“The Strange thing about the Johnsons”: Quite a disturbing short film

‘The Strange thing about the Johnsons’ is an American short film that was released in 2011 having been written and directed by Ari Aster. It is a psychological horror drama that revolves around members of a suburban family where the son is involved in an abusive incestuous relationship with his father.I know! Believe me.

You haven’t even heard half of it. It is a very disturbing short film, to be honest, and it is quite interesting to realize that Ari Aster got the idea to write while studying at the American Film Institute and one day had the opportunity to discuss various taboos in our society with his friends.

It is no wonder because this film breaks everything you know about audacity, taboos and just those unwritten rules and boundaries that should never, ever be crossed.

Why is it disturbing? It’s because, in this film, the victim of sexual abuse is the father, and the perpetrator is the son. Usually, sexual abuse victims are often helpless individuals who are younger and weaker and the person abusing them has a kind of authoritative position.

Therefore, this film turned tables and asked the question, ‘what if?’ What if the tables turned and that individual, who typically is an authority figure, becomes the victim? As much as it got a lot of animosities, I kind of think Aster was able to hit the nail on the head with this one.

I know it appears to be too extreme to the point of absurdity, but this story forced people to look at sexual abuse very critically. The mental torture, embarrassment, and helplessness victims usually go through regardless of who is holding power.

In the story, Joan Johnson, wife to Sidney Johnson, knows all about the abuse that her husband goes through at the hands of their son but does nothing about it. The film looks at the nature of complicity and the kind of rot that is swept under the rag, especially if your good name can end up being jeopardized.

It addresses how sexual abuse reduces a man to constant fear and vulnerability he never thought he could endure. This is seen quite clearly in how Sidney always jumps whenever the son, Isaiah Johnson, steps into a room. The fear and utter anguish in his eyes. Like a deer caught in the headlights.

The film clearly shows how there’s always a party that can do something about it all but instead chooses to be compliant because of wanting to avoid confrontations or better yet, not knowing how to handle such a sensitive and absurd situation.

Many have argued that the film did a great job of capturing how anyone can indeed be a victim and how scary and mentally draining it actually is. Even though for me it was quite disturbing and horrifying, looking at this other side of the lens made me realize that perpetrators of sexual abuse are sick in the head. There is something very fundamentally wrong with them, and they shouldn’t be allowed to be interacting with other normal human beings. They are simply not normal, and they should be locked up.