I want to bring attention to the fact that, in the case of Bear finding her standing in her own waste, she isn’t immediately disgusted with herself. Not only is she perfectly happy to stand there the whole day, her first reaction is to rush to Bear. It’s only when he’s disgusted that, after a moment of visible confusion at his reaction, she starts going on and on about being disgusting.

My point is: It’s performative. She’s saying "no no no don’t worry, I know what is making you react this way, I agree, I am also having the same reaction, we’re on the same wavelength", it’s an effort to not alienate him.

She’s not actually disgusted. She’s just ashamed and scared that Bear is seeing her in what she only then understands as a repulsive state to him, so she tries to hide away as quick as possible (hence why she’s so quick to slam the bathroom door).

It’s like she just acts and only when Bear disapproves does she start going through Nikki’s head for an explanation and then realizes her actions are not socially acceptable.

When Bear tells her it’s a fucked up thing to do, she asks if that’s a good thing. Bear did use the phrase “in the fucking World” in his wish.

microdosing on my sociology degree by watching sociologists use it in literary analysis 😌

I think point many people miss is that Nikki's truly erratic and scary behavior doesn't start until after the restaurant scene where Bear fully understands that Nikki is being controlled by the wish and then sexually assaults her anyway. The only abnormal thing she does before that is the cat shrine, which is weird but not inherently harmful to anyone.  

In the restaurant, Real Nikki watches from inside Wish Nikki as Bear seems to finally be grasping that she's not in control, only to then hear him say "It doesn't matter to me," and then uses her body for his own satisfaction. It's her trauma response and the dawning realization that a person she trusted doesn't care about her at all that causes Wish Nikki to spin out.

Right after this is when Bear wakes to Nikki crying in the corner unable to force herself to get back into the bed, saying she doesn't like her dreams and that she can't shake the feeling that Bear doesn't love her like she loves him. This is Real Nikki's feelings influencing Wish Nikki.

In he original script; Freaky Nikki made the memorial in spite of Bear throwing his cat’s corpse in the trash. Even then, she’s recognising some level of dignity Bear himself lacks, his disposal of his “beloved” cat mirroring how he goes on to treat Nikki who he also claims to love.

Obsession makes me think a lot of AI. How it regurgitates seemingly random details into a new format

the thing that strikes me is that the reason we're all theorizing about why analog nikki is acting this way is because bear never cared enough to ask. he just ordered her to cease like an angry parent. no attempt at understanding and then working together to correct her thought processes that led her to these things whatsoever

Something about the movie speaks to me on a neurodivergent level. Whatever the thing piloting Nikki’s body, whether some wish entity or a part of Nikki’s consciousness that’s been whittled down and warped doesn’t know what human culture wants from her. She’s following a single directive. Love Bear more than anyone in the fucking world.
As a person on the spectrum, I really felt bad for her because it’s not her fault that she was put on the earth and given a task and then is angrily corrected or treated like a problem whenever she tries to execute the task.
Like you said, she doesn’t understand human culture and can’t figure out why she’s constantly violating the rules that everyone just insists she should know without being told the rules.

I dont think new Nikki (Freaky Nikki) had access to Nikki's memories but rather Bears. On the first scene we meet freaky Nikki she makes a weird mistake with her words where she says her cat died showing she is in the perspective of Bear. Throughout the movie we also dont really see freaky Nikki do anything that requires Nikki's memories.

Many have said it, but as someone who has cats and has also sadly had to say goodbye to cats, Bear throwing the cat away bothers me. I'm in the UK and we would either bury them or take them to the vets to be cremated, as I did.

I don't think Nikki scalped Sarah, I watched it twice and her body still has hair in that last scene. Nikki just styled her hair the same way. If wearing Sarah's scalp was something they wanted to throw in for shock value, they'd probably have Nikki carve Sarah's tattoos onto her skin, but instead she just drew them on with a sharpie

I think Wish Nikki's behavior pulls from not only Real Nikki's schema of culture and social competence, but also Bear's thoughts. There's moments earlier in the film where she speaks as if from Bear's perspective, creating the impression that she's syncing with him. "I did just lose my cat, Bear." "Are you okay? Yeah." This could be the Wish misinterpreting empathy as literally taking on the feelings of another and pretending their experiences are yours, but the conversation at the door the following night again reinforces her weird syncing with Bear

Okay, here’s the thing: I think - and I’m curious how many other cat owners who have lost a pet feel the same way - that BEAR putting the cat into the trash as a breach of a morey. Owners bond with pets, often ascribing them emotional and intellectual agency, and building shrines or keeping urns or graves for them when they are gone. He didn’t really say goodbye, from that emotional perspective. And what is Neo-Nikki if not a creature of emotion?

He dismisses this idea of any custom, tells her to throw it away. But as Dean Martin crooned, that’s a Morey.

It would also be interesting to interpret Analog Nikki as a manifestation of an anxious attached child whose survival is purely manifested by how much they are loved and seen by their parents. A child will probably do something like making a shrine for a cat, because just like you mentioned, for a child the sociological concepts haven't developed to consider that act a taboo.

I think the movie is basically an unloved kid (Bear) who wasn't valued, loved or seen the way he would have wanted to, wishing that toxic bond onto another person, and not realising that he has in real time become a parent and a partner who has to completely perform an upheaval on his priorities and center the person who he has basically made into a child (in the most charitable interpretation).

Funny how you brought up incest since Analog Nikki knows Nikki only sees Bear as a brother, hence the analogue with Hansel and Gretel

cat shrine = empathy for the cat, since she's in the same situation being repeated.  She's mourning the cat cuz she knows what it went through, & is like "appreciate us, don't just turn away"

wow i really liked this analysis! it really highlights that analog nikki is a victim herself, even with all of the horrible things she does. i keep going back to bear's wish and the way he said "loves me more than anyone in the fucking world." this includes herself! she's so genuinely scared and hurt by not being able to "earn" bear's love, she becomes not just violent to others but to herself, repeatedly hurting, neglecting, and threatening herself. bear is the only real person in her world. anyway lol much to think about. definitely subscribing and looking forward to more :)

I really liked your explanation of folkways, mores, and taboos! But also, this is a really interesting way to think about Analog Nikki's actions and the reasons for them. Funny enough, while the cat shrine was shocking, I also could see kind of a sweet action since grief and mourning can get really complicated. When my best friend died, i got a heart-shaped urn and her parents allowed me to scoop some of the ashes out of their urn to put into my little one. No one close to me was weirded out by this decision, but I've gotten uncomfortable reactions from other people who have never been in that situation or grieve and mourn differently. The cat sandwich was kinda wild though lol

Just thought of this, Wish Nikki keeps putting trash in the shrines she makes because Bear threw his cat in the trash, so she thinks that trash must be sacred and part of honoring dead loved ones.

I disagree on the one point that she didn't understand the social awkwardness of reading the incestuous version of Hansel and Gretel. I think she did it BECAUSE it's socially awkward - to make a point. The point: "This is what I'm like to be around, so if you want to see this side of me, don't be around." (which gives her more claim to Bear by pushing others away).