"Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet
Clear of the grave."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Florence Pugh as Dani in Midsommar (2019)
Tessa Thompson as Josie in Annihilation (2018)
Midsommar's Dani and Annihilation's Josie both succumb to the forces of nature in their respective films. Both characters journey into unknown territories: Dani travels to a reclusive tribe in Sweden; Josie investigates "the Shimmer," a mysterious zone at a meteorite crash site.
At the end of each of their journies, they are consumed and transformed. Dani is crowned as the May Queen and has to don a heavy, engulfing dress made of colorful flowers. Josie, due to the anomalous properties of the Shimmer, is transformed into a flower person.
Their transformations wouldn't be possible without their self-destruction first. By the point Dani is crowned as the May Queen, she has already imploded. She is suffering from the grief of the death of her family and the death of her relationship. Josie has witnessed the death of team members and is suicidal, indicated by the scars on her wrists.
They are both able to be reborn through nature, specifically flowers. Although the floral dress is heavy at first, at the end of the film, Dani wears it gleefully, becoming a new member of the tribe. Her past is behind her, and she has gained a new family. As Josie becomes a flower person, she can live and thrive without her sorrow and suicidal thoughts burdening her. She can escape everything.
The flowers consume these characters, but they also heal them.
Nature is beautiful. It is lush. It is colorful. It is magical. It is awe-inspiring. It is chaotic. Untamed. Indifferent. Life-giving. Life-taking. It is ever-evolving yet ever-unchanging. To take inspiration from the Emerson quote above, the same earth which gives vibrant flowers is the burial site for humanity. Everything begins and ends in the ground.
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