So What Really Was the Conspiracy in Eddington?

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Warning: As you may be able to tell from the headline, this post spoils the ending of Eddington.

As a dedicated cinephile, Ari Aster’s debut marked the grisly decapitation of a child, and every movie since has plunged deeper into despair. His latest, Eddington, might also be the most thought-provoking: It transports us back to May 2020, a time that feels like a jump scare when I recall it. We’re smack in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the era of mask disputes, moral turmoil, and endless doomscrolling. Our protagonist is Joe Cross, portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, the sheriff of a New Mexico town, who turns his resistance to mask mandates and a proposed data center into a populist revolt against the mayor, played by Pedro Pascal. As a filmmaker, Aster revels in dancing dangerously close to controversial topics, and the quarantine period offers him an almost overwhelming number of targets: right-wing paranoia, performative activism, and liberal self-righteousness (symbolized here by Katy Perry’s “Firework”). Critics are divided on how successfully he tackles these themes – a division that’s mirrored in one shocking twist late in the film.

A significant amount of the negative sentiment towards Eddington is based on the perception that the situation has been manipulated for advantage. The town, which has no reported COVID-19 cases, is used to ridicule public health measures, and it has a small number of Black residents, making it easier to dismiss the summer’s racial awakening as mere tokenism or superficial signaling. This, of course, is the director’s choice.

In the first two parts of the movie, Aster appears to be working within a realm that somewhat mirrors our everyday reality. For instance, a woman being influenced by an online cult leader, a politician making unfounded allegations against his rival about pedophilia, and a white college student instructing her Black ex on how he should resist oppression – these scenarios might have been exaggerated versions of events from the summer of 2020, but they still share some similarities with real-life occurrences.

The movie takes an unexpected shift as the events involving Eddington gain nationwide attention. Aster transitions to a private jet filled with antifa activists being flown into town by some mysterious manipulator. It seems we’ve departed reality and entered the world of Looney Tunes. Instead of presenting a true-to-life twist, Aster is now portraying scenarios born from the fancies of right-wing extremists. What was initially a film focusing on Joe’s personal descent into madness and violence, turns chaotic with an explosion of brutality. The antifa operatives serve as a sinister deus ex machina, masterminding a complex bomb plot and wreaking havoc in the town using high-powered weapons. Despite causing some damage themselves, the sheriff is not exempt from this destruction. By the end of the movie, they’ve inadvertently solved many of Joe’s problems: eliminating Native detective Jiminez Butterfly (William Belleau), who was closing in on him for murder, and transforming Joe into a right-wing icon. Though their attack leaves him weakened and disabled, he becomes the hero he always aspired to be – the “good guy with a gun” saving a town from alleged left-wing terrorists.

The movie has left critics equally baffled and enraged, as it takes a surprising turn. Justin Chang from The New Yorker criticized its shift into mocking arrogance, excessive violence, and overall boredom. Keith Phipps in The Reveal found the third act confusing and unsatisfying. Stephanie Zacharek from Time confessed that she barely understands the movie’s ending.

Beyond Aster apparently aiming to influence multiple sides of the political arena, what could possibly be the underlying motive here? Take a closer look, and the solution may have been right under our noses all along.

In simpler terms, if Aster’s thesis in Eddington suggests, it’s about how the pandemic broke down our common understanding of reality. With people being separated from each other and perceiving the world through personalized digital screens, we became easy targets for manipulators of various kinds. Essentially, Aster is arguing that as Joe becomes increasingly disconnected from reality, so does the movie portraying him deviate further from what truly happened in 2020 and transform into a sensationalized right-wing fantasy.

On a deeper note, the final act of the film “Eddington” maintains director Aster’s penchant for incorporating dark cosmic humor as an ending theme. As Sam Adams from Slate points out, Aster’s characters often share a quality of being paranoid conspiracy theorists who ultimately turn out to be correct. For instance, in “Hereditary,” Toni Collette’s character Annie is indeed under the influence of her mother’s malevolent plan. Similarly, in “Beau Is Afraid,” Beau’s suspicion towards his overbearing mother is validated when he finds himself on trial due to standing up to her. This pattern can be observed in “Eddington” too. Joe’s belief that the town is being targeted by an elite conspiracy is proven accurate, although it isn’t exactly the one he had anticipated.

Following the resolution of the conflict, a brief epilogue discloses the fates of all characters in the movie Eddington. In a humorous twist, the white teenager who previously advocated for deconstructing whiteness has relocated to Florida and embraced full MAGA ideology. Joe emerges victorious in the mayoral race, however, he merely serves as a symbolic figure, often appearing at public events as a disabled representative of the city. The data center was constructed, with its corporate owner now among Joe’s benefactors.

In the periphery, everything unfolds subtly, often going unnoticed during an initial watch. However, one might think as Joe’s theory-obsessed mother-in-law does, it’s all interconnected. Although Aster doesn’t explicitly state it, it appears that the influential figures from the data centers have been orchestrating things covertly throughout. They are the ones who arranged for the antifa soldiers to arrive, skillfully manipulating both sides to exploit the disorder. In spite of Joe’s claims about championing the underdog, he winds up as a tool in the hands of big tech by the film’s end.

For a director known for his bold and fiery approach, the subplot involving antifa could be the movie’s most explosive content. Initially, as an average liberal viewer, I found it seeming like an overly provocative move. However, as The Ringer’s Adam Nayman points out, it’s a gag that might mislead those who are not paying attention or have a grudge against the director. Once you grasp the humor, it becomes clear he’s targeting the right subject. In the end, Aster’s final joke is that an age of general institutional distrust has only bolstered the power of those who do wrong. Ironically, people who are quick to spot manipulation are often the most easily manipulated themselves.

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2025-07-18 23:54