're just having casual sexout in the park with everybody.

(58:27):
I don't know.
So it's, it's dancing naked outthere, you know, maybe it does.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't live in one of those communities.
I don't know if I ever will.
after watching this, but youmentioned right there, the
seasons and the, the zero to 18.
We get this info righthere from their home.

(58:49):
We get it.
He tells them, yeah, zerothat we look at it as seasons.
And that's what I wastalking about wicker, man.
And I'll confuse the two,
but
he says zero to 18 is like what spring.
And then 1836 is summer, 3654 is fall,and then yeah, 5472, that's your winter.

(59:12):
They, right here, righthere, a key moment.
Key moment.
What happens at 72?
He looks at them.
Looks them up.
He tells them.
Right there.
Across
the neck,
He tells them right therewhat's gonna happen.
They laugh it off like it's a
joke.
Now, it begins to come into clearer viewfor Josh, right about here, because they

(59:38):
talk about the, what is it, the estupu?
How do they, how do they say this?
Uh,
Oh yeah, I wrote this down.
I have to go
back.
Um,
whatever, I can't even pronounce it.
And he, there you go.
testipa is a ritual of elderly,Um, being let go from this life on.

(59:59):
purpose.
Um, and this was
in
the research of the film.
It is a, um, it is somethingthat has done in Norse mythology.
So this wasn't something theymade up for the film because they
wanted to make this commie and seemreally brutal, but this is an idea.
That exists in Scandinavian countries,or at least in mythology it does.

(01:00:20):
We can't say for sure that thisis something that they practiced
necessarily, but I guess we can assumethat if it's written in the mythology,
and if, you know, from ancient timesthat there was at least at some point,
Some truth.
truth to this.
Yeah.
Um, that's crazy, because
they don't necessarily know what this is.

(01:00:42):
He says it's going to happen tomorrow.
Now, Josh, you see allof a sudden, he's like,
Yeah.
He's already figuring it
he's like a real, a real one?
And he knows and they'relike, is it scary?
And he's like,
now this foreshadows a lot becauseyou, we at home, if you, unless you

(01:01:02):
Google this or you already know, youdon't know what's happening either.
You don't know what this word is.
It's at the stupu.
I can't even pronounce itmuch less know what it is.
They even say it's too hard to explain.
And
He's like, oh, yeah, you'll justhave to see it for yourself.
then, okay, so now let's get to that.
So, or do you havesomething else on that note?
Well, um, of the seasons, 0 to18, 18 to 36, 36 to 54, these

(01:01:28):
are, um, multiples of 9, or
um,
associated with the number 9, and that'ssomething to note that, um, because
Odin hung from the Tree of Life for9 days to gain wisdom, the number 9
is really significant in, Mythology.
so she does say in the openingceremony, the, um, what is her name?
Siva, the kind of likehigh priestess lady.

(01:01:51):
She says it's 90 yearsbetween great feasts.
So this is.
this
is a great feast thathasn't happened for 90
years.
be 90 per
they still
do their midsummer feast, but they'resaying something about this particular
one is only happens every 90 yearsand then it lasts for nine days.

(01:02:11):
So the number nine shows up a lot
Cool, that's awesome to know too.
I mean, that's stuff that we'll belooking out for on other rewatches.
Cause I will, I will rewatch.
We're not done with this yet.
We're, we're halfway through thismovie is all, if halfway, and we
get to the, we get to the dinner.
We get to the next day.

(01:02:34):
This is when you're really like, uh,yeah, this is, this is going downhill.
like, you, you just feel like,yeah, this is not normal from
the, the, the setup of the table.
It's in a, it's in the shape of a room.
Um,
it is.
I wrote down the rune, actually.
you, what, what?
Yes, I have a card here.
That's the room.

(01:02:54):
That's it right there.
It looks like a Jesus ish.
Yes, it does.
From the, yeah.
If it was tilted to theside, it'd be a Jesus fish.
So, it's called Othilla.
This
particular
rune, in Nordic runes.
And I started noticing them everywhere.
I started to, like, pause thefilm and look in the background.
There was, so I was looking them upall through the movie, which is so fun.

