HEREDITARY HOT TAKE 

Nyx Fears I heard the director say something about his reasons for that opening shot leading into the dollhouse that I found pretty interesting. He said that the opening shot was supposed to symbolise the fact that these characters are like dolls in that unbeknownst to them their lives are being watched and toyed with by outside forces and they have absolutely no control over their fate, which actually ties in pretty well with that scene where the son is in class and you hear the teacher ask the class a question about fate and tragedy.

I haven't been affected by a horror movie like this, since I was a kid. It's such a gut-wrenching, uncomfortable experience. The fear didn't start sinking in, until the night AFTER I saw the movie. I'd go into the kitchen, and imagine someone standing in the darkness of the living room. I honestly feel that (SPOILERS: DO NOT READ THIS, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS MOVIE) the misleading trailer made it even more traumatic. I went into Hereditary, fully expecting it to be about Charlie. Hell, they even released a second trailer, simply titled Charlie, full of click noises. So when that horrific moment happened, I was still thinking, "No. She didn't die." As Peter sat there, I slowly realized she did, and I waited for the reveal. But nope. No reveal. So I thought we would be spared from the reveal. But nope. We weren't, and it was 100 times more horrific. I can still hear Toni Collette screaming when she found her daughter's headless corpse, the look on Peter's face, in shock, stuck in that hellish moment. I can still hear her screaming, "I want to die!" and I can still see that girl's head, covered in ants. The mother, floating in the attic, slicing her own head off, the guy in the corner...this movie, indeed. The best way I can describe this movie is sleep paralysis. Two hours of sleep paralysis, with the most terrifying sounds and imagery forced inside of your head. Ari Aster somehow transmitted a nightmare into real life, and trapped it in film. Great review!

"She lost her daughter when she transitioned into her son." OHHHHHHH MYYYYYY- *mic drops, three solid minutes of airhorns*

I FEEL SO VINDICATED. After my boyfriend and I got out of the film and I had a good, long while to sit on it, I told him that based on the opening and closing scenes/images of the movie being focused on the dollhouses, I felt that those were meant to bookend the meat of the film, and were meant to be read as her art pieces. He told me that I read too much into that, and that it was for style. I'm so glad that someone whose work I respect also came to the same conclusion. Edit: Oh my god, this discussion is helping to resolve my feelings on the film so much. I was incredibly frustrated with the ending when I was trying to force myself to read it literally. I loved the movie in general but I wasn't feeling the ending, but this is so cathartic to watch. And while I picked up on the trans themes, I didn't see how they tied into the dollhouse narrative until thinking of the film as an art piece describing the mother's grief over the "death" of her daughter. Oh my god. This is like scratching a really ferocious itch that's been stuck behind a cast.

WHAT DO U MEAN "you're not going to like this"??? MAY, YOU'RE A GENIUS

Great analysis, May! I think it's so well supported by the movie that I'd be surprised if it wasn't canon. The daughter's name being "Charlie", for one, seems to be a possible wink and a nudge towards this, but the real nail in the coffin is them using "Paimon" specifically as the demon people are possessed by. Paimon is a mythological figure outside the movie as well, and is described as having "a woman's face" but a masculine identity. This interpretation *has* to be intended, right?

FUN FACT: My good buddy was IN THIS MOVIE! He played the stoner best friend to the son.

Watching this in 2020 rn as a trans girl, and there's something you missed here that fits into the take you've got running here. In Satanic semiotics, the headless man is a common symbol of wisdom. All of the people in the film who are decapitated provide the wisdom to complete the transition, the lessons you learn from the people who support you, who don't, and your former self.

This hot take really knocked my head off! Right off of my neck even!! Thanks!

It's so refreshing to see an interpretation of this movie outside of the 'simple' mental illness explanation. I think the film more than supports it, seeing as it demonstrates early on that the mother takes liberties on what happened in her pieces, preferring metaphor to strict realism (ex: the grandmother feeding charlie is said in a normal way, like she was bottle feeding, but the mother's minature has the grandmother taking out her breast to literally feed her as someone would their own child). This interpretation also makes the 'stop looking at me with that face on your face' line that much more poignant as the mother sees the sons face covering the *real* face of her *real* child. Awesome work!!

Super interesting take on the movie. A couple related thoughts, I don't think the mom interacts with the son at all until he asks to borrow the car to go to the party, in which case her immediate reaction is to make sure he brings his sister along. You could interpret that as the mother not acknowledging the male side of her daughter until she is suspicious something is up, where she then insists tries to fight it. She (maybe subconsciously, maybe in hindsight) knows something is up and is resistant to what's about to happen. Also interesting is the invite to the party the son's friend says something like "Big party at so-and-so's house, be sure to bring your dick". Which on face value is just kind of a funny thing to say, but in this context it's certainly interesting.

