Obsession: Bear Is The Obsessed One, Not Nikki

It’s been a few weeks since Curry Barker’s movie Obsession has been out in theaters. Its already made quite an impact, with many heaping much praise towards the movie. It has been my favorite movie of the year so far. While Inde Navarette’s portrayal of Nikki has received the most praise, and deservedly so, in this analysis I would like to talk about Michael Johnston’s portrayal as the main character Bear, and the type of person he is and why he makes the decisions he does. This analysis will have spoilers for the movie.

            As stated earlier, Nikki is not the obsessed one. That entity inside her that acts all crazy is not Nikki. The character that has full autonomy throughout the movie except for the last minute is Bear. Inde does such a great job at playing the deranged and scary entity that possesses Nikki after Bear makes the wish that it many don’t realize what the actual title is about. Even I didn’t fully comprehend it while watching the movie until I watched a review from a horror movie youtuber named Cody Leach. The movie Obsession is not about the entity inhabiting Nikki’s body obsession with Bear, but rather Bear’s obsession with Nikki. Despite Nikki acting all crazy and creeping him out he continues to try to make it work. Only when Nikki brutally murders his other friend Sarah does he finally try to fix things. He is the villain of the story, but we will get to that aspect of his character later.

            To get to the core of Bear’s character, it is important to discuss what we know about him before the events of the movie unfold. It is established that he and Nikki have been friends for a long time. In fact, she was the first one to reach out to him and offer to be his friend when he moved over there. We’re not sure exactly when Bear started having a crush on Nikki, it could easily have been when they first met, all we know is that it has been for a while. We don’t know much about his family life but there is a blink, and you miss it line in the movie. Its when Nikki first visits his house, and he mentions that it was left to him after his grandmother died. There is no mention of his parents. This is pure speculation, but it is probable that when he was a kid his parents died and that was why he moved to the town where he met Nikki. His only other family member was his grandmother, and then she died. It is reasonable that he has no family member out there, or at the very least no family member that he has a relationship with. It is established early on that he is lonely, sure he had a couple other friends and a cat, but I do think he was unconsciously guarded towards others except Nikki, and then his cat died at the very beginning of the movie. Loneliness can cause others to do extremely rash and desperate things.

            I do think initially he really did care about her and her happiness. He admired her for her kindness. You see at the beginning of the movie before he made the wish of him smiling when he sees her giving money to a homeless person. But at some point, he started idolizing her and putting her on a pedestal. Putting someone on a pedestal is unhealthy and can be dangerous. I think at some point he felt that his only true chance for happiness was being with Nikki. When he finds out that she will be leaving the place that they work together soon, he panics. But even then, he is still unable to tell her how he feels. He then breaks the one wish willow and wishes for her to fall in love. Now obviously, he didn’t know it would actually work. But when he realizes it does, he starts taking advantage of her. Even when she starts acting bonkers and he realizes that it is not the real Nikki, he still takes advantage of her. He basically rapes her because that is not Nikki he is having sex with but he does it knowingly anyways. He isn’t concerned about her happiness but his own. He is not in love with Nikki but is in love with the idea of Nikki being with him. Despite all the crazy thing that happens, he still tries to make it work because he needs the validation.

            One thing that I have noticed being discussed in media is the deconstruction of the “nice guy” trope. It’s basically when there is a character that is awkward but seems like a nice guy, but when they get their hands on power, they reveal that they are actually terrible people. One of the most popular examples I have heard people mention is the character Hal, aka “Titan” from the movie Megamind. He starts off unassuming and one wouldn’t expect he would be a threat to anyone. However, once he gets superpowers and his love interest rejects him, he turns into a raging lunatic. Bear doesn’t change in the movie. However, as the movie goes on his darkest characteristics come to light. He keeps on making the wrong decisions and reveals how selfish and how much of a coward he truly is. He might have not known that the wish would actually work, but he still takes advantage of it anyways. It is because of this I believe that if he was aware that it would work, he would still wish for it anyway. Now initially I think he would say no and be disgusted at doing such a thing. However, eventually the temptation and desperation would set in, and he would make the wish. Even when he finally tries to make things right by setting Nikki free by killing himself, he still tries to back out at the last minute because of how much of a coward he is. However, he then gets possessed by an entity to fall in love with the entity possessing Nikki, and he gets his just desserts at the end. The ending ended up being the actor who played Bear’s idea, and the ending is all the better for it.

            What makes Bear such a great character and villain is that he embodies the darkest parts of ourselves that we do not care to admit or confront. We have all been selfish and cowardly. We have all been overly obsessed with something or someone. There have been numerous times when I was younger that I thought I was in love with someone but soon realized it was just a crush. The point is, don’t be like Bear. Don’t put people on a pedestal or believe your chance at happiness rests on one person. Bear had a friend in Sarah who liked him, but because he was so obsessed with Nikki he didn’t notice. By the time he did, it was too late. Recognize your flaws and try to be better.