(01:03:15):
and exciting to me.
Um, I'm studying the Nordicrunes, but I don't know them.
So this was actually kind of helpfulfor me to kind of look at them.
Um, but this one, uh,particularly means home.
So this is the, Um, they're allsitting at a table built into this
shape,
but it means inheritance, property,family, responsibilities, all of

(01:03:39):
this are associated with this rune.
So it fits perfectly.
Now, we still see these two old people.
And,
I just, like, okay, so, so,watching this first time, not, you
know, I'm like, something crazy'sgonna happen, something fucked up.
Sure, I've seen all this before, but,I'm still kinda like, is it though?

(01:04:04):
Because, are they like a king and queen?
Because they look, it was like royalty.
They put them in thechairs, they pick them up.
I'm gonna start
Yeah.
They don't start eating until theystart until they pick up eating.
And then the rest ofthe table gets to eat.
So that you're noticing likethey're in a very honored position.
Right.
And even when they stand up, that's it.
You're done.
The food, the dinner was over andthat's when they got the chairs.

(01:04:27):
Hey, where do I hire a crew tostart carrying me around in a
chair like that all the time?
Cause it didn't look too bad.
I
It looks very relaxed.
I love how this scene.
is so stretched out becauseit could have been boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, you know, done.
You get to watch him march.

(01:04:48):
You get to see the, the, the faces ofthe Americans who were there and they're
like, I don't know what's about to happen.
You got the other peoplethat he met, Simon and his
girlfriend out, out in the crowd.
They walk up.
there's a few more outsiders there.
is
58, 58 minutes in.

(01:05:08):
58 minutes in, and thisscene lasts for a while.
Yeah.
Yeah.
get up, and they startchanting, and throat singing,
from their own, you're like,you kinda sit up, you're like,
what the fuck's happening?
They keep showing this cliff, you'relike, uh, what the fuck's happening?

(01:05:29):
They zoom out when they'reon that cliff, you see,
whoo, you see all them stones up there,I guess those are runes, runestones.
Um, but
Yeah.
be like a very sacred ceremony, I imagine.
In fact, they, um, they, Ican't remember exactly how it

(01:05:49):
happens, but they wipe blood.
They have a rune on their tunic and
they
wipe it off with bloodon the stone somehow.
And then, um, yeah, so it's importantto note that because if you're seeing
this movie again, if you've already seenit, now you're watching it again, pay
very close attention to those runes.
Those runes show up later onDany and Christian's tunics.

(01:06:13):
The
same ones that The couple who meet theirdemise, if that's a kind way to say it.
I like your, the way you said it.
Meow.
Pretty much, you know.
Right here, I gotta say that when yousee the shot of the cliff and then
they walk out, you're like, oh man.
And then they start dancing,you're like, oh okay, okay.

(01:06:35):
Uh uh.
Yeah.
there's no cutaways.
this,
No.
They show everything.
this is one of the, if notthe most disturbing scenes
you'll see in a movie, ever.
Cause
4.
Yeah.
And
it doesn't stop like it's it,doesn't cut away it continues, and

(01:06:58):
then for several scenes later youget to see the bodies in different.
I You know,
what they do with thebodies later and stuff.
So they, they, I mean, it'sjust, it's right there.
And I'm imagining like childrenin the village are seeing this.
I mean,
yeah,
all happy.
They're all happy.
And then Simon and his girlfriendare freaking out and then

(01:07:20):
Yeah, oh my gosh, he jumped,he fell, he, you know, they're
freaking, no, it was by design.
And then you've got the head ofthe, the, the, what's her name?
Siv?
Siv?
You've got her calming him downsaying, hey, no, no, this is okay.
This is okay.
it's like,
hang on, how did she just calmme down as a viewer thinking, all

(01:07:41):
right, I just saw two people die.
Like literally looks, it's.
Even when a guy jumps and thenhe doesn't die and they have to
bring the hammer in, I'm like,
I remember watching it the firsttime being like, oh no, oh no.
I'm like cringing on thecouch next to my husband.