I’m glad someone put out a sophisticated theory on the trans perspective of this movie. It reminds me of when I first came out as trans and my mother said in passing conversation “it feels like there’s this cult that has stolen my daughter from me.”

this take especially explains the moment where annie refers to (deadnames) peter as "charlie" on the phone to her husband, omg

I don't know what's better, this wonderfully done analysis or that sweet Goosebumps shirt

Your perspective on horror is always so thoughtful and refreshing. I wish more people would be willing to give the work credit and dig below the surface in the way that you do.

I was also surprised that i havent seen this interpretation before. At first i thought this would be a "the real monster is mental illness" story but i picked up on trans themes early on and the ending confirmed it for me.

The last shot of the movie also supports this take. It's shot to look like another miniature, and includes the three beheadings in literal form (the head on the Paimon statue is Charlie's).

I wasn't sure how I felt about it but when you first dropped the take, but this actually makes the film so much more interesting to me. It really does reflect what its like to come out as trans. My parents were mostly supportive of me, but my mom expressed to me that she felt like her daughter had died. And after I told her, she told me she'd need time to process it. It took 3 days before she got back to me, as if I told her a loved one had died. And both my parents, despite making efforts to use my new name and pronouns still have a hard time letting go of the past. My mom repeatedly told me to try to see it from her perspective, how she had all these expectations and dreams for me and how it felt like they all crumbled when I told her - again, as if her daughter had died. If you view the movie through this lens, it reflects alot of really common experiences for trans people coming out to their families. Obviously its through an incredibly twisted perspective, but its still reflective nonetheless. Thanks for making this video! I love to see these kinds of deeper interpretations of movies that don't always take it literally. Keep up the great work!

I love the interpretation, but....what was the baby noise?

Watched the movie yesterday and just noticed something. It starts the same way it ends in a way. With Peter being "woken up" and being put in an "attire" (suit/crown) for a cultural ritual.

When I went and saw this movie, right at the end where the light shines on Peter's back (you know what I'm talking about), the video feed for the theater cut out and it was just me and a full house of theater goers sitting in the dark, looking at a blank blackish-red screen with vague movement sounds. For like 4 minutes, until partway through the scene in the treehouse. Then a theater worker came in and announced that they were gonna rewind the movie five minutes because of technical difficulties, but before they did that, I was honestly thinking that the movie had just pulled some Kubrick shit.

Am I the only on that thought the movie had moments of humor? It is a day-wrecker with the depressing plot points but many of the horror scenes, particularly toward the end, felt thrilling in a way that made me laugh and say ‘haha oh fuck’. Many scenes also had that lynchian not-sure-if-I-should-laugh-or-hide throughout the movie. Strangely, the horror elevated the depressing elements.

After seeing the footage from that convention, I can now confidently say that how you spend your free time is pretty much exactly how I pictured it.

This was so strange to watch cos you're describing something very close to my life experience 😂 I'm a trans guy and my mother hates me and my dad is meh about it and my grandma is the only one who kind of understands... Weird. Great video! Fascinating to watch

2 VIDS ONE WEEK?!?!?!? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS

Spoilers ahead: A small detail that really hits home is during the dream sequence when she says "I never wanted to be your mother... she forced me," it fits well into your theory. She never wanted her child to transition or be acknowledged as a boy, but her mother (the grandmother) was obviously very supportive of her grandson.

This theory makes to much sense to me. I mean there's even a scene when the dad calls and asks her to guess who called from school and she says Charlie and then quickly dismisses it. Also the fact that he seems to have allergic reactions just like she did after she dies.

Another theory connected to this: The grandma was a lesbian. Joan was possibly her lover and that's why Annie also imagines her as a villain. Annie saw her child coming out as transgender as something hereditary, as if it was the grandma's fault.

Hey Nyx, would you say then that the movie due to its ending completely validates the boy's transition even though it is the mother's story? Cause in the end she's helpless to see all of this happen, and the son ends up being worshipped and adored by a big group of people, which does not include her, cause she's "the victim TM".

