Don't Worry Darling and the Danger of Truth
The moral case for realizing that the truth isn't always great.
We all want people to tell us the truth... or so we like to tell ourselves.
At the very least, people don't like to be lied to. They don't like to find out that the things they thought they knew weren't actually true. Some part of them would rather believe that those around them are in fact being truthful. Otherwise they would have to consider the possibility that what people tell them is a lie. That they can't trust their most important people, like family or their wife or husband. Which is a painful idea to realize. Having to consider the fact that the people you care about are lying. You could even argue that if they are lying to you, that they are a lie. From this perspective, it's completely possible to believe your entire life is a lie. None of it is built on anything real. It's an illusion built upon the lies of other people who you thought you could trust.
So it's no wonder that people prefer to trust that those around them are telling the truth. Being able to face the alternative is terrifying. Your entire world can come crumbling down around you. Even if you do trust people who are lying to you, it's hard to stop noticing when things don't exactly add up properly. When things are out of place or someone you know isn't acting the way you expect them to. All of these little things can create problems for you and your willingness to believe that other people are honest. If enough of these things start to add up, you will have to figure out a way to come to terms with this. Either by trying even harder to ignore them or by confronting them directly.
Both of these paths have their own dangers. The more things are standing out to you, the harder it is to stop yourself from caring about them. You have to put more and more effort into believing the lies and ignoring the truth. On some level, this can end up creating more problems for you to deal with and to notice the way they're going wrong. However, having your whole world crashing down around you is obviously horrible. It's impossible to know who is telling the truth and who is lying. You might even find that even if you're told the truth, you can't be certain it actually is the truth. Then the only thing you can do is find a way to escape.
Don't Worry Darling is in a lot of ways about how to deal with the realization that people are hiding the truth from you. Alice, as played by Florence Pugh, has what looks like the perfect life to many. She even thinks of her life as pretty perfect. She has a husband who she loves and a great house. They're looking at the possibility of kids. Yet part of Alice can't help but notice that things aren't quite right in her life. She lives completely cut off from the rest of society and in a small community... or so she thinks. The reality is much more disturbing and difficult, and the more she notices the harder it is for her to live with not knowing the truth.
When she does learn the truth though, it doesn't necessarily make things better. In fact, it make things much more dangerous for her and the people around her.
Do yourself a favour and explore the dangers of truth by checking out Don't Worry Darling as soon as you can.
Watch Don’t Worry Darling on HBO as well as Hulu and Amazon.
I like writing that discusses morality. Having embarked on the crime route it is pertinent.
Florence Pugh has been nailing this type of role so well - a character who find themselves deep in disillusionment and resilience. I remember she plays this in Midsommar and Dune 2. It's that deep pain that comes with the kind of betrayal that blindsided you so much you would do anything to get to the truth. The scariest part for me is just knowing that there are people willing to 'bend reality' to keep a 'loved one' under control.