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Ari Aster and “Womanhood”
A mini-essay.
I will say three things: I loved Midsommar, I loved Hereditary, and Ari Aster should not be seen as some all-powerful feminist icon.
I think people (specifically film Tumblr) like to paint this picture that Ari Aster is this great, understanding feminist that fully understands the experience of womanhood and anger.
Well, this just isn’t true.
He’s a man. He can try and try, he can sympathize and nod along, but he will never understand the inherent struggle of being a woman.
Now that I’ve said this, let’s dig a little deeper into why people say he’s this passionate feminist that can somehow “get it.”
Ari Aster does well with showing emotion. I’ll give him that. And this is all going to sound like one big hate letter to the man himself, but I can guarantee you that isn’t true, and I genuinely love his films, as well as what he tries to get at within them.
However!
While Aster portrays anger and grief the most, this cannot be described as him understanding the feminine experience.
Let’s take the, dare I say, iconic, scene in Midsommar where Dani screams with a group of other women. This scene has been praised, even by me, as being an iconic and relatable moment, showcasing the feminine…