(01:08:03):
We're both like,
you know what this scene does?
Is make you forget that only lessthan an hour earlier you saw a
woman with a hose in her mouth andall them people dead in the bed.
Like that, you thought that was gonnabe the worst thing you ever saw.
Nuh uh.
This is awful.
This, this, this rattled me for a while.
Uh

(01:08:24):
No,
sorry.
I
Have a little, uh, alittle friend peeking in on
us to talk about thehorrific scene of this movie.
Man.
So, so after this, you'relike, all right, well.
I don't know what's gonna happen from nowon, but you know, it ain't gonna be good.
Like,
Yeah,
and you're right, theyhave to calm us down.

(01:08:45):
Just like they have to calm Dannyand Simon and, you know, they have
to calm the foreign People downbecause the movie is not over.
And I remember thinking, well, thatwould be all I'd have to do to, all I'd
have to see to be like, I'm out of here.
Get me out of here as fast as youcan get me out of here, but they have

(01:09:07):
to somehow keep these characters.
So, you know, the, the director,writer, the script, they, they
knew what they were doing.
Cause they're like, okay, we can't.
alienate the audience yet.
This is horrific, but we have to figureout a way to keep everybody there.
And then having Christian and Joshwriting a thesis about this community
was another good way to, do that.
Cause it was like, well,now they're interested.

(01:09:30):
Now they're like, we got tolearn more about these people.
when they set it up, like, no, no,no, no, you can't have any access.
And then all of a sudden you get access.
Of course, that's going to be like, you'regoing to be like, oh my God, I'm special.
I'm staying.
I'm
Yeah.
Yeah.
off at first.
And then they got the permission andthat's got to give you some sort of,

(01:09:50):
I don't want to say ego or something,but yeah, you're not going anywhere.
start getting a little weird.
Cause
Simon left.
Simon left.
And you're like, wait a minute,I don't know about this.
We see him later.

(01:10:10):
Yes.
Yeah.
Uh,
There's
some historical context to that as well.
When we get to, when we find outwhat happened to Simon when he
goes missing and they're told heleft, he caught a train and Yeah.
but we do have a conversationbetween Pele and Danny there
when she's

(01:10:30):
upset that, again, it's justhim being like, Hey, you know,
Christian, forgot your birthday.
Um,
Like,
You deserve, he tells her this, whenmy parents died, this became my family.
This
is my family.
They, this is a communitythat makes me feel held.

(01:10:54):
And you deserve that, Danny.
You deserve to feel held.
And I have some, uh,theories about her growing
up in her family.
She probably didn't have, shewasn't allowed to have space or
be held at all in her family.
If her sister had mental healthstruggles, she says she was
bipolar, always in a crisis.

(01:11:16):
I mean, how does that, how doesthat, um, meet Dani as a person
coming into this community.
Sure.
She just witnessedsomething really horrific.
That's really disturbing, buthe's telling her like, this is a
place where you will feel held.
You're allowed to take up space.
And, um, that's really significant.

(01:11:37):
I think that's really significant topoint out that Dani's going to go through
a sort of transformation here whereshe's like, I'm not allowed to speak.
I'm not allowed to need things.
I'm not allowed to.
You know, especially with the wayChristian's friends have treated
her thus far, but how she grew upin her family possibly is like,
I'm not allowed to take up space.
I'm not allowed to have me.
Right.

(01:11:59):
So,
So that's important to
so she went from being
unwanted, isolated,undrafted, to, to a team.
It was like, oh, thesepeople like me, they want me.
You find out how much they want her later.
Not, not long from here, but beforewe get to that, there's, there's

(01:12:20):
The, the, the book?
The Ruby, Ruby Radder.
Ruby Radar?
I don't know.
Yeah,
I'm
your guess is as good as mine.
But this book's made up, right?
This is not a real book?
Yeah, yeah.
Uh,
ancient wisdom aboutemotional states of mind and
the

(01:12:41):
elders translate it.
This is where you get into someof the more inhumane practices.
Uh, not just the, um,the cliff jumping ritual
for
those that meet 72, but, uh, Uh, thepurposeful inbreeding so that they have
an, uh, uh, oracle of an unclouded mindto be able to, make these books for them.

