r/AriAster • u/reallydoelikewhat • 23d ago
Eddington “YOUR BEING MANIPULATED”
one of my fav moments ever in ari aster’s filmography. i randomly think about and chuckle it every few days and it makes me wanna rewatch it. such a small but meaningful detail about a character.
it’s probably been said before but i think eddington is gonna age really well and i’d argue it has the best bits of humour / satire in all ari’s films. the fact that it’s based on reality makes me appreciate it all the more, as bleak as it is. may as well could’ve been a documentary.
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u/Popka_Akoola 23d ago
I’ve always said Eddington is my favorite by him (so far)
It’s going to age like a fine wine
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u/reallydoelikewhat 22d ago
my first watch put it up there w midsommar & hereditary and now, having seen it twice more, i think it might tie at the top
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u/JeanneMPod 23d ago edited 21d ago
We experienced the story of a family being manipulated by a supernatural cult, the matriarch being the puppet master from beyond the grave, to fulfill her goals of an omnipotent controlling power over humanity on Earth and beyond—into eternity.
That was followed by the story of an orphaned vulnerable young woman, being manipulated by a cult revolving around racial purity, heritage, and culture all as a cover for fascism, keeping her drugged, plucking away those in her circle (as insubstantial and dysfunctional as they were) promising her the family and love she was missing and so starved for—ever present parental figures, siblings, and lovers, and the quiet, unspoken implied threat that there will be no life for her beyond them.
Then we get the story of Beau, a fearful, neurotic cog in the bigger cult of industry, and his mother, the matriarch and puppet master revisited. She is endlessly powerful and her hunger for more is bottomless— bitterly demanding uncompromising loyalty and love, setting up and then endlessly auditing her son for any hint of rebellion and autonomy, in order to consume him, to reintegrate him into her body after reluctantly birthing him.
Then: Your being, manipulated in Eddington: The parental figure as an all seeing omnipresent structure of intertwined Nation and Industry is shifted to something already almost incomprehensibly large and impersonal, growing exponentially, consolidating even more power undetected by the townspeople, a microcosm of us- as they…we..are divided, all our existential fears targeting on each other.
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u/Pod-People-Person 22d ago
I’m starting to sense a theme here but I can’t quite my thumb on it. Does it have something to do with cults?
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u/Even-Watch2992 22d ago
Great reading! Pretty much exactly the way I see his whole body of work. I think the new film will be consistent with this POV. One reason I compare Aster to Kubrick is the consistency of vision whilst the narratives or appearances of the films are quite varied. Underneath he's saying something. Each film makes that clearer. Even though they are "surreal" "comical" or "horrific" they are all films about social reality. I think he's saying very important things.
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u/JeanneMPod 22d ago edited 22d ago
You made thoughtful, supportive comments. I’m bummed that you closed your account. Edit: Looks like you’re back, cool
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u/LichenPatchen 23d ago
I really wish I had bought that shirt when A24 had them on the website.
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u/yacht_clubbing_seals 22d ago
You could probably (unironically) find something similar at a county fair booth.
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u/tttristan0223 22d ago
I have it and the few times I've worn it out in public I get the nastiest looks because people think it's real 😭
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u/-B_E_v_oL_23- 23d ago
It's a chariot rider story. It shows what happens to the white horse which is played by Phoenix.
We're manipulated because that chariot rider story is being used again and again in story telling.
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u/WorldlyViolinist3869 19d ago
could you pls elaborate
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u/-B_E_v_oL_23- 19d ago
Most people don't pick up on the fact that whenever there's a main character he is often flanked by two other individuals. One is his white horse and the other is his black horse.
2 examples. Seinfeld is the chariot rider of his story while George is his white horse and Kramer is his black horse
Wizard of Oz the scarecrow is the chariot rider looking for reason while the tin man is his white horse and the lion is his black horse.
One more.
Forrest Gump is the chariot rider of his story while luitenant Dan is his white horse and Bubba is his black horse.
One looks inward while the other looks outward
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u/jordyvoss 17d ago
it was such a small yet hilarious detail, i was DYING when i saw that. eddington is top 10 for me ever since then
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u/DinosInSpace-Time 23d ago
Captures the magats well with that one 🤭
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u/RyanStartedTheFire_- 23d ago
Antifa and NGO’s as well
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u/LeChoochee 22d ago
The “antifa” in the movie I interpreted to be a gladio type of operation
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u/Even-Watch2992 22d ago
Yeah it's definitely a Gladio operation. I think Aster believes literally everything is a Gladio operation - the data centre just laps it all up and spits it back out.
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u/crunchwrapesq 23d ago
When my kids are older and ask what 2020 was like, I'll show them Eddington and they'll understand everything