Incursions into the world of continuity: reading of Midsommar’s archaic fiction based on Bataille

Abstract

This paper proposes an interpretation of the Midsommar movie, directed by Ari Aster, who purportedly recreates archaic Nordic rituals (Hårga), with sacrifices, witchcraft, and sacred copula scenes. Opposing the criticism that sees the movie as belonging to the horror genre, we understand the movie offers an archaizing fiction whose aim is to question the emptiness and lack of meaning in contemporary relationships. We access the “continuity” and “discontinuity” concepts of George Bataille, to discuss the relations between the human being and the primitive forces of death and eros. In this way, we analyzed different aspects of the film narrative in relation to the radical experience of the ego suspension and the union with fundamental life forces, in the context of post-industrial individualism and loneliness.