(01:13:03):
And I'm, there's part of me thatgoes, well, there is something to be
said for people who have an uncloudedmind, probably are more connected
to source and divine inspiration.
Um, there's part of me that agrees withthat, but purposely inbreeding people.
so that you can getpeople who will be able to

(01:13:24):
do that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Real
icky.
I'm like,
uh, yeah,
disabled people, basically.
They got the, the, Embrad Disabledto be the oracles and paint the
pictures and write the runes.
And you see Josh and, I guess, what is he?
Keeper.

(01:13:44):
Something.
You see him.
They're going through the book together.
and it's
he's giving him access to learnabout it, but he's like, you
can't take pictures of it.
And you have to keepour names out of your,
out
of your thesis, right?
Like, be respectful, dude.
I'm 99 percent sure that they knewJosh was going to come back in there.

(01:14:05):
They knew that was going to happenbecause they set it up for that.
They were tempting him.
They tempted him big time.
It was another one of those, itwas a different type of seduction.
He was looking for, tobe seduced by, info.
He wanted that.
He wanted to know what was in that book.
There's 19 versions of that book.
interesting.
Yeah.
Josh was seduced by information.

(01:14:27):
Um, Mark was, uh, seduced by idiocy.
I'm not
and whatever else.
A good time or whatever.
Yeah.
Right.
Oh yeah.
Good point.
And then you have Christianwho was seduced, literally.
um, to become a, uh, a foreign seed to
implant

(01:14:48):
into their community.
Danny was seduced.
to become a part of this community.
To belong a part of this community.
Action is a big part of this.
I mean, even when you have,
we'll get to it, but there's love roomsthat, that, that they slip under the bed.
Before that though,
the, the end of Mark.

(01:15:09):
We got Mark peeing on the tree.
This is when, in this movie, thesepeople, the Horgan people are
calm, polite.
Ninth.
He pisses on that tree.
The, the, uh, the, the rock volta tree.
The rock volta tree.
And, and he, he's on that.

(01:15:31):
And you finally see the,the villagers freak out.
Yeah, for sure.
That one guy who was like.
Swearing at him in Swedish,he's screaming at him.
He's like, what an idiot.
How could you do this?
You peed on our sacred tree, thistree that represents our ancestors.
And you can see them, um, take theashes from the, uh, couple that

(01:15:56):
met their demise and they sprinkleit onto the roots of the tree.
So
In the background.
You
the background
before, and then you all, andthen the camera pants, you can
actually see mark walk off towardsthat tree before he does it.
And then they go, it's abeautiful, beautifully shot.
Yeah.
It's almost like there's a,uh, like a stage play going on.

(01:16:16):
They had to set that up nicely in the,and it's that moment though, to me.
you're like, all right, well,
I've already seen thesepeople kill people happily.
What's going to happenwhen they're pissed off?
Like, that's what my mind went to.
It's like, uh, yeah, thisain't gonna go good for Mark.

(01:16:39):
And
Yeah, well, he's been branded the fool.
So we all know what happens to the foolfrom the children's game in the beginning.
This is what he's going to
get.
gets, he gets, he does, he getshis, he gets skinned, and someone
wears his skin as a mask later.
Not long after,
yeah, I knew on the second time I had topause it and like really pay attention.

(01:17:03):
Cause the first time I remember watchingit, I was like, wait, what just happened?
Like I, um, when Joshgets caught trying to.
Take pictures of the, of their sacredbook and there's Mark that's not Mark.
Um, I was really confused.
The first time I saw it, I waslike, wait, what's happening?

