Bugonia

“you’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling.”human’s will cause their own extinction. that’s a sentiment that’s been floating around, like an eerie prophecy. with the rise of ai, an impending nuclear war, the irresponsible greed and environmental neglect of corporations, the unquenchable drive for hatred of our own species, the future looks really bleak (we really don’t deserve our existences 😭).  we believe ostensibly that endings define things. our obsession with endings are reflected in the movie in many ways, suicide and death, through probably one of the most beautifully cathartic visual endings that i’ve ever seen, to the absurd style of orchestral music, that mimics the ironic “false endings” in the symphonies of gustav mahler (i adore the soundtrack so much😭), to the nihilistically bleak and somewhat isolated atmosphere throughout the movie, that feels ubiquitously out of evangelion.   * *but in hindsight, what does it matter?  “bugonia”, is the greek and mediterranean belief and ritual that decayed cow carcasses can transform into bees, and cow dung can revive and maintain hives. which symbolises the emergence of life from death and decay. it manifests itself in the oxymoronic humanistic message of the film that even if all human life disappears from earth, life will stubbornly exist. we, humans, are going to be temporary inhabitants in the vast history of the earth. we are but one speck of dust. just as dinosaurs once lived on earth, there will always be life on this planet, and species are meant to go extinct. so, we should stop acting like selfish and narcissistic pricks, acting like earth is our sandbox, and other earthly creatures are ours to rule over, because honestly, earth is so much better off without us. thematically, i think that leaning into the alien metaphor truly made the film for me. income inequality is probably one of the biggest injustices in the world, right behind geographical inequality. capitalism is genuinely the root of all evil. the billionaires who run our world are hoarding too much money, in the name of building a legacy. conspiracy theories are thus the product of disdain and frustration aimed at the establishment, and the powerlessness that comes with alienation. a type of self-radicalisation that disregards basic media literacy, because living life at the bottom of the capitalist pyramid disorientates and disillusions your mind to not being able to decipher what’s real and what’s fake. this phenomenon and lost of trust at institutions can only be amplified by the prominence of ai. teddy, in this movie, represents this archetype. the mentality that “my life is so shitty so my boss must be an alien”, and actually leaning into the metaphor, is the film agreeing with itself and emphasising that perspective. giving the pitiable conspiracy theorist, the benefit of the doubt. earth being flat, in the world of bugonia, also adds another ironic layer to this corporate anti-human  cosmic dark comedy. this was my entry into yorgo lanthimos, and i really enjoyed how ambiguous he made the themes, forcing us to really sit down with our thoughts, and discuss the movie. the music was super memorable, the cinematography made us feel like aliens observing the world. i loved how emma stone’s character actually fell in love with humanity the longer she lived in it. i loved the gore, the blood, the acting, the choreography of that fight scene at the dinner table. chappell roan and green day? i love this movie 😭😭** **