Didn't see that coming

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

I'm about 35 minutes into "The Village."

Omigod! It's a Trollbabe story!

I'll post more later after seeing the whole thing.

Best,
Ron

[dunlaing]

According to my watch, it's "later." I'm interested in seeing the aforementioned "more" as I've just started a Trollbabe game and could use the added insight...

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

For those of you who don't know, the film includes a significant shift in the nature of the conflict partway through. I'm reluctant to elaborate on it (mentioning its existence is bad enough) for the sake of those who haven't seen it. And "spoiler warnings" are just jackoff noise; no one pays attention to them.

Anyway. I think the whole film is still a Trollbabe story, although less literally so than it initially appeared. It concerns an isolated, rural community which practices a set of rituals to maintain an uneasy truce with monsters living in the woods. The monsters are tall, shaggy, clawed creatures who eat meat (the villagers are vegetarians). The conflict in the movie concerns the desire of one or two younger community members to contact other communities ("the towns"), relying on their belief in the monsters' innate decency to keep them safe on their travels.

The fundamental question of the movie (answered, of course, in its entirety) is, What is the source of bestial harm - others/aliens, or ourselves? A few related questions include, Does lying to children really keep them safe?

The community definitely needs a trollbabe to wander through it. In the movie, the role is fulfilled by a young character who is effectively an outsider via her blindness.

Best,
Ron

[Valamir]

I seem to have vague recollections of telling you to go see this movie when it came out for precisely these reasons...

The significant shift partway through isn't really a spoiler since that's standard fair in pretty much all M.Night's flicks.  I just keep being surprised at how he manages to completely twist a movie without repeating the same formula.