For me, when Annie is tearing through that old box and pulls out the baby blanket the grandmother made and it says in BIG letters "Charles", that was the clincher for me. I was already feeling the transgender thematic elements, but that to me seems a purposeful nod of intention on the director's part. When I saw that, my mind boggled with questions. "Oh shit! Was Charlie AMAB?" and "Could they're be an intersex element?", since hermaphroditic traits became heavily demonized with the development of medieval Christianity in Europe. Illuminated and woodcut devils were routinely given mixed sex characteristics along with hybridized bestial elements. Also the Baphomet, obviously. Also intersex disorders often are actually hereditary. But by the end, this seems to be an FTM story to me. I've heard most people describe the finale as a downer ending, but I just felt transfixed by the eerie haunting beauty of the dream-like ritual and psycho-supernatural elements and more importantly a weird sense of elation that I didn't understand at first. "Maybe it's just relief that the torture for these characters is over", but it was really the comforting cooing words of the Joan character that just sealed things in a nice warm envelope for me. Within a thematic trans narrative, Joan is the liberal family friend validating and reaffirming an empowering identity for Peter. When Peter "was" Charlie, he was a very lonely isolated awkward child. It is his mother who never lets him forget that past, her forcing him to take Charlie with him to the party could be representative of her criticizing or outright invalidating his gender expression. "I can see that thing you wear to bind your chest, don't you think you should change into a thicker shirt?" Something nasty like that just puts his headspace back into that unaccepted weirdo kid he felt like. Peter just wants a normal life as a teenage boy, he wants to get close to a girl and experience that part of his sexual awakening, but while at that party he has those insecure thoughts. He starts to feel anxious as if people see right through him, right to that little "girl" he feels hopelessly chained to, dragging "her" behind him. Through the events of the film, were see the progression of Peter's identity and development of his psyche. Charlie is his Id, through "her" constant chocolate eating and disregard for socializing, motivated only by a deep and mysterious inner feeling. Peter is his own Ego and core, perhaps not perfect but to call him selfish would be unfair, especially when contrasted with his mother who has to have everything on her terms only. Thus Paimon could be seen as the Superego, the higher self that Peter is on the path to becoming. Paimon is a beloved and adored demon god, he may not be accepted by wider society, but to the witches he is a supernatural wonder and source of joy and even prosperity and wealth. Paimon may have once had the face of a maiden, but he is now in his proper bodily form that accords with his true nature. With the beheadings of his maternal grandmother, mother, and female child form, the matrilineal branch of his heritage is disconnected from his identity. He transcends the expectation of playing a role as a supporting female witch in a crone-mother-daughter goddess triad. He is a singular deity, a god and a devil and a prince, all at once. Sooo yeah, actually a pretty happy ending! Sorta.

That is an interesting take on the symbolism of the film. I have to say art in general is beautiful for its ability to translate into so many layers and meanings to different perspectives, and this includes film. I have quite a number of trans friends at the moment and I can see how the symbolism would fit in the various situations I have known them to face. Real life can be scarier than any film.

Hey Nyx? Best take. Really appreciate your reasoning on the movie and the analysis of the narrative versus the meta narrative. Especially considering I’m nonbinary myself it’s really refreshing to see people noticing when there’s an intended trans character or it deals with transgender issues, even when it needs digging to be found.

i'm extremely sensitive to gore, so at first i was like, there's absolutely no way i'm watching this. but after hearing your theory about it being a trans metaphor, and lining that up with my own experiences as a trans masculine person, i think i might brave the gore just to see for myself. coincidentally, decapitation was a theme in my own struggles as a trans person. it was a kind of way for me to express that i "don't have a face," ie, the face i see every day isn't mine, so it would be easier if i could just... pop my own head off. this also had to do with deeper identity issues involving a whole lot of depersonalization, but it's interesting to me to see that parallel from my own life in what you described. everything you talked about, down to the son's feeling of "maybe i really am still my mother's daughter, what if i'm lying to myself and i'm not what i say i am" is something i've felt in my life, and sometimes still feel. as well as that, my best friend told me that when he came out as trans to HIS mother, she said that she felt like her daughter had died. she said that directly to him. i haven't seen the movie so i can't be like "yeah, you're right," but i can offer up the fact that parents sometimes do react in ways this drastic. and trans people (as you know, obviously) sometimes do feel about themselves in such ways because of the complete rejection they face from the people they love. i'm still not sure if i'll actually watch the movie, but thank you for this video.

I got PTSD hearing you talk about this. That movie will definitely stay with me for a long time, possibly until I die.

super interesting video! i think another moment for this theory is the fact that after charlie dies the mother sleeps in her treehouse almost every night. it'd be metaphor/symbol/idk for the mother being unable to let go and sort of trying to live in the past, like as long as she sleeps in the treehouse as charlie did then some part of her will still be there. plus the fact that every time we see the treehouse's heat lamp turn on during this "mourning" sequence it's from inside peter's room. every night he watches his mother trying to pretend or wishing that she still had a daughter

Woah. I was totally with you and then you came in with the hottest take. The transgender idea never crossed my mind at all, but I think it's a really cool interpretation. I was thinking of it more as the mother being selfish and refusing to take responsibility for her actions. I think people immediately associating this with mental illness is similar to the surface-level description of It Follows being about STDs. Like, I could see why people would think that, but that's definitely not as interesting as it being about the inevitability of death, or in this case, a person who can't take responsibility for her actions and the terrible consequences that has for her family and the transgender interpretation as well. Thanks for the really insightful, detailed analysis!

i was not expecting this wildly hot take omg. i saw the movie once on opening night and again a week later and i knew there was some sort of meta narrative watching it the second time but i could not figure out what. and that 15 minute sequence in the middle of the movie was 100% the most jarring thing ive experienced in at least 4 months

That polar bear scares me..... More then Hereditary.

