‘Tarot’ Tries To Play on Gen Z Fears, but This Horror Comedy Did It Better (2024)

Generation Z has often been ridiculed in the media, and many of the generation’s members wholeheartedly agree, as tallied by a London Agency. Films often represent Gen Z twenty-somethings as overly zealous, “woke” (a term that has been twisted into an insult) caricatures that spew out certain buzzwords relating to diversity or mental health. While it is a reductive way to perceive an entire generation, one particular film has found success in capitalizing on this stereotype. Haline Reijn's Bodies, Bodies, Bodies is a memorable A24 gem that, yes, throws not-so-subtle jabs at Gen Z, but also exhibits a more thorough understanding of the generation making it a sharp, insightful, and hilarious experience.

More recently, another horror flick, 2024’s Tarot, has tried to connect with Gen Z through an interest that is vastly popular among the generation: tarot readings and astrology. However, Anna Halberg’s and Spenser Cohen’s directorial feature debut lacks the thoughtfulness around the generation that Bodies, Bodies, Bodies effortlessly demonstrated. Tarot simply tries to dissect Gen Z via a mere interest some seem to have, and ignores the social politics, nihilism, and irony that pervades them, something that Reijn’s piece dives into using both satire and empathy. While its astrological premise caught everyone’s initial interest, Tarot fumbles a valuable opportunity to really follow up the precedent Bodies, Bodies, Bodies set.

Bodies Bodies Bodies

Horror

Slasher

Comedy

Release Date

August 5, 2022

Cast

Pete Davidson , Lee Pace , Amandla Stenberg , Maria Bakalova , Rachel Sennott

Runtime

95 minutes

'Tarot' and 'Bodies, Bodies, Bodies' Were Inspired By Gen Z's Response to Lockdown

Writing Tarot at the height of COVID, Halberg talked to Supanova about her and Cohen's inspiration for adapting the 1992 novel by Nicholas Adams, Horrorscope. "We saw a lot of our friends and peers turning to the stars or tarot cards for answers," She explains. "We really were exploring this idea of fate versus free will: are you in control of your destiny or does your destiny control you?" With astrology becoming such a huge aspect of Gen Z lives, Tarot could have become this era's Final Destination with a celestial twist. However, with a concept, cast, and comedy that is so explicitly catered to Gen Z, it is slightly disappointing that the film couldn't exactly capture the essence of the generation, especially when we compare it to Bodies, Bodies, Bodies.

While Halberg tapped into the more existential aspect of lockdown, where people seek meaning through the stars or tarot, Reijn's film resembles a game that rose in popularity during the quarantine: Among Us. Barricaded in our rooms, Among Us became one of the prevalent ways people connected with each other, as it offered an online community and collaborative environment while also throwing in a thrilling dash of blood and deceit. Among Us involves players gathering on a spaceship where one or two players is secretly assigned the role of the impostor. The impostor must sabotage the ship and murder the players without getting caught, and each time a body is found, the players convene to vote for who they theorize the impostor is. The game continues in these rounds until the impostor is detected or is the only one left.

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies includes a physical version of the game, where a group of friends gathers at a friend's house and papers are drawn to decide who the secret killer is. The game follows a similar fashion, except when someone finds a body they yell out "bodies, bodies, bodies!" Naturally, the petty drama this game incites is a delight to witness. Throw in satirical remarks about political correctness and mental health jargon, and the film becomes the perfect way to place a horror spin on an inherently Gen Z idea.

'Bodies, Bodies, Bodies' Characters Satirize Gen Z

Tarot follows a group of friends who break one of the sacred tenets of tarot — do not use another person's deck. After the initial reading, members of the group get violently picked off, with each death scene explicitly connected to their reading and the figure of their Major Arcada. Naturally, the characters slowly spiral into unhinged fear, though a layer of comedy overlies the entire ordeal. The film’s characters come off as predetermined archetypes that happen to be the same age as Gen Z. Jacob Batalon’s Paxton is the comedic relief; Harriet Slater’s Haley is the Final Girl with a dark past; Adain Bradley’s Grant is the love interest that exists for the protagonist; and other characters fade into the rat-pack. It is a missed opportunity to delve into Gen Z values and traits, making it sorely obvious that the film believed making them part of the generation was enough of a connection.

On the other hand, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies crafted their characters to be uniquely Gen Z, tapping into the idiosyncrasies of the generation with comically and satirically delivered one-liners that hold a lot of weight. We see this in David’s (Pete Davidson) comment on his black eye looking “cool,” or how he describes Bee (Maria Bakalova) as “cute in a school-shooter way” simply for bringing zucchini bread to the party. It reflects the generation's nihilistic attitude as serious subjects are mentioned with such levity, but also ties into the generation’s preoccupation with image, considering many of them were raised with social media being at its peak.

