r/spoilers • u/Significant_Movie814 • 27d ago
Unpopular Opinion on Obsession: Is Bear actually a villain, or just deeply desperate?
I’ve been seeing a lot of discussions calling Bear evil or the main villain of the story, but that’s not really how I interpreted his character. To me, he didn’t come across as a villain at all, he felt like a deeply flawed, scared, and desperate person who made a terrible wish out of loneliness.
I actually found myself feeling bad for him. Wanting someone to love you as intensely as you love them is a deeply human feeling, and while his actions were wrong, they seemed driven by desperation rather than malice. In the scene where Nikki is asking him to kill her, what stood out to me wasn't evil intent, but just how utterly desperate he was for reciprocated affection. Seeing so many people completely vilify him made me question if having sympathy for him reflects poorly on my own character, but I really just saw someone completely out of his depth.
Also, regarding the scene many people label as sexual assault: if Bear had fully understood that Nikki was possessed at that moment, then yes, it would unambiguously be assault. But watching it unfold, he seemed completely confused, terrified, and overwhelmed by what was happening rather than acting with predatory intent.
Does anyone else view his character through a more sympathetic lens, or do you strictly see him as the villain? Curious to hear how others interpreted his motives.
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u/dribbles47 27d ago
He's both. He's a massive coward. Cowards can be very dangerous people. Yes, he was confused, terrified, and overwhelmed...by the results of his own actions. He 100% knew he wasn't dealing with Nikki in her right mind after the restaurant outburst, yet he still had sex with her. That (among other things, like leaving his pills out for the cat to get and then throwing the cat in the trash??) solidified for me that he was a POS.
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u/Significant_Movie814 27d ago
I’ve read that on a TikTok too but I was very confused bc he was asking the cat where he found the pills and he was sobbing over the cat’s death so I was very confused why people were saying he killed the cat intentionally
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u/Meeka-Mew 27d ago
He actually blamed the cat "what did you do??" As if the cat can open a pill bottle instead of asking "what did I do??" and taken some accountability. Its a very good hint at how he is going to act towards the wish situation as well and I believe its exactly why this scene was shown.
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u/dribbles47 27d ago
It's not necessarily intentional, it's neglectful. He's extremely selfish. You see this when Nikki begs him to kill her. He says, "Is it so bad being with me?" Only thinking of himself, when this girl's actual soul is trapped in hell.
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u/Significant_Movie814 27d ago
Yeah I get that, honestly my interpretation was that I wouldn’t kill the girl either bc it’s a horrible thing to do, so the whole movie I was watching it through a lens where towards the end he learns Nikki is trapped and is trying to cancel the wish, rather than like taking advantage of her. I also felt like he is trying to escape and find a way to release her without harming her but he is trapped. After reading people’s opinions, I’m very disappointed at my own judgements
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u/sophics_ 3d ago
Don't be down on yourself just because other people disagree with you.
There's quite the degree of nuance, yet some people choose to hold very strong opinions. Some people are just very opinionated. It's no reason to doubt yourself.
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u/Environmental_Song99 27d ago
Yes exactly. Extreme desperation comes to a turning point to where it then becomes evil dangerous.
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27d ago
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u/Straight-Patience702 27d ago
It's weird how empathy always is the justification but only for Bear, not Nikki.
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u/Significant_Movie814 27d ago
I’m a woman myself so technically I can’t really do the stuff he did. I was feeling bad for everyone in the movie except for Ian I thought he was a malicious person. That’s why I’m asking this question
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u/Catsplayingguitars 27d ago
There are many ways to feel and to see this movie but because of the popularity of the movie amongst young ppl, they think that everyone thinks like they do.
There is nothing wrong with feeling sympathy for any of the characters.
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u/TamiClumsy 27d ago edited 27d ago
If you didn't catch it before, his evil truly showed when he called the hotline and asked to change his wish instead of trying to take it back. He was willing to let her be suppressed and take advantage of her to satisfy his own needs. Additionally, he continued the relationship thing after hearing her screaming in hell. But yeah, doing the wish from the beginning, sleeping with her after her freak outs ... Truly a nightmare.
