Bonus #15 — Midsommar Addendum

In this bonus episode we continue our discussion of Midsommar, the folk horror film written and directed by Ari Aster.

If you haven’t already, then we strongly recommend that you check out the flagship episode: Episode 36—(“Vibe or die!” On psychedelics, dancing and ritual murder in Ari Aster’s Midsommar). For starters, in this Bonus Episode we first resolve the cliffhanger from the flagship episode! Would Tobias and Alejandro join the Harga??

We also drift into a discussion of Moloch, violence and sacrifice. We discuss aspects of the numinous experience, and carry on a discussion point on ‘attunment’ and cult formation from the flagship episode. Finally, we contrast the horrific death experience in the Harga and in the industrialised west, and try to come up with some more palatable alternative.

References

• Midsommar (2019) written and directed by Ari Aster

• Allen Ginsberg — Howl (1955-56)

• Harry T. Hunt (2000) — Experiences of Radical Personal Transformation in Mysticism, Religious Conversion, and Psychosis: A Review of the Varieties, Processes, and Consequences of the Numinous

• Cary Elza (2023) ‘“Do you feel held?”: Gender, Community, and Affective Design in Midsommar’

• Stark & Bainbridge (1985) The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival and Cult Formation

• Lois Lowry (1994) — The Giver

Links

Altered Mates Website

Altered Mates Instagram

Altered Mates Substack

Altered Mates Patreon

Music for the show by Si Mulumby

A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama

• Purchase the novel here (hard copy, ebook and audiobook).

• Listen to the free serialised audiobook here.