Movie review
July 3, 2019 · 147 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Midsommar follows an American woman named Dani who joins her emotionally distant boyfriend and his friends on a trip to a remote Swedish village for a once-every-90-years midsummer festival. The sunny setting quickly turns into psychological horror as the group encounters a pagan commune's violent rituals and manipulation. The story centers on grief, a toxic relationship, and personal breakdown with no prominent identity politics, racial or gender signaling in casting, activist dialogue, or modern social-justice framing.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Midsommar.
Woke representation / casting
Casting fits the rural Swedish world and American friend group naturally; one supporting role filled without visible signaling or mismatch to story logic.
Woke political dialogue
Conversations stay personal around grief and relationships; no activist language or ideological arguments appear.
Identity-driven story themes
Focus remains on individual trauma and relational breakdown; any empowerment arc stays twisted inside horror and carries no modern identity framing.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Shows American visitors as clumsy and entitled in personal ways, but presents this as folk-horror observation rather than activist critique of patriarchy, whiteness, or institutions.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant; fully original story.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Isolated online remarks about cultural portrayal exist but lack scale or consistency as major right-leaning pushback against identity politics.
Creator track record context
Core team shows consistent focus on arthouse horror and craft with no documented pattern of activist, identity-driven, or social-justice work.
Production
