Midsommar - The Complete Guide (Everything Explained)

Happy May Day everyone, let the festivities begin.

With thanks to:

@FeliciaGreenOfficial
@NordinWalks
@SkaldBard

Midsommary:

Nordin Walks Video:

00:00 Introduction
01:16 Part One: Foundations
01:26 Chaos v Control
04:57 The Wicker Man
07:26 Budget
08:29 Opening Image
20:22 Opening Shots of Winter (Hälsingland, Utah & Mormonism)
27:58 Dani’s Voicemail And The Ardor Residence
30:10 What do the colours represent?
41:20 Why Sweden?
44:42 Terri’s Note
47:41 Intro to Danni
58:38 Christian and the boyyyyys
1:00:58 Three Dead at the Ardor Household
1:03:48 “Did the Hårga kill Dani’s family?”
1:06:33 Poor little bear! (Fairytale influences and Why is Christian the bear?)
1:23:56 The Party (and subsequent argument)
1:29:21 Mark and Josh’s Apartment
1:35:17 When did Pelle start planning? (And what is he drawing?)
1:39:51 Is the festival based on real traditions?
1:54:12 Part Two: The Dark in the Light
1:54:22 Journey to the Hårga
1:57:32 The Secret Nazi Language of the Uthark
2:14:20 Academic Interests and ‘Brainwashing’
2:17:43 Arrival at The Meadow (Who are the other people?)
2:25:54 Horror in the light
2:31:09 On Hallucinations
2:36:22 Trip turns bad
2:40:24 Arrival at the Hårga (feat. St Johns Wort & Sungate)
2:48:22 Welcome Home
2:53:08 Siv’s Speech (Why every 90 years? How old are the Hårga really?)
3:01:20 First Meal
3:04:12 Meet Maja/Skin the Fool
3:06:47 Pelle is an absolute lizard
3:08:33 The Hårgan Affekts
3:11:17 The Hårgan Commune
3:15:52 The Hårga Dorm, Exposition & Explainers, Murals & The Love Spell Tapestry, Austin Powers
3:26:56 Flower Picking and Othal Banquet
3:32:04 Attestupan
3:48:34 Fallout
3:57:44 Did Pelle’s parents really ‘burn up’?
4:00:20 The Drowning Ceremony (What’s really going on with Dani?)
4:10:34 Breakup Movie
4:19:27 Dani’s Dream Sequence
4:21:14 Did Dani’s parents attestup themselves?
4:25:08 Mark and the tree, Pelle in the Garden
4:30:27 Connie and Simon Try to Leave
4:34:50 Making Meat Tarts
4:37:22 Josh, Ruben and the Rubi Radr
4:43:07 Mark and Josh’s Last Supper
4:47:07 It's Hammertime feat Josh, Ulf and Pelle, and Mark I guess
4:52:58 Part 3: The Light in the Dark
4:53:08 Victims and Villains
4:56:15 The Morning After
4:59:24 Christian’s Fall (And Christian and Bears pt. 2)
5:08:39 The Maypole
5:11:33 Hårga, Hårgalåten & The Black One
5:14:07 Hårgalåten (Performed by Felicia Green and The Skaldic Bard)
5:15:51 The Black One Continued
5:16:55 The May Queen Dance
5:22:20 The May Queen is not the messiah, she’s a very naughty girl
5:34:17 Crowning the May Queen (Visions of Dani’s family and the banquet)
5:36:20 Blessing the crops
5:39:40 Christian, Maja & Dani’s Grief Circle
5:51:22 Josh’s Foot (feat the Allfather and Yggdrasil)
6:00:35 Simon’s Blood Eagle and Christian’s Capture
6:02:55 The Choosing Ceremony (New Blood, Outside Offerings, Sacrifice Explained)
6:15:08 The Mystery of Mark and Inga
6:27:23 Preparing the Sacrifice (The Elements, Christian in the bear costume, Ulf and Ingemar)
6:37:19 She is finally free. It is horrible and it is beautiful.
6:43:38 What comes next? (For Dani, Pelle, the Hårga)
6:50:42 On the Wicker Man (Pt 2.)
6:52:31 Thanks/Outro

See you all very soon for The Complete Guide to The VVitch

#Midsommar #a24 #explained

[Novum_YT]

Thank you to everyone for being so patient with me. I'm keeping this sticky for the inevitable list of corrections. I sincerely hope you enjoy.