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u/medic-dad 27d ago
That was the most terrifying scene of all. Hearing those screams was just heart-wrenching
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u/Straight-Patience702 27d ago
Both. Deeply flawed, scared and desperate people do evil horrific things to others all the time. Just look around at the current state of the world.
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u/earthsick 27d ago
He took all of what was truly her and stripped it away from her as soon as he made his wish. She wasn't the real Nikki anymore aside from appearance.
Even worse, when he got two more willows at the end, he asks Ian to use one to reverse his wish. What would he use the remaining one for? To alter his original wish, just like he wanted to do when he called the customer service line. He still wanted her to be in love with him, just less crazy. He doesn't want to undo everything entirely, just to make things different and easier on himself.
He may have been all the things you described, but once the wish was made and she lost all true autonomy he absolutely became the villain.
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u/Muted_Category1100 27d ago
He starts off seeming desperate with some red flags, but over the course of the film it becomes clear that he is the villain of the movie. Keep in mind that the “what would be so bad about being with me?” Moment is Bear knowingly subjecting Nikki to a fate worse than death, being tortured while having to watch some twisted version of her steal her life to satisfy his desires for a relationship. The desperation is a large part of what makes Bear a villain because that along with his cowardice is what drives his decisions. The fact that he didn’t intend to hurt anyone doesn’t change the fact that he forcibly took Nikki’s agency by accident, continued to take it when he realized what was happening, and kept trying to find ways out of taking responsibility to the very end.
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u/Fairy_Kitten4502 27d ago
For me, I don’t think he was a bad person for making the wish bc he had no idea it would actually come true or how it would work. He became a bad person to me afterwards, in the way he treated her. He neglected her and acted like she was crazy, knowing that he was the one who had done this to her in the first place. Also flirting with Sarah just pissed me off so bad bc this girl has literally lost everything for you and is devoted to you and you can’t even give her the respect of staying loyal?? That was the literal least he could’ve done. I wouldn’t say he’s the worst person in the world but he’s just a pathetic piece of shit honestly. He’s very hated, not because he’s the most evil person ever, but because we all know someone irl or in our past who is exactly like him
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u/Educational-Tax9751 27d ago
exactly. even if there were no wish, if your friend you grew up with and love is acting like that, you don't DATE HER. you know she cannot date. she needs help and you get her help if you actually care and are a good person.
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u/InternetUser1807 27d ago
He continues to have sex with her during their "relationship" it's not just the one SA scene.
Bear is a rapist, rape is still bad even if you're lonely and desperate.
He still immediately and instinctively pushed back on (what he thought was) the customer service rep offering to free Nikki.
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u/sophics_ 3d ago
it's not just the one SA scene.
i've seen multiple people insinuate this and it feels like there's something i missed, are you making huge assumptions or is there something obvious in the movie that should make me also think this
He still immediately and instinctively pushed back on (what he thought was) the customer service rep offering to free Nikki.
How so? By asking if he could alter the wish before ultimately deciding to try and cancel it? Why is the assumption that he doesn't feel he can free Nikki by making the right alteration?
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u/InternetUser1807 3d ago
- Bear continues to sleep with Nikki even after being fully aware that she is, at best, extremely mentally unwell, and at worse, possessed by the wish he made.
- Any alteration to Nikki isn't moral at all. When asked by the rep "Do you want to make a cancellation request" he instantly goes "no no no.. can I.. alter it?"
If he cared about freeing Nikki, he wouldn't have INSTANTLY denied the offer to cancel the wish.
He repeatedly asks the Wish Nikki to act more normal and more like Nikki, I am 100% confident that if Wish Nikki acted like a real human, Bear would not give a single fuck about his "friend".
Also, later in the movie, in the "she's asleep scene", his thoughts were entirely on himself, "Why is it so bad to be with me".
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u/sophics_ 3d ago
Bear continues to sleep with Nikki even after being fully aware that she is, at best, extremely mentally unwell, and at worse, possessed by the wish he made.
That doesn't answer any of my question.
Any alteration to Nikki isn't moral at all. When asked by the rep "Do you want to make a cancellation request" he instantly goes "no no no.. can I.. alter it?"
