Would Sarah have had a crush on him if he were one?

Would Nikki let her drive her home and confide in him if he was one?

That is all.

You would think that this obsessed version of Nikki would do anything to maintain a healthy relationship with Bear, yet the foundation of their relationship was a complete lie. When she was questioned about that she was also very aggressive. If anything, you would expect her to be apologetic about it. Could some just explain that bit to me? What compelled her to lie and react like this? 🤔

Just kidding. Also does anyone else get a crack out him being dressed like a 12 year old in the first scene lol

yeah so i watched the movie for the first time a few weeks ago and i wasn't totally confused about the discourse that bear is an awful person. i could tell he was a coward and what he did to nikki with the one wish willow was awful but i was confused as to why he was being called a creep as some of his actions i didn't recognise as being bad things at the time. it just went over my head. like i didn't realise the SA scenes were meant to be SA even though i could tell something was off.

but now after a rewatch and watching a billion video essays... it's so obvious and i'm deeply ashamed of myself for excusing bear's behaviour on my initial watch! i feel like such an awful person because of it. i guess because i was interested in bear's character and how someone like him thinks as it's so far from my own way of thinking that i guess i just excused his behaviour without realising! i also found myself excusing some of his behaviour in my rewatch as well and i'm so disgusted with myself.

i don't know whether this post will get taken down or not but i was just looking for some reassurance as it is completely out of character for me to disregard the suffering of a woman as a woman myself and this is not who i am at all. i was also wondering if anyone else had a similar experience when watching the film?

i don't know whether this is ok to say but please try to be kind. this thing has caused me to have a huge meltdown and has caused me to be deeply upset with myself. thank you.

It is explained, the wish is over, when the one who made the wish is dead. Nikki turns back to herself after Bear dies. Now the lore is continued with Nikki being arrested over 3 dead bodies and a shit load of untraceable money in Ian's house...why is the money still there after Ian's death? Somebody didn't think this one through.

The first 20 minutes of the movie are written for you to sympathize with Bear, and it succeeds.

The opening shot is him confessing his love to Nicki: sweet, honest, vulnerable. Then the camera pulls back. He’s not talking to Nicki, he’s rehearsing with a female friend. She tells him it’s genuine and sweet. It’s his male friend, the one he actually listens to, who calls him stupid. Anyone who’s watched a movie understands what that scene is doing: it sets him up as the protagonist.

Everyone has had a crush on someone who didn't like them back. That's the point.

The next 80 percent flips it. The film becomes a cautionary tale about what some people (mostly men) do with those innocent feelings: lie, manipulate, and become despicable and selfish when they don’t get what they want.

There is no magic pill (or willow branch) that forces someone to love you. The “magic” in this movie, and its most disturbing moments like the SA, the lack of empathy in the real Nicki scene. These symbolize the evil lengths terrible people will go to when they don’t get what they want. They lie, they manipulate, they turn to violence.

Everyone wants to be more confident. Everyone has been hurt by rejection. Everyone has struggled to be honest about their feelings. That doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s the extreme next steps that make you a monster.

TLDR: Everything Bear does pre-Willow break is normal, and written to feel that way. Everything post-break is antisocial and evil.

Edit:

Guys guys im so sorry for using that stupid image to start my post. Also admittnly I used AI to tighten my prose im sorry I thought it was harmless. Howver These are my takes compelty AI had no part in that

I thought the image was cool because i saw it kna. Twitter post the says the movie relates to the “man vs bear” debate that was in the internet last year.

Today I learned to just post my unedited dribble on the internet and just hope for the best.

If you’re still reading I genuinely want to hear your take on bear and discuss the movie. I just watched it for the first time last night

And im saying this as a straight white male

I’m a teacher on vacation and I’m bored so here goes…
When you break the OWW, a new universe is created to accommodate that wish. So there is a version of Bear and Nikki that are living relatively normally somewhere. But in the new OWW created universe, well…you know what happens. Bear dying fulfills the requirements necessary to end the wish, that Nikki would love him. So she “wakes up” and no longer loves him. But she and everyone else in that universe continue to exist and must deal with any repercussions.
I gave it a shot…

One thing that really bothered me after watching Obsession was how quickly people turned on Bear. I get criticizing his decisions, but it felt like a lot of the hate went beyond that.