(01:17:24):
Who is that?
Is that Mark?
Or is that somebody else at the sametime really clarified some things for me.
because I was like, Oh, I get it.
I see what's happening.
wore his skin like a mask.
Like, it was
Yes.
not pretty.
Not pretty at all.
You get to, you get to that dinner

(01:17:45):
after Mark pees on the tree.
You got, you got to another dinner.
And it just feels awful.
It feels, they put thismeat tart in front of them.
You already kind of sit, you'relike, wait a minute, Simon's missing.
And his fiancee,

(01:18:05):
Connie
I
Connie, you find a,
she goes missing.
you find a pube in the food, a hair
Yes, which was foreshadowed by thetapestry earlier, If you watched
that tapestry and what happens, thelove rune under the bed and then
the pubic hair and the meat pie.
And it tells the whole story of howthey are trapping Christian, right?

(01:18:26):
and, and it's just,
it's all there for you tosee what's really happening
and what's going to happen.
It's the foreshadowingis, is, is incredible.
Yeah.
Yeah, this is definitely a movie.
You gotta watch
you have to, and we'rebuilding, we're actually.
If you think it's not, we are.
We're building to a climactic end,

(01:18:47):
if it hasn't been enough already.
Like, it's, this movie reallytakes you on this, it's a, it's,
it's an emotional journey that
it hits you.
It sticks with you.
You stick, this movie stickswith you after you watch it.
know, and I'm just remembering too,there's a nightmare that Dani has while
she's there after Simon and Connie.

(01:19:08):
Is
it Connie?
I think it's Connie.
When they go missing, she hasthis nightmare where they're
driving away without her.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
They're
getting in a car and they'redriving away and she keeps having
visions of her family dead and,
uh,
you know, the traumathat she's been through.
This isn't surprising, but it allleads back to this idea that Dani
doesn't have a place where she belongs.
Yeah.

(01:19:29):
And then when she's called in to weara white tunic and be a part of the
festivities to dance at the Maypolecompetition, um, she's hallucinating
these roots growing from her feet,is very, very heavily symbolic
in planting roots and belonging.

(01:19:50):
So it's, you know, it's all tying backto, like, where is Dani finding her place?
where she feels like she belongs.
Where she's being
Now, I didn't notice, Ididn't think about that.
Now, she's literallygrowing roots right there.
This is after she, so she, so let'sjust set this up first because

(01:20:12):
she drinks, they give her a drink,
a little shot of something, and I'mguessing it's more of that mushroom
They all drink it together.
Yeah,
All the girls, all the maidens thatare participating in the dance.
and then they get up, and theystart tripping, I'm guessing it's
that mushroom tea or somethingagain, some sort of psychedelic.
Bunch of girls are in a pole, dancingover and over and over, and The way

(01:20:35):
you win is to be the last one standing.
Yeah, it's like an endurance test.
while
hallucinating on whatever the tea was,
right?
It seemed to me the whole time thatDani was just getting pulled along.
Like, I don't know if she really, um,would've won, but it seemed like they
were just, like, pulling her along.

(01:20:56):
And they're like, justkeep going, just keep
going.
do you think they let her win?
I think it's possible.
I think that they were all alongkind of trying to recruit her, right?
Like, they picked her out.
And
by
the way, it is also important to note thatthe costume designer, um, um, I didn't

(01:21:20):
write down her name, but the costumedesigner in this movie, she purposely put
Dani in very heavy, baggy, ill fittingclothes for the beginning of the movie.
So all up until she goes into wearingthe white tunic that they all wear.
When that fits her perfectly and looksgood on her and makes her feel like

(01:21:44):
she belongs, this was all on purpose.
So that's something to note too.
Andrea Flesch is the one who did thecostume design for, yeah, Andrea Flesch
did, um, Florence's costume designfor that and I did not notice that
but I will really look at that againbecause I love when people put that much
detail, that much effort, that much work

(01:22:05):
Oh
making us have a conversationlike this about it.
Like it's, it's there,it's there for a reason.
Brilliant.
They didn't accidentally do this.
We didn't even mentionthat this is an A24 movie.
We should have known from the beginning,if you're watching an A24 movie, you're
about to get something different.
You're about to get an experience.
I love that company.