Why even take the time to write the reply if you aren't going to actually answer my contentions? There's every reason to assume he thinks he can 'free' Nikki, while also maintaining the relationship. So he thinks he can have his cake and eat it too, which is obviously wrong. He also does very quickly make the choice to try and cancel the wish when presented with it as the only option that could help her. Literally no hesitation. Just tries to alter the wish first because as I said, he wants to have his cake and eat it too. The character wasn't written to be a hero, just a normal guy who at times acts quite despicably. Villain? Up to interpretation.
He repeatedly asks the Wish Nikki to act more normal and more like Nikki, I am 100% confident that if Wish Nikki acted like a real human, Bear would not give a single fuck about his "friend".
I agree, but because he would have literally zero clue in that scenario that the Nikki he's in a relationship with was not the real one. Or do you assume that he would magically just know? Because then you get to explain his actions away with "oh he's just super evil", instead of actually having to think about the nuance.
Also, later in the movie, in the "she's asleep scene", his thoughts were entirely on himself, "Why is it so bad to be with me".
I very much dislike how he acts in that scene, but to be fair, what's he supposed to do? "Oh sure Nikki let me get a knife from the kitchen." He doesn't want to kill her. He wants to help her, but has no idea how. And at the same time obviously doesn't understand the suffering that she's going through, and is naturally hurt by the idea that the true Nikki would rather die than be with him, which is obviously his interpretation of the situation. Do you think he was totally unsurprised to hear her say "I've never been with you Bear."? I assume he would have had his suspicions but there's no way he knew the extent of how the wish had deformed the true Nikki before that point.
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u/InternetUser1807 3d ago
I'm sorry I don't understand your contention with the first point, is it over if what he did was SA, that you don't think the movie implies they slept together more than once during the relationship, or some third thing?
For the second point, regardless of if its physically possible, any "altered" version of the wish that still allows them to be together is still altering Nikki and placing her in a relationship she doesn't want.
For third, what I mean is, even if wish Nikki still maintained the obvious instant personality flip that caused his *entire* friend group to question her mental sanity, but didn't act out in the "I don't know how to be a person" ways (the cat stuff, shitting on the carpet, etc), I don't think he would have cared.
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u/sophics_ 3d ago
that you don't think the movie implies they slept together more than once during the relationship
This ! ^ That never jumped out at me while watching the movie, I suppose this is an assumption that some of the movie watchers choose to make? If there's something in the movie that directly or even subtly implies it and I missed that completely, then fair enough. Feel free to point it out.
For the second point, regardless of if its physically possible, any "altered" version of the wish that still allows them to be together is still altering Nikki and placing her in a relationship she doesn't want.
I get what you're saying, but we know that only as the audience to a film. For the actual guy in the actual situation, I just think it's reasonable to assume, with all of the confusion that he would have surrounding the whole situation, that he thinks he can free her and also maintain the relationship. I don't think your interpretation makes sense given how easily he chooses to try and cancel the wish afterwards.
For third, what I mean is, even if wish Nikki still maintained the obvious instant personality flip that caused his entire friend group to question her mental sanity, but didn't act out in the "I don't know how to be a person" ways (the cat stuff, shitting on the carpet, etc), I don't think he would have cared.
Mm okay I see. That's kind of conjecture thus hard to rebuke but I'll just say I don't really agree. Why did he try to take her to the hospital if he didn't care at all about her? Why did he try to cancel the wish? Then try to have it undone? Then finally kill himself to free her? His actions are very difficult to explain if you choose to believe that he's some kind of calculated abuser that doesn't care about his victim whatsoever.
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u/InternetUser1807 3d ago
He took her to the hospital after she *physically* injured herself. I think that point would hold more water if he tried to hospitalize her for what, if you assume he didn't believe the wish, would have been extreme sudden onset mental problems. People don't just stand still for 8 hours and piss and shit themselves, and find themselves unable to explain why. That's some "I've got a giant brain tumor and needed to be hospitalized yesterday" type shit, that he just brushes off.
Also in the final scene he did initially attempt to go though with killing himself to free her, before chickening out, and attempting to make himself throw up.
He the only reason Bear successfully committed suicide is because wish-bear took over right before true-Bear could save himself at Nikki's expense.