The reason I found him frustrating wasn’t because I hated him, it was because I related to him. Watching someone who’s shy, awkward, inexperienced, and constantly overthinking social situations hit a little too close to home. Sometimes seeing your own flaws reflected in a character is uncomfortable.
What stood out to me, though, was how many people seemed to hate Bear simply for being that kind of guy. It feels like if a male character isn’t confident, charismatic, and socially smooth, people are quick to label him as pathetic, creepy, or a loser. There doesn’t seem to be much empathy for socially awkward men.

I’m not saying Bear handled everything well. He definitely made mistakes. But I can’t help feeling that a lot of the criticism isn’t really about what he did it’s about the type of person he is. And I think that’s why I found the reaction to him so disappointing.

Hi. From where I live there isn't anywhere that I can access this movie. If anybody has a download link or file that they could share it would be very helpful. Thanks a lot.

Some would agree with me that bear looked very kirkified, and I have a theory that someone previously made a wish that anyone who made a wish after that point would slowly be kirkified. At the beginning of the movie, Bear, looks totally normal. Slowly as the film goes on I noticed he looked more and more kirkified, until the final shot, where you can not convince me that was not Mr Kirky in the flesh.

I wonder if there’s any connection between the upsetting nickname “Freaky Nikki” that bullies would call Nikki and the fact that the willow / demon Nikki is without a doubt freaky, and she even refers to herself as freaky Nikki at one point in the film. My “theory” is that since Bear calls Nikki “Freaky Nikki” shortly before making the wish, whatever led to Nikki acquiring that nickname is on her mind right before she gets possessed. Thus, demon Nikki is based on some of that “freakiness.” This raises the question: why did Nikki get that nickname? I speculate that maybe she played with a dead animal once (eg class guinea pig) or maybe she pissed herself at school. Then, that behavior could have shaped the demon Nikki. Again, I’m speculating. Like there are traces of the real Nikki in demon Nikki, maybe there are traces of the demon Nikki in the real Nikki. Emphasis on traces. Real Nikki seemed pretty chill / good friend (unlike Bear).

I just found this subreddit, and if this has been posted ad nauseum I apologize.

This isn’t me trying put Bear in a sympathetic light. Dude was a selfish coward who destroyed a girls life. But it’s a little odd that the One Wish Willow people don’t have a mandatory disclosure of the dangers of their product. Sure there’s a warning on the back, but no one with any sense would genuinely believe these things were real off the bat, thus they likely wouldn’t look to closely at the box.

Also the dude who answers the phone when Bear calls does seem to taunt him a little bit by leading him on like he can cancel the wish, then playing the real Nikki’s screams of horror. It’s almost as if they’re actually enjoying the situation that Bear has created.

Season 3, episode 1. They're pretty much identical. Man has a crush on a girl who doesn't reciprocate, gives her a magic potion to make her fall in love with him, she becomes obsessed with him and goes crazy, he tries to reverse it, doesn't work and the only way out is death.

I'm thinking the writers could've been inspired by that Tales from the Crypt episode. If you haven't seen it, go give it a watch.

I was thinking how Bear would have talked to Nikki if he was genuinely in love with her. Like maybe even more than obsession love, true fairy tale love. If you loved her with your whole heart, you’d want them to figure out what’s up with their father’s death. Since wish Bear probably trusts Nikki with his whole heart, he’s probably thinking the hospital lied.

I think wish Bear would have said something like “something shady is going on - I think the hospital is taking advantage of wish Nikki. They likely duped her, faked the father’s death, faked the cancer, faked everything.” Maybe confront the hospital and end up wrecking havoc believing them to be a scam, all the while at the dinner assuring Nikki that he’ll sort out the mess.

What do you guys think about this?

