This exhibit will tell the story of the plague of the mind depicted in 2019 folk horror, Midsommar. Midsommar is a movie about an American couple who travels to a rural village in Sweden with their friends to experience its midsummer festival. What was supposed to be a pleasant vacation turns into an indoctrination at the hands of an eerie cult and their bloodcurdling rituals. The film displays the main character’s, Dani’s, journey to being welcomed by this village. Prior to the trip, Dani finds out about the horrific murder-suicide that left her without a family. Her emotional vulnerability led to her participation in the rituals and eventually, her succumbing to the plague. Although the movie does not illustrate a physical illness, it speaks to the paralyzing mental trance a person can be put in as a result of brainwashing. This exhibit showcases the physical path that Dani and the audience are on and experiencing. The film gracefully captures the audience’s attention through its slow and smooth videography style, which produces a certain tension. The goal of this visual exhibit will be to illustrate that tension through a collection of images from the movie, showing Dani’s collapse into the mental plague.
Credits
Ashley Vadivelu