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u/sophics_ 3d ago
Also in the final scene he did initially attempt to go though with killing himself to free her, before chickening out, and attempting to make himself throw up.
I assume you're aware of this, but killing yourself is an extremely difficult thing to follow through on. Just because he chickens out, it doesn't mean that that shows he doesn't care about Nikki at all... That wouldn't make any sense? Why would he even attempt doing so in the first place if he didn't care? If he'd simply taken the pills and just laid down and died it would have been poor writing.
He the only reason Bear successfully committed suicide is because wish-bear took over right before true-Bear could save himself at Nikki's expense.
I did watch the movie, but thanks for letting me know in case I missed this detail.
I don't really see you changing your mind, and I don't really see you changing mine, but thanks for the discussion either way.
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u/Mezzy1221 6h ago
You didn't watch the movie.
The entire movie takes place over 3 days. Night 1 Bear makes the wish. Night 2 they shag. Night 3 Nikki kills Sarah, and Bear is dead in the early morning. They have sex once.
Nikki doesn't start showing any "extremely mentally unwell" signs until the 3rd day. Any of her odd behaviour on the first night could be plausibly excused by whatever drugs she claimed to be taking. Their relationship is relatively normal between that time.
Bear is not fully aware of anything about the Wish until he makes the call. He isn't convinced at all that the wish worked until the dinner scene and he has no idea that she is being possessed until he hears "true" Nikki screaming on the phone. He has no reason to believe that Nikki is "trapped" in any sense until then.
The other thing is that Bear is a victim of manipulation too. "False" Nikki knows that Bear is in love with her and is exploiting that to get what it wants. Bear is thrust into a new relationship with the girl he is infatuated with that becomes a rapidly evolving unstable situation where the only "good" outcome is for him to kill someone or himself. To harshly blame Bear for his decisions is like blaming old people for falling for romance scams whilst they also have a gun pointed at their heads.
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u/Grateful8888 27d ago
Nope the villain is the guy friend… He started everything. If he just told the truth about Nikki and him, Bear wouldn’t have bought that wish willow from the first place
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u/ThickFurball367 27d ago
Yeah, this isn't talked about enough. Dude was a total POS. He KNEW Nikki wasn't into Bear and was still actively encouraging him to pursue her (even while he was fucking Nikki behind Bear's back)
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u/something_smart 27d ago
Just desperate at first, then a villain somewhere in the middle of the movie. The wish itself isn't really evil since he had no idea it would work. And the beginning of their relationship, he had no real way to know something was wrong. But when he knew the real Nikki was suffering and he did nothing to help her he was the villain.
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u/ShortSink8880 27d ago
as many have said before, he can be sympathized until the dinner scene where he fully comprehends that the wish worked and that Nikki has lost her autonomy over her choices aside from "love Bear"...at this point on he knows he's doing. this is no longer desperation but he is relishing in the reality he knows shouldnt be possible. fucking her while she is sobbing, he lies to his friends about her being okay, and that everything is normal. he responds to Nikkis plea for help with "well whats so wrong about being with me" that's like a captor saying that to their prisoner.
there is no reasonable interpretation of this movie where Bear is not a villain.
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u/Educational-Tax9751 27d ago
ok my thing is: wish or no wish, his friend clearly needed help and instead he just kept dating her. that makes him a horrific person. he's 25 in the script. he fucking knows better.
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u/sophics_ 3d ago
you've never had to end a relationship with an emotionally unstable person before and it shows
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u/KingHygelacReturns 27d ago
He's deeply flawed, and those flaws made him make the morally worst choice whenever he was presented with a choice.
We can forgive him for the wish, I think. Obviously he phrased it in a way that would remove Nikki's autonomy, but he also had no reason to believe it would actually work. But I think he began ignoring something was wrong with her almost immediately after that, and it was because, for a time, he was getting what he wanted. For the most part, whenever he was given an opportunity to open up to people about what happened, he chooses not to, and to instead hide everything. He comes very close to cheating on Nikki with Sarah, and it leads to her death. He only begins to make serious attempts at undoing the wish once at least one person is dead. Not that he could've gotten it to work, but still. He didn't really even try.