Saw this fucking masterpiece past sunday at the night screening and was the only one there. One of the most impactfull and terrifying movie experiences I've ever had. Ps: is the skeleton ever coming back? We miss it 💕

This seems so clear and perfect. This is the only read of the film I’ve heard that actually addresses all of the loose ends, and I’m totally convinced. This analysis gave me the same “wow” feeling as your video on Eraserhead. Keep up the great work, May! I don’t think I could have figured this out on my own, even though it seems obvious in retrospect.

Interesting take on the meta narrative, that's very interesting. I love hearing different analysis of movies especially one like this, or 'Mother', 'The neon demon', ' Under the skin', 'The Witch','Black Swan', ' Enter the void' or any Gaspar Noe movie or Lars von Trier, etc.all these rich metaphorical films with all these yummy layers to peel and analize, is something I truly enjoy about films like this. Seriously thanks for giving me another way to see this film, keep up the awesome work!

Nyx glad your doing better for yourself than a few months ago

man this bit pretty hard because i remember when i first came out and my parents were all "this is just as hard for us too"...i felt like such an asshole and i still kinda do sometimes. i feel like we're demonized in this way for something we can't control.

Now that's a spicy take

I love seeing takes that are different from what I’m used to seeing. What a fresh and interesting view of this movie! also makes the dads point of view a lot more understandable, seeing him as a “supportive but still struggling” figure

holy shit the line "I've got a son to protect, that's all I'm worried about right now" !!!!

NyxFears: "This is my hot take on- " *me kool-aid man-ing through the wall* "OH? PLEASE, TELL ME MORE!" boy do I love doll houses. they're such good metaphors. Its part of what immediately endears me to this movie. I'm not sure if I'm going to watch it - I feel like it would be like having a conversation with my mother. The expirience of this move is valuable but I'm not sure it's entirely enjoyable. Love your analysis as always! I'm glad I get to enjoy this movie without actually having to put myself through it. p.s. I love ur shirt! I'm almost certain you've worn it before lol but I love those old goosebumps covers and I'd love to know where you got it!

Yesss I totally agree I was excited for this vid to be public 👀 (trans horror pals unite) 🎃

Man, the mother character definitely sounds almost exactly like my mom. I was worried this movie was going to be eugenics heavy but thankfully it's not from the way you described it. There's too many horror movies (Read: more than zero.) that blame mental illness and disability for the world's problems.

I am not a frequent commenter, but I really like this analysis of this movie. To strengthen your argument, Nyx; When the mother forces him take "take his sister" to the party this can be read as a forcing of gendered dress as a condition of being allowed to attend the party.

This is a really interesting take on the movie! It's cool that you mention that her dioramas are her ways of rationalising/metaphorically posing things that have happened in her life because that seems like something that's sort of obvious when you look at the scenes she makes of her mum (i.e. her in bed with baby Charlie and her mother offering her breast to breastfeed Charlie - indoctrinating or influencing her daughter from her perspective), but you sort of think that the accident scene is literal because that's what you JUST saw in the movie. But it totally makes sense that it wouldn't necessarily be literal and would be how she viewed a particular event. I remember an interesting detail that someone mentioned that supports the framing through the dollhouse idea is how the headless mother just floats up to the tree house at the end, like she's a doll being moved by someone outside. I'd really like to look more into the lore on Paimon because I'd be real interested to see how they intersect (especially with your take). The way this movie dealt with grief was amazing. Toni Colette is amazing. This movie shredded me into a raw bundle of nerves, A+++

Very interesting take! I honestly didn’t like the ending of the movie when I first watched it because I felt like it demystified the entire ordeal. But upon listening to your interpretation, I think the ending makes way more sense. The treehouse was Charlie’s refuge, and to the mother, her refuge when dealing with the loss of Charlie. The cult leading the son into the treehouse signified that the mother’s last area of comfort for dealing with Charlie had been taken over by the demon. Charlie had finally transitioned. The connection to Paemon that is important (and this is just my interpretation), is that Paemon represents financial wealth, but since the Grandmother was wealthy, and loved Charlie, the financial wealth equates to love and support. The mother sees Charlie’s transition as wrong, and is jealous of the Grandma heaping love and affection on Charlie instead of her.

