In this situation it’s ryan who thinks naim is the entity, so he reverts to violence the only way he knows how to in the context of being gay. His previous experiences with hunter all involved violence as a precursor to affection. as he lets out his anger at what he imagines to be entity!Naim it of course leads back to that, this thing that has been wearing naim’s face — naim, who he actually cares about; naim, who is the first to have offered him vulnerability without the prerequisite of violence. As it subverts naim’s character, ryan subverts his own role in his relationship with naim to deal with it; as entity!Naim is the opposite of the care ryan has come to associate with naim, how ryan treats it becomes the opposite of how he treats, or would treat, naim. the opposite of his relationship with naim, eg his relationship with hunter. the entity targets ryan’s desire for naim and uses it against him, making affection and sexuality into violence again. and by using ryan’s new trust of naum in order to isolate and attack him, the entity is intended to make being gay into something to be frightened of — a new attempt at enforcing internalized homophobia, meant to force ryan into compulsory heterosexuality: the outcome the church wants from this whole event.

The fact that Ryan throws the rock as well just seems so off for entity Ryan, because the real Ryan had never thrown rocks at Naim before and so it seems more like an attempt at self-defence to entity Naim.

It’s so heart wrenching when you realise that omg this is the POINT. This is the point of the movie that they are so blinded by their fear that they attempt to hurt the ones they love most— they FEAR the ones they love most, unable to disconnect the fear of the being from the feelings towards the beings.

That small point of confusion as well— when they both pause to think wait- it might actually be you- until Ryan throws the rock, because HE is the one who was always the bravest and the one that risked it all to show his goal: kissing Naim, putting his hand on his back, touching him on the bus, etc. while in this moment this manifests itself into deciding against this bravery and going all out with fear— hence throwing the rock before risking Naim being the entity despite doubts he may have had.

i've been replaying this on loop and i'm feeling:

1) mesmerised by the terror in naim's eyes and how he goes totally non verbal when he's scared like fucking hell joe what shit have u been through to be able to display fear like that. the way he's so terrified he's choking on it, unable to speak or do anything but frantically tap on the glass as tears well in his eyes ugughfhfg it's so fucking visceral i feel sick I LOVE YOU JOE BIRD

2) dazed by how gently ryan talks naim down. hey! it's alright. naim, it's alright, it's alright! look at me. hey, it's alright while he has both hands on his waist like oh my god ryan whelan you beautiful kind boy. what's that quote like "No one will understand the violence it took to become this gentle"... he's so careful and soft with naim it makes my head spin

and finally, arguably most devastating 3) the fact that ryan reassures naim by saying it can't get you there's people right here naim, it can't get you! not realising that it isn't true. bc naim not only witnessed ryan being attacked by the entity at the roller skating rink but also hunter the night he was killed. he watched hunter be strangled through glass just like this, and even though naim broke through the door and chased after calling his name the entity still killed him.

i both LOVE goats (like i am obsessed, my name means ill-fated and my neighbors had goats when i was a kid) and i really enjoy how the goat is used in the movie

while sheep represent the blessed, innocent, and pure, goats across history have been treated as vessels for sin.

one reason goats are seen as "ill-fated" comes from ancient hebrew rituals outlined in the bible (leviticus 16). on the day of atonement, a priest would symbolically place all the sins of the community onto the head of a live goat. this "scapegoat" was then driven out into the desolate wilderness, left to die or wander alone, carrying away the people's bad fortune and evil deeds (source)

sm_cinema went over more symbolism from the movie in this ig post:

- their future friends worry for them because theyre attached at the hip and always somehow show up with a new bruise or cut. They make jokes about them being a bonded pair, do not separate, but the jokes are true. They think their relationship is very toxic and unhealthy and it takes them a while to understand why theyre the way they are

- Ryan loves holding Naim's hand/waist/knee/just touching him in general in public. He loves that Naim reciprocates too. Naim was a bit hesitant at first because new town, but after no one batted an eye at them holding hands, or even a quick kiss on the cheek, he got way more comfortable.