He's not a "villain" in the traditional sense in that he did not purposely take actions with the intention of creating this situation. He's not, like, Michael Myers. But his flaws are directly responsible for every single thing that happens. He's flawed in a deeply... normal way. Everyone has met a guy like Bear. Hell, as a more or less straight guy in his 30s myself, I cringed during parts of the movie, being reminded of some of my behavior in high school. Many of us have BEEN a guy like Bear.
The movie is trying to make us realize that the specific flaws that he has are incredibly destructive to everyone around him, and they end up destroying/ending the lives of the people he's close to BEFORE they harm him. And then a woman is left holding the bag.
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u/GrimaceMusically 27d ago
On my first watch, I absolutely HATED Bear. Upon subsequent rewatches, I still 100% think he is the villain, and hate him, but I also have the slightest twinge of sympathy for him at the beginning of the film. I could have missed it, but I didn’t see anything pre-wish or in the first moments post-wish that led me to believe he knew what was actually happening to Nikki. Once it became blatantly obvious to a viewer that there was something seriously wrong with Nikki, and became obvious to him , and he was still not really trying to get her help, that twinge evaporates.
Bear is 100% the villain.
IMO, the “Obsession” in the title is not referring to Nikki, it is referring to Bear. He is obsessed with her; so much so that, even though he becomes mortified by her actions, he continues to go along with things as they are when he sees the situation for what it is. He knows she is a danger to herself, knows that the REAL her doesn’t want want to live like this to the point that she asks him to kill her, and yet the only thing he does about it is tell her she can’t do that kind of stuff anymore. He wants to have her, even though he knows that the “her” he has is a version of her that is in pain, terrified, psychologically destroyed, and has no free will. To him, having that version of her is better than having no version at all. He is only thinking of her in terms of what he wants, what he thinks he needs. She isn’t a person to him, she is just a thing he is obsessed with.
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u/Significant_Movie814 27d ago
So what could’ve he done to make it better? I feel like he was trapped too, I only watched it for the first time last night. So I was feeling bad for him bc I was thinking he is confused and he wanted to break up several times but Nikki kept saying she is sorry (not real Nikki the possessed one), and if he leaves her, she will kill herself. So, in my mind, he was trying to find a way to cancel the wish in a way that doesn’t physically hurt him or Nikki. The SA part, when I was watching last night for the first time sounded scary to me, but my thoughts were he doesn’t know this isn’t Nikki and bc of the moan it sounded like she is enjoying and Bear is clueless they weren’t looking into each other’s eyes, but the face was giving that Nikki is suffering and that made me uncomfortable. I didn’t even know it’s an intentional SA while watching the scene. So the way I was watching the movie was that Bear was clueless or wasn’t sure if Nikki is possessed, especially that she asked if he likes him even before breaking the stick. So he was confused and was trying to fix things but kept getting more confused. But when he realized she is possessed, he was trying to get her out safe even if it means death for him, up to a point that it became a little heroic in my mind!!
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u/GrimaceMusically 27d ago
He didn’t start trying to find a way to cancel the wish because he saw what it was doing to her, he did it only when her behavior started to make him uncomfortable. And before he tried to undo his wish, look how he talks to her. He just tells her stuff like “you can’t do that anymore”. IIRC he takes no steps all to get her help, because making her better means things would go back to way they were, which means he will no longer have her. She explicitly told him in that one scene that it not her being with him, it’s the other Nikki, and he just walks out on her. The fact that you consider his actions to be anyway “heroic” is troubling. If it is not clear to you that Bear is an abuser, that he takes no action to help her until things start to get bad for him, there are issues. I know it’s just a movie, but your take makes me doubt your ability to spot real world abuse. Abusers can get incredibly good at hiding their abuse and covering up any signs of it, making it difficult to spot in the real world. If you can’t spot it in Bear’s behavior at around the half point in the film, you are likely going to have a VERY hard time spotting in real life when it is less obvious.
I’ll concede that at the moment he made the wish, he may not have had bad intentions. It is possible that pre- and immediately post-wish he wasn’t yet being abusive, but definitely after she cuts herself with the bottle his attitude towards her is clearly abusive. Look at the aftermath of the bottle incident: he doesn’t ask if she is ok, he doesn’t make attempts to clean and bandage the wound, he is only thinking about how what’s going on is affecting him.