Wow I LOVED this. I've been so confused and looking up stuff and trying to come up with my own interpretation but this one makes a ton of sense. However my take is a couple of different things. One: it could be completely literal (I doubt that though). Two: The daughter really does die horrifically, but the rest of the movie is the mother trying to cope with the loss, and after that scene, the movie changes to the perspective of her miniatures and how she tells herself "oh she couldn't have died for no reason theres got to be more to it". Three: The entire thing is her psychosis slowly breaks down the family and the entire movie is her miniatures and she blames literal demons instead of her own "demons".

Very good points, definitely agree with several points. Some thoughts from me. The doll house felt to me like Annie's brain as she was dealing with the trauma, full of rooms and doors to things she doesn't want to deal with. Her viewpoint of placing blame on everyone else but herself can be a totally natural reaction to grief, but it also reminded me of someone I know who happens to have borderline personality disorder, which I know you said felt too on the nose and surface level. Maybe it's because the Satanic cult reminded me of the child abuse hysteria of the 80s, but I also had this theory that Charlie was being abused by the grandmother, who had also abused Annie when she was a child. I dunno, maybe I'm way off.

Yes I've been waiting for this, didn't disappoint! Also, I miss Remington, it has been so long :(

I'm gonna sound SO extra when I say this but YOUR VIDEO CLEANSED MY SOUL OF ALL THE DOUBTS I HAD ABOUT MY INTERPRETATION. I was convinced after I saw the movie (by after I mean after I waded through the mire and awe that this movie through at me) that this entire film was a double entendre and could be seen through two different lenses. The literal and the figurative. I was sure of this because of the way the settings were constantly filmed as though they were miniatures and the fact that there were certain shots and scenes that didn't completely align with any one interpretation. IMAGINE MY FREAKIN' SURPRISE when NO ONE is talking about the film complexly and only discussing the linear plot as if that's all there is to the film! I thought I was going crazy thinking that there was more to the picture. You never disappoint in any of your videos and in this one you managed to completely articulate my frustration and bewilderment surrounding the discussion of this film as a literal narrative while introducing entirely new points and concepts that I hadn't even thought of I was awaiting your response on Hereditary and it was one of the only meaningful videos I've seen on this film. Many thanks.

I, personally, don't agree with this interpretation, but I still LOVE it. Everyone is going to glean different things from a certain movie based on their experiences or opinions. And this movie is great in that it's meant to mirror and represent the generic feeling of "family drama" or "family hardship". And obviously, that looks different for every family. So it's really cool to see a take on the film like this. Freaking love it, man.

me watching Hereditary: hmn why does this daughter character feel uncomfortably relatable me after this video: Ah Thats Why

even if this isn't what the director intended, it leads to a much more interesting perspective on the film. love it, really interesting.

The lying awake while possibly trying to sleep while an inevitable revelation is about to take place is what gets me. This is how I flunked my first studies. Basically, being the anti-social being that I am, I kind of missed half of the classes not even knowing they were actually taking place because I missed the message boards and social media and whatnot.

Omg yes, your take is the absolute best thing. I feel like your take fits so much with this movie, and I really like this.

You rock May, thanks for the double uploads!

That was brilliant! I won't watch Hereditary, I'm too squeamish, but this take is really interesting, and I need to make all of my friends your patrons, 'cause I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE ABOUT YOUR STUFF RIGHT AFTER I SEE IT.

While I don’t think that your interpretation was purposefully written into the screenplay (I could always be wrong, but I haven’t heard anything from the interviews with Ari Aster), I do appreciate your personal take on the story. That’s the powerful thing about art and I appreciate your take:)

This movie traumatized me. The scene where the brother is trying to look into the rear view mirror but keeps looking away will haunt my ass to the grave. This is the hottest hot take, I’m so glad you put it in words xx

That dancing polar bear person is officially my new god.

I love this one, I've watched it multiple times. Such a great take, my favourite of all the takes that I've heard.

I... love this. I love this theory, I love this take. you never fail to surprise me by how you read into and understand the intention of film. I just love you, May.