(01:22:27):
You don't, you don'tget the happy endings.
Yeah,
They're not going to give it to you.
And some people don't likethat, but I love that.
And this movie right here, youeither see it one of two ways.
You either got a happy ending oryou didn't get a happy ending.
I got a happy ending.
you
know, happy ending for who, is what I

(01:22:49):
Now, Dani definitely got a happyending, and this is what goes back
to what I said the genre of themovie could be a revenge, a breakup
movie, because the very last scene,she gives you that little smile, and
Yeah.
you're like,
everyone's weeping and wailing.
It's, it's very dramatic.

(01:23:10):
And she, uh, you think she'sfalling apart at first.
You think she's like, Reliving her traumaor, you know, she's gonna Completely fall
apart, but she stands therevery still and smiles.
looking amazing.
time I watched it, I was like,what is, what is she gonna do?

(01:23:33):
Is she gonna leave?
Is she gonna go home?
Is she gonna?
You know, I was like dying toknow the rest, and then the movie
ended, and I was like, what?!
you don't get those happy endings, butyou've got an open ended ending there.
I don't think she left that island.
There's no way.
There's no way she ever left.
I mean, she's at home now.
She went through the deepest, darkestshit she can, and now she's a queen.

(01:23:58):
Yeah.
He got to sacrifice someonewho had been hurting her the
entire time, Piece of shit.
She saw him cheating on her.
Yep.
come, like,
And,
And, she had a choice.
She could have sacrificed, uh,the villager that was chosen.
And they gave her, as May Queen, itwas her right to choose who would

(01:24:21):
be the last of the nine, by the
way.
The number nine.
Nine, um, sacrifices for the feast.
And, she, uh, They don't show herchoosing, but you see that Christian
is the one who gets prepared for the
I think all the way until yousee him, you're like, shit,
there's no way she's picking him.

(01:24:42):
There's no way she's gonna,she's gonna pick him.
And then you're like, huh,maybe she, maybe she should.
Maybe, like, after
Yeah,
you figure out the shitty person he's been
her final, final stand.
Like, there's no goingback after this, right?
Like, For her to be able to go, Yep, thisis my community, this is where I belong.

(01:25:03):
I wanted to point out, too,on her tunic, her rune,
which was the old lady'srune, is this one.
And it is, um, The rune, uh, tothe translation for it is wagon.
So it's about travel.
She does ride in a wagon, the way.
But the spiritualmeaning of it is destiny.

(01:25:23):
So it's almost like this is really fittingfor her, because this is like her destiny.
This has been her entirestory up until now.
Like, she's led to thisplace, these people.
and the one on Christian'stunic, which was on the man,
is,
One of them is this one, and it's Tywaz.
It's, uh, the translation is authority,

(01:25:46):
Justice,
righteousness is the,uh, spiritual meaning.
I feel like this is like reallypointing to, I don't know if this
was all intentional, but I hadto go look this up just to see
like what connections are there.
But I feel like it's so fitting thathis tunic would have something about

(01:26:08):
justice and righteousness on it.
And authority, please.
Right?
Like, he's, yeah, he's a piece.
He's a piece.
That's all you can say.
And, I hate to say he got what'scoming to him, but they, I mean,
honestly, they kind of did.
Like, they, they, yeah, I mean.

(01:26:32):
It lets it open for interpretationin that there's not anything that's
completely wrong or completely
right.
And like I said at the end of Wicker Man,it's like, well, okay, obviously this is
very, inhumane to sacrifice a human beingand even the animals to, um, make sure
that their crops grow better next year.
Um, but then consideringall of the damage that

(01:26:55):
you know,
has been done in the Christian God'sname, I don't know, you could kind of,
you can kind of argue it either way.
the friend that pulls her into the dance
is
wearing this on her
Okay.
This is Canaz and it's translationis the torch and it's, meaning is
enlightenment, knowledge, a new outlook.

