The Art of Disengagement

Midsommar, The Mimetics of Stoning, and subversion.

René Girard once remarked that the Egyptian pyramids—stone monuments constructed over the tops of dead kings—were architectural designs that symbolized something more profound in human behavior. The pyramids, he said, are a reflection of what a pile of rocks looks like after a collective stoning. Art reflects nature.

“There is no culture without a tomb and no tomb without a culture; in the end the tomb is the first and only cultural symbol. The above-ground tomb does not have to be invented. It is the pile of stones in which the victim of the unanimous stoning is buried. It is the first pyramid.” ­—René Girard

The pyramidal design of the Egyptians was not used for aesthetic reasons. It was used because it most accurately reflected a cultural truth: ritualized violence, covered up under layer upon layer of culture.

This week I’ll give the hidden backstory to the events that take place in the 2019 horror film Midsommar.

First, a word on stoning.

The Mimetics of Stoning

Where did the phrase …