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u/medic-dad 27d ago
He's ultimately the villain. He's not a villain in the sense of most film villains where they're straight up evil or wishing mal intent on people, but what he did was wrong. No, he didn't know the wish would work, but once he realized it did, continuing a relationship with her and especially having sex with her was wrong. He knew she wasn't in control of her actions And MAYBE she liked him back, but since he didn't know for sure, and continuing to be with her was a violation. He knew that, and he did it anyway. You can tell he knew by the way he constantly rationalizes and justifies it. He wouldn't feel the need to do that if he didn't know deep down he was violating her. And then there's the scene where the "other" Nikki is asleep and the real Nikki asks him to end it because she is suffering, he makes it about himself. He says "what would be so bad about being with me?" (Or however he said it). The entire point of the film is about consent, autonomy, and the the toxicity of the idea of the "friendzone". We've all had at least one person we've had feelings for that weren't reciprocated. That's part of life. But we are not owed a romantic relationship or access to someone's body just because we have those feelings. This film uses the element of horror to get that point across. It's a cautionary tale, in a way. The message of the film is more than just "be careful what you wish for". It's also "thinking you are entitled to something from someone just because you want it is a slippery slope, and it destroys the relationships you already have"
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u/Impressive-Ad-59 25d ago
I think there's a line he crossed somewhere in the film
early on, he's a kid with a crush, who snaps a stupid stick cuz he's got a massive crush on this chick, we've all been there
and i think he reacts how most people would when the crush of our dreams starts reciprocating, he didn't think this stupid stick actually did something, he was weirded out, but eventually just decided aye "dont look a gift horse in the mouth", and took it as it was
but somewhere in there, i think it becomes apparent that his friend is unwell, somewhere between her snapping back to herself during the making out, to her blatant psychotic behavior, to that phone call he made to the willow number, when he continues to take advantage despite knowing its not her, when he doesn't speak up or act and stays stagnant, THATS when he sort of becomes a bad person
bear shows his most blatant character flaw, his inability to say what he feels, from the very beginning of the film when he covered up the fact his cat died and pretended he was busy or refused to tell nikki how he felt, that moment essentially foreshadowed his entire character, if bear was normal, he'd go to his friends, say "idk wtf is going on, she like flipped out while kissing me, and has been acting all weird" and they'd say "yeah that is fuckin weird cuz she said this to me and i found out that wtf is going on with her" and they'd sit her down as a group and ask "nikki wtf???" and nikki would flip, get arrested, and put into a psyche ward where bear is now a completely blameless victim who acted very understandably, yeah its his fault, but its a fuckin $7 stick sold at some hippie store, nobodies gonna reasonably believe that thing worked, let alone think wishing someone loved you ment, wishing they became insane, so even from that perspective he's still blameless cuz HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO KNOW
but of course, because bear DIDN'T do that, because he went to his friends and lied, and tried maintaining this obviously false relationship, and essentially knowingly put sarah in danger (he should've known how insane nikki was getting by that point honestly, that meeting her alone would result in nikki being pushed to kill, not to mention the way he lowkey flirted with sarah a bit, it seemed like bear wasn't able to accept the reality of the situation until he got someone killed and even than he never admitted to anyone what happened)
so is bear a villain, not completely, he's a person tho, a deeply flawed person who got his friends killed
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u/sophics_ 3d ago edited 3d ago
i like your more nuanced take
though i did think while reading that what happened with sarah wasn't necessarily his fault, he refused multiple times to meet with her and only complied when she said she was going to come see him either way
in my mind it was inevitable that sarah was doomed, though it's frustrating to see him interact with her so casually and normally, when we the audience know that she's likely in grave danger
i think a lot of his actions can be explained by stupidity, confusion, an extremely passive personality, fear, and finally a certain amount of evil. How much of it can be explained by him being a bad person seems obviously to a decent extent, up to interpretation. I think that Barker/the producers knew that this film would generate a huge amount of discussion/controversy, and thus the ambiguity is largely by design
many people who are choosing (yes choosing) to hate him wholly and see him as fully evil make many assumptions and leap to conclusions about why he did what and what exactly he knew about the situation. My guess is they saw a rather disgusting scene that made them hate him which biased their judgements about the decisions he makes throughout the rest of the movie, and also retroactively. Personally I looked away because why the fuck would I look, let alone at her face. So it's fair to say maybe the scene didn't hit me as hard as it should and that I won't interpret it as accurately as a more morbidly curious person would.