so i waited until i watched the movie a couple times before i watched this to avoid spoliers and see if my initial conclusions and analysis made sense, and they did. they also line up with yours. as a trans man the charlie/peter/paimon thing really resonated with me a lot. so did the mother's reaction to it all as that's how my father and grandparents all reacted. the grandmother's relationship with charlie was a lot like my mom's with me and how she's always been accepting and would even introduce me to lgbt friends of hers (the cult) to me so i'd have an easier time coping and finding myself. after my first watch i joked about how spent the whole movie looking at peter as "body goals" and it turns i wasn't the only one, but the second viewing that stayed in the back of my mind and ended up becoming more than a joke as i watched it play out. my first viewing i watched it and overlooked the dollhouse analysis but the second time it suddenly smacked me in the face and i couldn't unsee that metaphor. i ended up watching a transition from the point of view of an unaccepting relative trying to rationalize things. charlie's conversation about how she should have been a boy and the fact that she was 13 (the same age i began to really wonder) was eerily similar to the "you're not a boy, it's normal to be a tomboy" conversations i'd have as a kid. the dinner scene made me suddenly think of those rough nights where i'd try to stick up for myself and demand validation only to be guilted and shamed into silence. the scene where the mother tries to bring charlie back through the seance suddenly felt less like a run of the mill horror scene and suddenly brought back vivd memories of attempts at conversion therapy. plus peter was around the age in which i began to fully try and embrace it and come out but was often forced back in the closet, which took a toll on my personal life and caused me to act out and self harm. the first time i watched it i was terrified because the movie really does kill you and is full of insane and horrific stuff that happens all at once without stopping. but my second watch? it suddenly became strangely comforting to me knowing that, in the end, charlie got her body and found acceptance. it was a lot like when i watched nightmare on elm st 2 as a kid repressing their identity vs how i watch it now as a fully out gay man, those metaphors suddenly jump out at me whether they were intentional (like elm st) or not. a lot of horror movies that scared me then suddenly make more sense and even comfort me now because the allegories used or connections that could be made relate to parts of me that i used to fear but now accept and even embrace ranging from sexuality and gender to mental illness to surviving trauma. the reason i don't think a lot of people look at horror like that though is because it deals with themes not everyone can relate to, understand, or want to acknowledge due to discomfort. i also think that's why a lot of lgbt, mentally ill, and traumatized people gravitate to horror and especially like movies like this, ones the mainstream doesn't "get" and takes at face value, the subtext becomes bold and we see things others don't and we understand what the movie is trying to say or what could be taken from it. a lot of cis people would probably argue and say i'm just projecting, and maybe they're right, but in the end i and many other trans people are coming to a similar conclusion and i dont think that's just a coincidence. there are reasons gay people and addicts project on vampires, bi people project on werewolves, trauma suvivors project on final girl slasher flicks, lesbians project on movies like jennifer's body, mentally ill people project on possession and supernatural horror, and trans people are projecting on movies like hereditary. we see them and we get it in a way you only could if you were going through it. it's a lot harder not to see it when it directly parallels with your life. and sometimes the allegory is intentional (like how some vampire movies are explicitly about addiction or some gay coded horror movies are doing it to start that conversation), but a lot of the time it just happens and unless you're going through that struggle, you're not gonna see what we see. and in this case trans people are all watching this movie and walking away with feelings amd conclusions cis people most likely wouldn't. (this was a lot longer than i intended but i just have so much to say about hereditary and the use of horror to talk about difficult and demonized things in general. it's so much more than movies meant to scare and disturb you and not enough people give tthe genre the credit and thought it deserves.)

this movie has quite literally traumatized me. my anxiety has increased a ton, i can’t watch horror anymore, i have sleep issues, etc. like i have dreams about it. i had to skip the clips you included because they made me so nauseous. i don’t know why it affected me so much. i’ve never had a movie do that.

I got a very different impression from the movie, which is that the elders sacrificed their own children and grandchildren to steal their inheritance, with the middle generation either being clueless or foolishly complicit. Thanks though, this is an interesting alternate take!

I've been looking forward to your review of Hereditary since I experienced it last weekend! I don't know if I agree with your interpretation but it's an interesting take on the film. I loved it and can't wait to see it again, I still have questions about Annie and the role of perspective in the story. Whatever Aster had in mind, it was a satisfying, refreshing story and as exciting to watch as it was heartbreaking. Thanks for more great content, much love! Hope your move is going smoothly.

Definitely the most original take I've seen yet, and your points really make sense! I wanted to know what you thought about the age differences between Charlie and Peter. According to how you see the movie, what is the true age of Charlie/Peter? I feel like from your interpretation, Charlie's younger age can be taken as the time period in her life when she started to feel like she didn't belong in a female body. From what I remember, Charlie was 13, which is smack dab in the heart of puberty. Forgive me if I'm assuming, but I feel as though this is a prime age for young people to start coming to terms with the fact that they don't belong in their gender assigned by birth. I also think that it's interesting to see that the grandma's demon possession plans occur right around the time Peter is showing romantic interest in a female classmate. The fact that Peter hides where he's going (to that girl's party rather than a school dinner idk I forgot exactly what it was) might mean that he would be ashamed to admit to his mom that he likes a girl, as he has not come out to his mom yet. I know that being a trans boy does not mean that you like girls, so I'm not completely sold on this idea, but it would fit the narrative in this case. Charlie dies after he goes to this party, and that might be because Peter is finally ready to admit to his mom that he isn't a girl anymore. I hope you're able to figure out what I'm saying lawl I'm very bad at articulating my thoughts.

haha, when I saw the movie I was definitely thinking about trans themes with paimon wanting/needing a male body. didn't think both children could be interpreted as the same person though! I like this interpretation and would definitely love to listen to more about it :D

Maybe you did and I missed it, but I heard in another analysis that the demon they name is actually historically depicted as a male demon with a feminine face, which further supports your theory.

