how many people have watched obsession? i'd really like to hear your guys' thoughts on what the cat symbolizes in the movie/how that fits into the message
Yess I was hoping someone would bring this up, but honestly it was shocking how it was brought back up many times, especially with the cause of death of the cat and owner. Those are my main thoughts on this, if you want you could explain what you think about it! ^^
yeah i feel like the parallel between how bear and sandy die was a choice that was definitely on purpose to show the audience something. so when nikki feeds his cat to him, it's attacking his autonomy (having something put being inside him against his will, to put it crudely). running with the parallels, maybe symbolically, the movie’s saying that the same system that devalues women also devalues men? like it’s ironic that the same hurt he’s inflicting on nikki is directly causing parallel hurt on him. (obviously not in the same severity since nikki IS the victim)
Well, we've got the foreshadowing bit with them dying the same way. Aside from that I think it's symbol of Bear's negligence and inaction honestly. He initially wasn't supposed to show up to the group meeting because of the cat, but he immedietly brushed it aside the second he heard that Nikki would be there. It's the first time he did that in the movie. And the pattern keeps repeating, only it gets worse and worse. He'd tell Nikki hey, you can't do that to the cat. But even then he'd eventually brush it off with just that partial warning towards her instead of properly doing anything about it regardless of how it just keeps getting worse and worse because he never actually does anything to stop or help her
Yo yo!! I think the cat symbolises Bear’s inability to accept actual unconditional love. We see that he never fully wanted an equal partnership with Nikki, from the beginning gemstone shop scene where he brushes off buying her a necklace that symbolises happiness bc ‘she’d find that cringe’. When he makes the wish, Nikki slowly is stripped away from all of her layers, seen in the way her wardrobe becomes simpler, and Bear doesn’t care, encouraging the dehumanisation of Nikki. Even when she’s waiting for him and obviously neglects her own hygiene, Bear doesn’t care, because he wants a caricature of a lover. He doesn’t appreciate Nikki as a person, so when he’s offered the closest approximation of “unconditional love”, the love he made via the Wishing Willow, he cannot handle it. He can’t handle an iota of it. The cat is also to show that Wish Nikki’s first frame of reference for “loving [him] more than anyone else” means loving him like a pet blindly does. The cat is ultimate foreshadowing for how Bear neglects Wish Nikki up until his choice to leave the burden of the situation on real Nikki’s shoulders.
People theorise Real Nikki packed Bear the sandwich, and it makes sense that she’s trying to repulse him and make him snap out of it, but also Wish Nikki feeding him it is her metaphorically feeding Bear “true unconditional love” (which she understands, as the cat). Bear immediately throws it up once it’s brought to his attention, and I see it as a metaphor for how Bear literally CANNOT STOMACH actual love (ignoring the whole sandwich thing) but yeah. I love the cat references. It truly shows Bear does not want to be loved in an equal manner and wants to be adored like the owner of a pet. It’s also interesting how cats are stereotyped as being independent but Wish Nikki’s so attached and dependent, symbolising how the One Wish Willow has stripped away her personhood, autonomy and identity.
ooh, that's really interesting i didn't think of that perspective; it definitely makes sense though, the parallel between his pet and nikki who essentially becomes his pet
Comments
Log in or sign up to leave a comment.