(01:27:17):
Okay.
This is the one pulling her intothe dance and dancing with her
I love it.
Very cool.
Super
the director if that was intentional,but, um, for me, it doesn't matter.
I think it's really cool anyway.
cool.
I'm glad that you caught that.
A lot of stuff that I didn'tand These two movies though

(01:27:43):
Like I said at the beginning onewas the beginning of this and
then one is basically to me was
A new version.
It was like let's let'slet's get some folk horror.
I know there's been a lot betweenhere between Liquor man and midsummer.
There's sure there's tons of folk horrormovies, but these two stand out to me.

(01:28:05):
What's your final thought on midsummer?
Um,
probably even more so than WickerMan, although I think it's a theme in
both, um, Midsommar having that, uh,Lore of intense support and community.
That's really significant to
me.
I mean, whether you call it evil andlike all the things that they did evil,

(01:28:28):
this community obviously has, um, sometwisted ideas about death and murder.
Um, but the, the lore of the communityis pretty, look how strong that was.
Look how powerful that was for Dani to gofrom, you know, the tragedy she came from,
the world we know, the culture we know.

(01:28:49):
And to go into that and be like,actually, this is what I want.
And, um, when Christian is goingthrough the Ceremony or ritual of, uh,
what do you call it?
Uh, copulation.
When he's going through

(01:29:10):
impregnating the youngmaiden that's lured him.
Right.
And he may have beendrugged during all that
probably.
But, uh, when he's going throughthat, there's a room full of women.
Almost as if they're going throughthe sexual experience as well.
All of them are going through it together.
These older women, all of them wereprobably crone age, if you're kind

(01:29:32):
of looking at it in that sense.
They're mothers or crones.
and they're all going through itwith this maiden who's getting
impregnated, which I know he had amoment where he was like, this is
weird.
What's going on?
But in the meantime, while that'shappening, Danny, who sees what he's
doing and is going through again,another moment of extreme grief.

(01:29:54):
She goes into the other barnand she's Wailing in grief,
which we've seen her do before,
in
the movie, She did that isolatedand alone, and now she's doing it
with a group of maidens around her.
They're all holding
her, and they're not just like,

(01:30:14):
going
through it.
They're not just like,shush, shush, they're there.
They're wailing with her.
They join her in grief.
I think that's really significant.
That to me, is kind of theepitome of the entire movie.
This is about a girl whois looking for belonging.
She is looking to be held.
She's looking for a space where she takesup space and is allowed to take up space.

(01:30:37):
And yeah, you can put it all with allthe horror and gross and, um, you know,
entertainment that goes along with it.
But to me, that is thecentral theme of this movie.
I love that.
I think what I got to do now is sinceyou're the expert on this kind of stuff,
out of both of these movies, is this real?

(01:31:00):
Can this, is this happening somewhere?
Did this stuff happen?
Like what, what's the real context here?
Do you think this is kind of stuff?
Because if you go to Swedenmidsummer right now, it's not this.
And I know for a fact that theSwedes laugh at this movie.
They, they, they look at thisas a black comedy, they think

(01:31:20):
it's, they, they, they really do
I'm sure.
because it's nothing like whata Midsommar is, but is there
somewhere doing this kind of stuff?
Did they used to do this?
I wouldn't say anything's possible.
I mean, there are some ancienttraditions that have, like, upheld
and there may be, I mean, we,we're not unfamiliar with cults

(01:31:40):
and cult risings everywhere on earth.
I mean, everywhere there are extremists,there are fundamentalists, there are
people that take their beliefs too farinto actually causing harm to people.
So, um, my take was Yeah,it's absolutely possible.
But my, my personal belief in, um,Christianity and paganism is that.

(01:32:03):
Uh, I, what I would want people to takeaway from this is that some of these
traditions, um, that you see in thesemovies, like the hobby horse and the,
um, those, uh, mayday celebrations,so they're celebrating mayday, um, in,
um,
in the Wickerman in.
And you see some of thosetraditions still, still done.

(01:32:26):
Some of the, the meanings behind it havechanged and adapted and even Christianity
coming in and kind of making itChristianized like we did with Christmas
and taking Yule and Yule solstice andmaking it into a Christian holiday.
But.
Um,
The hobby horse in the parades thatthey do at May Day, those still
exist in England in small towns.
And Morris dancing and, um, you know,a lot of it is making a revival.

