If you’re wondering, both sides are calling the other “misogynistic” for their stance.View Entire Post ›
Spoilers for Obsession ahead.
This article mentions sexual assault.
Earlier this year, literally everybody was talking about YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Curry Barker’s debut theatrical film, Obsession — and for good reason.
But if you’re one of the few people who still haven’t seen it, the supernatural, psychological horror follows a young man named Bear, whose life changes when he wishes for his friend and longtime crush, Nikki, to love him “more than anyone in the fucking world.”
What follows is a performance of a lifetime from 25-year-old Inde Navarrette, who plays Nikki. Fully under the control of Bear’s wish, her behavior instantly becomes completely unhinged and, at times, truly terrifying.
Notably, the movie is ultimately about male entitlement, control, and the violation of bodily autonomy, among other themes, with some people grouping Obsession in with an unofficial sub-genre of horror referred to as “incel horror,” which shines a light on the sinister side of the supposed “nice guy.”
And the film has made such an impact that on Sunday, it was announced that the character of Nikki will be at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights this year. Per the Hollywood Reporter, the event’s creative director, John Murdy, said during a panel at MidsummerScream: “Nikki is out there somewhere, you need to get into a Where’s Waldo?-type mentality. She might be looking for her next obsession, and I’ll leave it at that.”
He added to Inside Universal: “It’s a specific choice of which version of her we wanted to really focus on, and it’s the version at the very end of the film where she’s all bloody, she’s taken her friend’s dress, and she’s drawn the tattoos all over her body.”
However, this announcement may not have landed how Universal anticipated, with social media genuinely exploding with discourse off the back of the news. On one side, we have people expressing their disgust at Nikki being presented as a horror movie villain, considering she is undoubtedly the victim. As mentioned, everything that she does in the movie is a result of Bear’s wish, and at one point, Bear is shown having sex with a despondent Nikki.
One popular quote-tweet of Universal’s announcement reads: “This is really undeniably pretty fucking stupid. I get it biggest movie of the year but commercializing a character that in context of the film, a r*pe victim with no real autonomy, in your park is so insanely tone deaf. Its catering to the dumbasses who couldn’t read the films text for what it was. Really grossed out by this.”
“No joke, I love HHN, but Obsession at HHN is such a catastrophically bad idea and I question if anyone even watched the movie to even think this was a good idea at all Im not saying its a bad movie, its brilliant..but Nikki is a victim so what are we doing here,” somebody else tweeted. One more agreed: “I know people love this movie, and I agree it's a great movie, but turning Nikki, who is at the core of the film a victim of SA, into a cool horror icon feels like it misses the mark in a major way.”
However, many have argued that victims are often the villain in horror movies. Carrie, for example, embarks on her campaign of terror after being mercilessly bullied at school. Regan from The Exorcist is an innocent little girl who has been possessed. Jason from Friday the 13th was a little boy born with facial differences who was bullied at camp and died after falling into a lake. The list goes on.
And the defenders went so far as to argue that denying Nikki’s standing as a horror icon was representative of misogyny, with one viral tweet reading: “nikki deserves her spot in horror culture just as much as male horror movie characters who were also victims. you guys are turning a really good movie into something where nobody is allowed to enjoy because you just feel like proving to everyone how much you understand it.”
One more added: “I do think it's in fact more misogynistic to deny Nikki horror icon status just because she is also a victim. Why do female characters have to stay in the box of being a perfect victim? these same people will complain about not having enough female horror icons in the same breath.” Somebody else wrote: “Fascinating to see the ‘It's wrong to have Freaky Nikki as an HHN character because the real Nikki's a victim’ takes from people who've never complained when, say, Regan from The Exorcist is included.”
Another pointed out: “they aren’t adding nikki to halloween horror nights or whatever because she’s the villain they’re adding her because she’s the most iconic/recognizable thing from Obsession…no one would pay to see some guy dressed as bear. GET A GRIPP PEOPLE.” In a similar vein, another replied to somebody who argued that Bear is the real villain by noting: “I get what you're saying but the concept of going to Halloween Horror Nights and there's just a dude in a sweater walking around is really really funny.”
One more tweeted: “as much as I like Obsession, I think there’s a fundamental issue in how fans of it see the film, which is that they think Nikki being a victim makes her not a movie monster. She’s possessed, she walks in a creepy way, she kills people, she does jump scares. That’s a monster.”
And another concluded: “The discourse around this is so tired. Nikki is a FICTIONAL CHARACTER!! Many horror icons are victims. Carrie, jason, freddy fazbear, so why cant nikki be a horror icon?”
Well then, certainly a lot to think about! What do you make of Nikki’s horror icon status? Let me know in the comments below!
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.
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