Right? Horror has plenty of examples of people who are transformed into monsters against their will. A werewolf isn't any less a monster just because the original person is a victim.
I think if you had the farmer from Men In Black running around it's the same thing. Nobody is confused about Nikki being a victim, but there's no costume to do it the other way.
Watch the movie. It's very explicit that Nikki is in no way the villain.
That being said, from letterboxd reviews, either people don't pay attention to the dialogue, plot and themes or a lot of people were on their phones through swathes of the movie.
I think it's pointless to even talk about this without differentiating between the real Nikki and the 'possessed version'. One of them cooked a cat and murdered people. That is the version viewers see for the majority of the screentime.
That's a good point, but then it begs the question of how innapropriate it is for that context. Nikki was a pretty good allegory to a lot of the issues women face around societal pressure, rape, and social consequences, and to make the possessed Nikki a villain kind of reaffirms Bear being not the villain. From what I saw Bear was single handedly the villain.
I mean the demon was there, and at the end people died, but before that moment Bear knew she was possessed and selfishly still wanted the relationship.
I've seen it as Nikki is "under the spell" of Bear who IS obsessed. Bear is obsessed with her and puts up with the psychotic behavior... He's obsessed with the idea of her/them together. Nikki isn't acting on her own (as made clear by the film).
17 Comments
victorz@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 38d
She's a victim, but her shell is still scary as shit.
_skj@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 37d
Right? Horror has plenty of examples of people who are transformed into monsters against their will. A werewolf isn't any less a monster just because the original person is a victim.
victorz@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 37d
Right! So her being used as a scary entity is all fine in my book. "She" is the scary part of the movie.
Xraygoggles@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 38d
I think if you had the farmer from Men In Black running around it's the same thing. Nobody is confused about Nikki being a victim, but there's no costume to do it the other way.
curiousaur@reddthat.com · 17 pts · 38d
Many villains are victims, they are not mutually exclusive.
MyBrainHurts@piefed.ca · 8 pts · 38d
Watch the movie. It's very explicit that Nikki is in no way the villain.
That being said, from letterboxd reviews, either people don't pay attention to the dialogue, plot and themes or a lot of people were on their phones through swathes of the movie.
justsomeguy@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 38d
I think it's pointless to even talk about this without differentiating between the real Nikki and the 'possessed version'. One of them cooked a cat and murdered people. That is the version viewers see for the majority of the screentime.
MyBrainHurts@piefed.ca · 5 pts · 38d
That's the thing. The possessed version is explicitly not Nikki. "You've never been with me."
It's like the exorcist, the one puking pea soup and screaming obscenities isn't Linda Blair.
valar@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 38d
But both the possessed Linda Blair and the possessed Nikki could be counted as villain characters at a theme park
maturelemontree@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 38d
That's a good point, but then it begs the question of how innapropriate it is for that context. Nikki was a pretty good allegory to a lot of the issues women face around societal pressure, rape, and social consequences, and to make the possessed Nikki a villain kind of reaffirms Bear being not the villain. From what I saw Bear was single handedly the villain.
I mean the demon was there, and at the end people died, but before that moment Bear knew she was possessed and selfishly still wanted the relationship.
MyBrainHurts@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 37d
Sure! (Though, the other commenter brought up some really interesting points.)
But the original comment to which I replied cast Nikki as both the villain and the victim, which was not the case.
HollowNaught@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 37d
"Hmm, I see this movie being talked about a lot. Maybe I should-"
"On second thought..."
can@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 21d
If it helps it had already died...
Ozymati@lemmy.nz · 9 pts · 37d
Pretty sure it's her circumstances that are supposed to inspire the horror, not her personally
IAMgROOT@lemmy.wtf · 6 pts · 37d
tbh someone under the influence of a one wish willow is scary
it isnt the actual nikki thats roaming around, its the willows version of her
kboos1@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 38d
I wanted to murder the guy in the first 10min of the movie.
BlackVenom@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 37d
Spoiler?..
I've seen it as Nikki is "under the spell" of Bear who IS obsessed. Bear is obsessed with her and puts up with the psychotic behavior... He's obsessed with the idea of her/them together. Nikki isn't acting on her own (as made clear by the film).