Written by Simranpreet Kaur, Staff Writer
Following its release in May of 2026, the movie, Obsession, has become the pivotal talking point in consideration of “best summer release.”
Obsession is the standard blueprint of a ‘successful’ movie, unknown actors being given a chance, an indie director no one has heard of, and a budget so low that inspired aspiring directors started to feel like they had a shot to make it. However most individuals left the theaters with one thing on their minds that persisted even weeks later. The question, why can’t I stop thinking about Obsession?
The answer lies in the fact that throughout the entire movie there is no good character that viewers can root for. In all aspects everyone in this movie kind of leaves us with a bad taste in the mouth. While some are worse than others, it’s clear from the very beginning that the friend group we follow all have resentment for each other. So much so that they all at some point ignore the others’ feelings to do what most benefits themselves.
We have our four main characters: Bear, Nikki, Sarah, and Ian. These four characters do have good dynamics throughout the film that do create a sense of longtime friendship. There are inside jokes and the feeling that these characters all know each other and have way before this point where the movie takes place. But even in the first 15 minutes it’s clear that our characters do not support one another equally. As when Nikki puts down her friend Sarah after she had confided about romantic interests.
Now this doesn’t make Nikki a terrible person, or in any way place her as deserving of a terrible wish, but it does create a central point regarding the selfish natures of the characters. In the same way Ian was hiding sleeping with Nikki behind Bear’s back for two years, and Sarah completely disregarding Nikki’s disturbing behavior and using it as an in to comfort Bear and attempt to kiss him.
Although this is one of the least disturbing points of the entire movie, it’s still an important notion that creates the atmosphere of disturbance. Even in the face of absolute horror these characters will always choose selfishly, and one of them especially finds these choices to be terrifyingly easy.
Bear, throughout the entire movie consistently chooses the easy road out, not trying to bother anyone even though he’s just made a wish for Nikki to love him more than anyone in the world and now she’s acting erratically and trapped inside of her own body. Does he try to help her? Does he go to the magic store and pick up a new wish to reverse it? Does he try convincing his friends to help him save Nikki?
No, he decides to date Nikki after her spontaneous, out of nowhere confession that she likes him and proceeds to take advantage of her. Even when she does go on to act sinisterly because of course no morals exist besides abiding by the magic of the wish, Bear does not care and tries to go on acting as though everything is perfectly fine. Even when the real Nikki pleads with him to kill her because she is entirely scared and has no control, he says “What’s so wrong with being with me”.
Even in his own death he chooses to act selfishly, leaving the real Nikki traumatized and having to deal with the mess he left upon her, the mess of everyone’s deaths that paints her as guilty and will ultimately ruin the rest of her life forever.
What lingers after the movie ends is not just the film itself but the fact that someone you trust could look you in the eyes while you’re pleading for them to stop and continue to betray you. The entire film leaves viewers unsettled because Bear takes no actions to prevent any of these situations from happening until they make him feel guilty and make him feel horrible.
In addition, Obsession leaves viewers unsettled due to audience reactions. For example, during a scene where Nikki is being used outside of her bodily autonomy some audience members, mostly male, have been recorded to laugh. Not only is this an outrageous and absolutely disgusting act, but it planted the idea that if these One Wish Willows did exist, there are many people who would use them as Bear did, sitting all around us. These problems are very real.
Thus introducing the other reason as to why viewers were disturbed: the correlation between Bear and ‘incel’ culture online. Many viewers and movie reviewers noticed the similarities between Bear’s entitlement of Nikki’s bodily autonomy to the ‘incel’ epidemic online.
Now this refers to the ‘manosphere’ online that surrounds around anti-feminist views and extreme gender hierarchies, where self-identified ‘incels’ harbour resentment and anger towards women and society blaming them for their lack of romantic success.
Not only are these views extremely problematic and harmful to women just trying to exist online and offline, but it also allows people to draw many parallels between Bear and these ‘incels’. So clearly in fact that there are numerous actual accounts of individuals online defending Bear’s actions and even painting him as the protagonist of the film. However, one watch of the movie entirely disapproves this notion, as does the director.
Obsession has stayed on the minds of viewers not only because it’s a great movie that was truly well done due to its creative direction and ability to utilize simple and effective storytelling, but also because it opened up spaces to talk about and call out these current online trends that have been harming individuals throughout the progression of social media. Not only did the Curry Barker film touch on sensitive topics with an openness but it allowed the conversation on these topics to be brought back in the loop.