This is my new favorite analysis of this film. I’m a new fan to your channel but this one has completely sold me honestly. Keep up the amazing work, your videos have really helped fill my need for conversation about films and the art behind them. Also you’re just extremely relatable and are the exact representation I need in my RU-vid feed

I went back and watched this after I saw you mention you made a video on Hereditary as a trans allegory in your tier list video. It's a very interesting take, especially when you view it from the "mother is an unreliable narrator" point of view rather than it being taken literally (this is also how I view the movie the Babadook, BTW). And I agree with several aspects of it, I just think sadly it's entirely unintentional as Ari Aster has said up front this movie is an allegory for generational mental illness (along with Midsommer being a story about toxic relationships and gaslighting). Both the cult aspect and the literal "losing of heads" is meant to be symbolic of serious mental illness in the family that can often make people seem distant and self-centered alongside paranoia (and at the very start of the movie with the obituary and the eulogy, it's even said the mother character had a brother named Charles, presumably who Charlie was named after/represents, who committed suicide, and during the group therapy scene she says it's because he was battling schizophrenia, although later in the cultist storyline it's reinterpreted, although not overtly, that her mother was also trying to make him a vessel for Paimon).

One thing i thought of after thinking your take over is that the scene where the daughter cutd off the birds head could be read as thoughts of dysphoria and wanting to transition, which the mother views as taking her daughter away. Theres also the scene where she says she never wanted the son which she finds justifiable but which burns the son to the core

Fun fact: one of my friends very briefly dated Ari Aster before he was famous, while this movie was being finished up. Part of why they couldn't really continue dating was because he was always travelling around for making his movie. Apparently he was nice enough, and incredibly short, which always makes me feel better about myself when I hear about famous people being short because I'm short. Anyways, I like your interpretation.

As a trans person, this is an amazing take thank you so much. I love the in depth analysis you always present, especially in this video. I love this so much

I really loved the movie, I thought it was great and your interpretation is super interesting. That being said, this movie truly upset the shit out of me. It was one of the hardest movies to sit through. Extremely disturbing and painful and I really hope people know that when they go in to it. Watch it if you’re up for it. I honestly wasn’t and it affected me very negatively.

Hereditary isn’t terrifying but it’s one of the best mystery movies I’ve seen in a long time. The amount of craftsmanship and detail that went into this movie is breathtaking.

Oh, I hadn't ever looked at it this way, I love it. Another movie that's definitely happening via interpretation is Atonement and it can send you down a similar "what was real and what was her interpretation" thought process and I love it.

Hi! Just here to let you know I found your channel uhh yesterday I think (saw on twitter that Three Arrows liked your video about IT, shoutout to him and his good channel) and I'm binging thru all your videos as we speak. Great work, I've really enjoyed everything I've watched so far! Keep up the good work! ♥

To validate your theory further, after watching the movie I was reading up on various aspects of the plot and, on the wikipedia article about Paimon, describing his appearance: "The Goetia itself makes no mention of King Paimon's face, while the rest describe him as having a woman's face but still refer to him using masculine pronouns." I watched the movie yesterday and watching your video today gives me chills. I'm more horrified now because your theory fits so perfectly. Like, fuck, this matches so much of my reality and explains why I had certain nonchalant reactions to various parts of the film. Your theory really enriches my own experience thinking about it now. Thank you!

I.... actually really enjoyed this interpretation. Now I have another very cool meta-textual context for an already amazingly haunting flick.

You had to watch that Demon House movie. Now your life is spooked.

I went into Hereditary thinking it would be a typical ghost story with the dead mom but boy oh boy was I wrong. It scared the everloving fuck out of me, mainly because the atmosphere and pacing are so good. I think that what makes it the most frightening is that all of this is happening within a family. Family is supposed to be your one safe space no matter what in the world, and when that dynamic is ruined, it’s even more terrifying. The actors here make you believe that they are a family, and you end up caring about their struggles and the dynamic between them all. With generic slasher characters, you don’t give two shits about them. You WANT the Freddy or Jason or Michael Myers to kill them because you’re detached. Hereditary takes away that sense of detachment and just decides to throw everything you think you know right out the window.

This was a very interesting interpretation. I'm a very literal person so it's always nice to see these sorts of themes and more open elements of movies explored and expanded upon with people who think more creatively about what is happening on screen.