(01:32:50):
We're trying to go back to like,well, what were these, uh, what were
these traditions that they used to do?
Um, you'll notice in Wicker Man,they have, Um, These braided wheat
things that kind of hang in theschoolhouse and they kind of, you
notice it throughout the movie.
Um, those are things that I andmy friends do at, um, we just did

(01:33:11):
it at LaMasse or Lunestad, uh,our Wheel of the Year celebration.
We braided wheat into a sun and to honorthe wheat that is harvested right now.
So you, you see a lot of it.
And so if you're asking if thesemovies are real, I would say.
Yes, there's a lot ofreal to these movies.
Hopefully not thehorrific parts, but Yeah.

(01:33:31):
A lot of the traditionsand stuff are still very
Well, they make it feel real.
I mean, even in Wicker Man, the veryopening, you got that opening thing that
says, Thank you to the Lord Summerislefor allowing us to, and I'm like,
you're like, wait, is this a true story?
Is this a documentary?
Like, what is this?
Right.
Well, I do find it very strange.

(01:33:52):
And there's one, one thing that,um, in Wicker Man, I forgot to
mention is the the more English
hierarchal, Uh, role thatLord Summerisle plays.
He lives in in like a
castle, almost like he hasbeen lorded by the king.
It's like, that's a little bitcontradictory to the pagan, um, kind of

(01:34:14):
way of life that they have on this island.
So I don't know where that wassupposed to play a part in this,
but it's like having him live in acastle and be lord over everyone.
Kind of contradicts that idea,but, you know, maybe they're
just kind of marrying those ideas
together.
Christopher Lee though, so wedidn't second guess anything.
I mean, he's a legend.
he's great.

(01:34:35):
Amazing time.
What else we got to say about this?
Anything?
I think we covered it really well.
We've got a lot going onin these movies, so, whew,
Two bangers right outof the gate, Courtney.
The Wicker Man.
Mm hmm.
Like, it's on my screen right now.

(01:34:58):
And it just, I just, therewas a trailer playing for it.
Cause I had, I had my, I hadthe IMDB picked up and all that.
And it was when he was inthe, the man and burning up.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
The internets were listening to you.
In Midsommar, it's just as disturbing,like, it's, there's nothing else
to say, we said it all, now,

(01:35:20):
We picked these movies apart pretty well.
We've got, we went right down througheach and every infamous scene.
I had a lot of fun, I had a lot offun, first of all, and I can't wait
to see what else comes in this WitchMovie Project series, and I really
can't wait for October 26th, at NovelDaybreak by Crescent Communities.

(01:35:42):
They are proud to present theWitch Movie Project live podcast
taping and movie screening.
This is where the peopleat home can vote a movie.
So today, for instance, you would votebetween the Wicker Man and Midsommar.
Yes.
do you like?
Where
Yeah,
Where are they voting at, Courtney?
you can contact us oneither of our social medias.

(01:36:04):
So if you come to mine, PrismHealing, I have um, Instagram at Prism
underscore healing and on my Facebook,Courtney Pearl's Prism Healing.
So you can direct message me yourvote or on Ride the Wave Media,
That's right, at Ride theWave Media, across the board.
Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitterslash X, I think is at RTW Podcasts and

(01:36:32):
then you've got the YouTube channel.
That's where you can seeour, our beautiful faces.
I don't know about ours.
At least one of us.
We ain't gonna, we won't pickwho, we won't pick who, but it's
the prettiest.
Oh
Yeah, at Ride the WaveMedia podcast on YouTube.
We also got to thank our sponsorsNovel, Daybreak by Crescent

(01:36:54):
Communities, and also Stacey Millhornat Pure Sweat Float, South Jordan.
yeah,
Stacey.
so much for everything.
We'll see you guys next week.

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The Witch Movie Project Ep 1 - 'The Wicker Man (1973)' vs 'Midsommar'

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Witch Movie Project Ep 1 - 'The Wicker Man (1973)' vs 'Midsommar'