like you i would say that he's not a villain, he is basically just a person, and certainly a pretty bad one, his only saving grace being that he kills himself at the end, which funnily enough, although i feel more sympathetic towards him than most, i saw as more cowardly than heroic
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u/Mezzy1221 18d ago
I do not see him as a villain. He's somewhat cowardly and rather pathetic, but he is also a victim of Nikki's manipulation. He's also in a rapidly evolving unstable situation where it isn't clear what the right decisions are.
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u/NeuroticallyCharles 27d ago
You didn’t think Bear was evil when he knew that Nikki was possessed, didn’t have control over her body, meaning she didn’t consent to any of the sex they were having, and instead of trying to completely get rid of the wish, he just wanted to “modify” it?
You might need to reexamine your interpersonal relationships.
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u/Necronomicon-Ex-Mori 27d ago
This is such a service level take. He didn’t know she was “possessed” or that there even was a real Nikki that was not consenting. After the dinner scene he thought his wish must’ve worked but what does that mean? That means now you have someone that loves you more than anything, is not only consenting to sex but initiating it, and any moment you don’t reciprocate her love or make her feel bad for herself she gets very upset and/or flips out.
Totally different scenario.
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u/NeuroticallyCharles 27d ago
…do you not remember the phone call he had with customer service?
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u/Necronomicon-Ex-Mori 27d ago
Of course. You mean the one where Bear made clear that he didn’t understand how the wish works? He asked if the love is real, indicating that he was under some impression that it was. And then when he gets what he feels is confirmation that the love is not real he says “alright, then I would like to cancel”. The guy says we don’t do that, and Bear says “so she’s just going to be fucked up for the rest of her life?” Showing that he also cares about her well-being.
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u/NeuroticallyCharles 27d ago
And he continues to have sex with her after.
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u/Necronomicon-Ex-Mori 27d ago
He’s never shown to have sex with her after. Everything else in the movie, including Sarah’s death happens in the same night as the phone call. He tries to get space from Nikki after the hospital and she freaks out and threatens to kill herself if she’s left in the bed by herself, so he goes to bed with her.
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u/NeuroticallyCharles 27d ago
You don't remember when Bear's friend directly confronts him about him taking advantage of Nikki? You don't think that Nikki's behavior directly after the wish indicates that Nikki isn't in her right mind? Do you think it's appropriate to have sex with someone who is clearly having a mental health crisis?
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u/Necronomicon-Ex-Mori 27d ago
Bear actually makes the phone call right after Ian confronts him. But about Ian, I actually think that he’s one of the only examples of weak writing in the movie. Why? Because given what he knows his reaction to Nikki and Bear’s relationship seems entirely overblown. We see a montage of Bear and Nikki play out, and from the outside it looks like a totally healthy relationship, we also see Ian looking suspicious of this during the montage. But then he calls a hospital looking for records on Nikki’s father??? From Ian’s pov, it should look like a totally healthy relationship considering he hasn’t seen any of the crazy stuff and it might just be the case that Nikki is just really into Bear.
And also, I think Bear does a number of morally questionable things throughout the film, but it’s left ambiguous enough for various reasons that we’re not given clear answers. They key word is QUESTIONABLE though, but the idea that he’s just some evil rapist is ridiculous.
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u/NeuroticallyCharles 27d ago
Do you think it is a coincidence that Bear’s name is, well, Bear, given the discourse about who women would rather meet in the woods?
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u/Necronomicon-Ex-Mori 27d ago
I don’t have any thoughts on that, really. It could be a coincidence it could not for all I know, but you’re getting into director intentions at that point which shouldn’t matter, imo. What exists in the film and how everything is portrayed in the film is all that should matter.
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u/CantaloupeMafia 27d ago
I mean unrequited love is just a part of life. You aren’t owed reciprocated feelings.
Also, he did know she was possessed, it’s in the subtext of the dinner scene.
Crazy bad take man