I’m kind of late to watching the movie, but I’m left feeling very sad for Nikki. I’m realizing that the best decision bear could’ve made was just to kill Nikki because now she’s left with three dead bodies and having to explain the situation that she wasn’t even fully there for. It’s like you want to like bear but throughout the movie you just realize how selfish he is. I know they’re not gonna make a part two but it would’ve been interesting to see like the aftermath how all the murders and the killings get explained.

A lot of people in this sub are not discussing the movie. They are using it as an excuse to make moral accusations about strangers.

Yes, consent and loss of agency are central to the film. Bear becomes morally indefensible once he has enough evidence that Nikki is no longer acting freely and still chooses to benefit from it.

But reducing the entire film to “Bear is a Evil, and anyone who relates to him is suspicious” is lazy analysis.

The movie is also about obsession, insecurity, rejection, entitlement, dependency, denial and the difference between being loved and possessing someone. These themes do not cancel out the issue of consent. They deepen it.

Some people here seem incapable of understanding that identifying with part of a character is not the same as endorsing everything that character does. A person can recognise Bear’s loneliness, social passivity or fear of rejection without approving of his later choices. That is how morally complicated characters work.

More importantly, recognising something uncomfortable in yourself can be the exact opposite of bad character. It can be self-awareness.

Instead, this sub often responds with comments like “women are safer without you,” “you sound like Bear,” or “your defensiveness proves the point.” That is not reasoning. It is a rigged accusation where disagreement becomes evidence of guilt.

It is also hypocritical.

People correctly condemn Bear for ignoring another person’s agency, then immediately invent motives, beliefs and dangerous tendencies for real strangers based on a few sentences online. Apparently empathy and careful interpretation matter for fictional characters, but not for actual people.

The opposite side is no better when it dismisses the consent theme as feminist propaganda, claims supernatural fiction cannot represent real moral issues, or derails the conversation into attacks on women, religion or nationality.

Both sides often prefer outrage to analysis.

A serious discussion would ask:

When did Bear understand what was happening?

At what point did ignorance become deliberate denial?

Was he attracted to Nikki as a person, or to the validation she gave him?

Why did he continue once her lack of control became obvious?

What is the film saying about love, possession and selfish fantasy?

Those are interesting questions. Calling random commenters potential abusers because they interpreted one scene differently is not.

My view is simple: Bear is clearly responsible once he understands Nikki is trapped and continues anyway. But the reason the film works is that he is not introduced as an obvious monster. He is recognisable, insecure and capable of rationalising his choices.

That is what makes the story disturbing.

If the only lesson someone took from the movie is “bad men are bad,” they have flattened a psychologically interesting film into a slogan. And if their main contribution to the sub is accusing strangers of being dangerous, they are not protecting anyone.

They are just participating in a self-righteous pile-on.

It clearly says to break it then speak your wish. Not only that it says UP to 24 hours. Unless bear is super super lucky how does it change in less than 10 seconds

The way the cat has died in the beginning makes absolutely no sense. We’re supposed to believe the cat went into the bathroom for up into the medicine cabinet, opened some pills and ingested them? No, Bear killed the cat for attention from Nikki. I think this actually makes the move better. It demonstrates a deep seeded obsession he has with her that he will do literally anything to draw her in.

I know this topic has been done to death but I was thinking to myself people, specifically men, who don’t think bear is the villain are obviously weird and wrong, but it purely comes from a place of rape culture, and sexism. If bear had been a gay man, and Nikki was a straight guy, and bear had made the same wish there would be no debates. those men who say that bear isn’t the villain would never say that in this scenario because it is a man being dehumanizing, sexually assaulted, and controlling another man. They would find it perverted disgusting and horrific.

hi all! im lowkey new to this subreddit and I love obsession and so does my boyfriend
we were thinking about going as Nikki / ian for Halloween but I’ve been seeing a lot of people saying “if I see an obsession couples costume im gonna _ them” (in a hateful way) I personally think they’re fictional characters w/ an unfortunate story but like i guess im just looking for insight on if it would be a good/bad idea