I see I’m about a year late 😅 but my god I thoroughly enjoyed this. Notice that, at the end of the movie when Peter is “possessed” and he and the cult followers are in the treehouse, the mother and the grandmother’s body are bowing to the golden idol with Charlie’s rotten old face on it, while the rest are bowing directly to Peter?

I totally see the trans thing. It parallels parts of my own coming out experience; minus the satanic cults.

As a mom who goes to bed super early, I have now become the person I am now...sitting here after midnight trying to convince myself "just one more video". It's never just one more lol I live here now. EDIT: Halfway through the video. Wow. I will never see this movie any other way. And being new to your channel, and this being the oldest video I've seen so far, and knowing what I know now, this video was definitely an experience to watch. So much support your way! Also, this is one of my favorite movies and I cannot believe you just entirely changed the way I see this, and I need to go watch it again right now.

my favorite takes, the hot kind

I saw this video when you put it out, and at that point I hadn’t started my transition yet. I was thinking about this movie and how deeply it resonated with me, especially Peter’s character. But I think I like this movie so much because of the theoretical trans allegory

If I go with your interpretation, keeping Charlie away from "Nuts" is also interesting and hilarious. It is only when Peter/Charlie get to the party and go up to the girl they like (who sees them as Both of themselves/ and is a little reluctant) do they " Get them Nuts!" Which exictes them and literally kills Charlie. Stunning. Fuck yeah for ART!!

Boy does this take hit real hard in current political discourse, with transphobes accusing allies of “grooming”

Okay I know this is an old video but I love this take!!!!! I hated Hereditary so much. I love horror but it didn't feel like horror to me, it just felt like a wildly horrific/gruesome family tragedy with a tacky 'spooky demon cult' ending (though I've always loved the final image of it). I was taking it too literally - I think the trauma of its depiction of grief was really painful and made it hard for me to really think deeply about it in a way I'm not used to. I haven't seen it or thought deeply about it since the day I saw it in the cinema. I've wondered how the same director could make a film as good as Midsommar after making a film as bad as Hereditary - clearly I just need to give Hereditary more credit! Thanks for the insight.

I'm trans. I was Charlie's age when the movie came out, but didn't watch it until the other day. I looked and acted like Charlie as a kid- I don't have cleidocranial dysplasia, but I had long, tangled, dirty blond hair, stared at the ground constantly, and carried (and still carry) a sketchbook with me at all times. I was also almost in a fatal car crash when I was 11, so that scene really got to me But the other scene that really got to me was the very end. I'm not a big horror guy, but I've never seen a movie that ends with the monster being comforted. With him being welcomed home with soft words and reassurances that he is finally ok. That he has a place now. That it'll be alright and safe and he doesn't have to fear anymore.

I can totally understand where you're coming from. I think the movie is open to interpretation in a lot of ways. It all depends on who watches it I think. I do agree that is all in her interpretation if real events. More than the opening shot there are other ways to tell that it's all through the lens of her art. There are several shots in tilt-shift that make locations appear to be her miniatures several times throughout the movie as if to remind us that it is all still in her interpretation of the world. Personally, despite it being a bit cliche, I interpreted it through the lens of my experiences of mental illness to be about mental illness and how if it isn't spoken about and hidden it can tear people apart. For a very long time I hid my mental illness and suicidal ideations from my family. That is until it started just ripping me a new one. I started to get very sick as a result of my severe anxiety. The fact that I didn't speak about it with my family and get support was what was the most harmful part. Now of course I can't even begin to speculate on the nature of what is going on with her, but there was a triggering incident where it came to the point of her having a choice to speak about it with her family or not. Obviously she hid it and all the ways she tried to cope on her own stacked up and stacked up until things fell apart. What happens to each of her family members is kind of how her problems interfere with her relationship with each one. From there I interpreted the support group to be how she is managing her problems on her own and eventually that is what eventually causes everything to fall completely apart. The art pieces are how this manifests I think. When her husband comes across her making a diorama of how she interprets her relationship with her daughter it is met with disgust. This happened with me when i would make my art. Sometimes themes are disturbing and people didn't know me would be put off by it. It's because they didn't know how I was expressing myself and only saw it objectively. Now for myself, once I told my family what was going on with me and got professional help I feel that it's brought me closer to my family in general. However for the mom she made the choice to keep that part of herself secret from the people who love her the most and so it ultimately severed her from them. Now family is kind of a loose thing for me. Of course some people can't trust their blood family and can't tell them what's going on; I understand that. What I mean by telling and communicating with "family" about your problems is the people closest to you in life. The people who truly love you for who you are.

This is such an excellent analysis and theory! It really helps to pull together several elements of the film that I'd previously been able to reconciles with the way in which I was trying to read the narrative. Now I absolutely cannot wait to see it again with this interpretation in the forefront of my mind to see how everything lines up with it. Excellent piece, as always, May!