Extras and Amendments:

1. Rubi Row also apparently literally means 'bloodline' - thanks to @TheMarauderOfficial for that one
2. Allusions between Terri's eye and Odin's sacrifice (need to add which commenter suggested that)
3. The Yellow St Johns Wort in the leadup to the commune is very 'yellow brick road' - thanks to Siobhan O'Connor for that one, I love it and it feels spot on.
4. Multiple people have commented that St Johns Wort is a natural anti-depressant, thank you to all of them
5. My pronunciation of 'Tooele County' and 'Nike'. I was going off American pronunciations I've seen (I think Fargo being one) for Tooele, they were apparently wrong also. My apologies to the people of Tooele. As for Nike - in the UK the brand is just pronounced like that. I do understand that 'Nik-E' is how you pronounce the name of the Greek goddess but it's just not how we pronounce it in the UK.
6. There is a typo at 3:32:42 Gautreks Saga is most definitely not 2nd Century it's 13th Century, my apologies!

More to come and sorry I haven't replied to everyone yet, it's been a busy few days and I'm so excited to read all your comments!

[Dycehart]

i hope my homies are ready because i'll definitely be presenting this video as my own ideas for the next 5 years

[MMfanever]

THANK YOU now I am going to happily deep clean my whole house.

[eeeeyuke]

Because of this movie, I will always hold Florence Pugh in high regard. It's a master class of desperation and trying to hide it.

[terryriepl]

“To the Harga, Bears represent negative affekts”
*plays footage of the cutest bear ever wiggling his snoot*

[TheMarauderOfficial]

7:38 “we’ll be looking at the vvitch next” my mans out here making videos exactly for me so excited

[kennedyhill]

Wake up babe, the highly anticipated Complete Guide to Midsommar by Novum just dropped

[Knutwolf]

Josh’s foot sticking out of the ground could also be reference to The Name of the Rose, where a young black scholar is killed for illicitly pursuing forbidden knowledge. Only his foot sticks out of an abattoir, but we know it’s him because he’s the only non-white person around.

Love these long form videos! Superb work and totally worth every minute.

[fusselmietz]

Little fun fact: the actor that plays Dan (the old man who jumps from the cliff) is believed to have influenced shojo anime and manga to some extend. He was very popular in the 70's and 80's in Japan, when he was a teenager/young adult and had a lot of female fans who admired him for his soft features and androgynous looks. It is believed that his popularity influenced the way male love interest in manga and anime aimed at young girls were drawn. There is a documentary about him called "the most beautiful boy in the world".

[jello]

It's crazy how you are able to show every single scene to the movie and go through every tiny aspect of the story but instead of feeling like I just watched the movie, I just want to watch it again right away. You're not just making videos, you're making full companion pieces. The amount of time and research and editing and DEPTH that goes into these is not unnoticed, thank you so much for creating such great companions to my favorite films.

[TypeCAdapter]

When I knew the painting in Midsommar was done by my professor, my respect for this movie enhances to the next level

[brianpfoss]

It just struck me that the still of Dani at the keyhole is very similar to the pose of the princess with the bear painting back at her house.

[lindseyb]

Clicked thinking I was getting movie analysis, stayed for the incredibly deep and well-researched six hour socio-historical media analysis lecture

[faithsears]

Pharmacist here. St John’s wort is also used as a natural antidepressant which I think is also interesting considering all the mental health themes in the story

[Respiar]

I think it is worth noting also that in the original script, Dani's family home is supposed to be in Minnesota, which has the strongest history of immigration from Scandinavia in the United States (with the NFL team even being the Vikings). I feel like that definitely supports the idea that there is supposed to be some kind of common, ancestral thread for Dani connecting her back to Sweden and a place like Halsingland, even if it didn't make its way to the movie.

[bev]

HOW is it possible to listen to a 7h video, be disappointed when it's over and immediately start it all over again???? PHENOMENAL work!!!! BRAVO sir!!!!👏👏👏

[space_opera]

Cold DMing the actress about your wild theory is hilarious but just the kind of dirt digging we need for these videos.

[yamyamyaminion]

The cheeky one liner here and there out of nowhere gets me everytime

[Mae_is_meh]

I love it when the when a guide is longer than the actual media lmaooo

[rusted_ursa]

I've watched this video 3 times since it came out, and last night I finally decided to watch the movie to see if I could come away with anything not mentioned here. What hit me was how many times we hear unanswered cries for help: Dani wailing in grief in Christian's arms, while he looks distant and robotic. The baby screaming for its mother all through the night. Even Josh trying to scream after being bashed with the mallet, but only able to make a moaning wheeze.

The way the Harga echo your screams back to you is like a perversion of empathy. Just empty mirroring, without substance. And it's only when Dani is completely broken by the lack of care in her life that she responds to this as if it's actual support. They're _not_ helping her. They're telling her what she wants to hear.

And now that I'm typing all of this, I'm remembering that friend she spoke to on the phone who was actually trying to empower her and validate her worry for her sister, but Dani just kept shutting her down because it _wasn't_ what she wanted to hear. Thinking about it now gives me chills.