But it is the scene-stealing Alice (Rachel Zennot) who really embodies why Gen Z is given a negative reputation. She even has a funnier astrology joke than anything heard in Tarot; when asked about her new boyfriend who she barely knows, she yells at the group, "Well, he's a Libra Moon so I guess that says a lot!" The idea of social media and self-image is inherent in her frequently mentioned podcast and portrayals of narcissism, especially in a conversation in the finale. Bee opens up about dropping out of school and taking care of her mother who has borderline personality disorder – a rare grounded moment that Alice disturbs by chiming in about her eating disorder, leading to a hilarious “Shut up Alice” from Myha'la's Jordan. Contrast this with Sophie’s (Amandla Stenberg) “you trigger me” when talking about her past drug abuse, and Bodies, Bodies, Bodies' nuanced commentary is apparent. This reflects how political correctness and proper mental health jargon are inherently good things, but they can be co-opted and weaponized by narcissistic people for superficial reasons. It is not Gen Z’s “wokeness” that has led to their downfall, but the way it can potentially be used becomes self-destructive for the generation. Tarot’s characters pale in comparison, lacking any real identifiers of what makes them Gen Z.

Both Films Play on Gen Z's Connection With the Pandemic

While everyone was certainly impacted by the 2020 lockdowns, Gen Z was uniquely affected by it considering it occurred during their developmental years. A decline in mental health during the pandemic was also notably reported in Gen Z far more than the other generations. Bodies, Bodies, Bodies reflects this by creating a lockdown atmosphere through the hurricane, adapting a game that was popular during the pandemic, and delivering both farcical and real representations of complex mental health within the mansion. The film constructs a claustrophobic environment that is made disorienting by flashing lights, including the distinctive image of neon glow bands. In hindsight, it flawlessly re-creates the atmosphere of 2020, a year that people can only remember in a haze due to the chaotic on-and-off nature of the lockdowns. It all compounds in how the lockdown shaped Gen Z, as swirling emotions were trapped within four walls.

Meanwhile, Halberg taps into an anecdotal reason for choosing tarot readings as a device to connect with Gen Z. As mentioned before, she recalls how people she knew looked to the stars for answers during this tumultuous time, and BBC reaffirms this with reports of astrologers’ businesses booming during the pandemic. While TikTok demonstrates that Gen Z also partakes in this astrological hobby, it is still a fairly tenuous way to connect to an entire generation. While Bodies, Bodies, Bodies is inspired by a game that addressed the social isolation during lockdown, which also led into its conversation around mental health, Tarot’s connection is fairly arbitrary, as it wasn’t only Gen Z that turned to astrology during the pandemic – it was across generations as suggested by BBC.

'Bodies, Bodies, Bodies' Puts A Better Horror Twist on Gen Z

The idea of Gen Z being self-destructive is also masterfully delivered in Bodies, Bodies, Bodies’ finale. Using the format of a murder mystery wrapped in horror elements of darkness and jump scares allows for the final egregious plot twist to truly encompass why Gen Z has its reputation. In the end, they create their own demise, with the correct buzzwords and petty drama strung along the way. By also riffing on And Then There Were None, each character becomes culpable in the generation’s downfall, no matter how stereotypically they are portrayed or not.

On the other hand, Tarot’s Final Destination-esque plot is simply riveting to witness but doesn’t necessarily give the film breathing room to explore the generation holistically. The film gives us stunningly theatrical deaths, from the contorted Hangman to the downright terrifying Fool, but also delivers rudimentary narrative filler in between that tries to create compelling relationships between its one-dimensional characters. The filler seems to be the films’ attempt at tackling Gen Z, but with an arbitrary outlook on trauma and universal comedy, it doesn’t reveal anything specific about the generation. As such, it falls into the trap of relying on the tarot card iconography, refining the death scenes to perfection but leaving its Gen Z commentary incomplete.

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies works because it doesn’t lazily critique Gen Z for their “wokeness” about diversity and mental health, but instead thoughtfully engages with why Gen Z is represented in this way, all while delivering a compelling murder mystery. Meanwhile, Tarot simply has a façade of being inherently Gen Z, giving us a horror twist on an astrological hobby that is absolutely fun to watch but is ultimately superficial.

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies is available to stream now on Netflix in the U.S.

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