re: Obsession (Curry Barker)

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But villain implies an intention to harm a hero. In this case there isn’t one except the demon.

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That is incorrect. A villain stands merely in opposition to the hero. Harm or not. A villain does not even need to be actively in control of their villain status, ie they just exist in opposition to the heroes journey by way of evil action in some form.


Bear is the villain.

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Does he really "know" though? Would it take more than that to come to indisputable terms that a stick that I bought from a novelty shop is magic, and possesses powers to actually grant a wish?

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At best she’s having a mental breakdown and clearly disturbed and he’s still taking full advantage.


He knows at some level the instant it happens. She instantly flips in her personality and attention to him. He gives himself excuses and plausible deniability to allow him to take advantage of the situation as long as he’s able to and even when shite goes way too far, he only tries to alter the wish despite all that, instead of something that could actually resolve it. He’s built her up in his mind as his dream girl, but he only really knows his obsession with her, rather than care about her and her wants in life. It’s a pretty obvious allegory for sexual assault and body autonomy.


There’s also a theory I heard that the entity that possessed Nikki is a manifestation of his obsession with her and is essentially Bear (or the essence of Bear) who is possessing her. There are times early on in after the wish where she mistakenly says something as if she were bear instead of Nikki. An interesting way to read it I thought.

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There’s also a theory I heard that the entity that possessed Nikki is a manifestation of his obsession with her

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So… I think the director came out and said there is no possession. There’s no entity. There’s only the horror of your sense of self and personhood is held prisoner by the rest of your mind.

Think about it like an alcoholic knowing drinking is bad for him and wanting to stop but being forced to do it against his will x 100

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Also… he continually makes cowardly decisions that hurt everyone around him.

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This was the through line in the movie. His ineptitude and cowardice. He’s scared to be honest with Nikki even though they’ve known each other since middle school. He neglects the cat, he’s lazy. All those aspects that have led to the situation we find him in at the start and cause the carnage once the wish takes place. Like Barker has said the wish brings about an extreme version of Nikki, it also causes an extreme version of Bear’s shortcomings.