Bugonia: The meaning behind Emma Stone’s movie title explained

Yorgos Lanthimos' version of Save the Green Planet! (2003), Bugonia has a deeper meaning to its title. It's about a couple of conspiracy theorists who are convinced that a high-powered CEO is, in fact, an alien and could be a threat to humanity.

The director again collaborates with Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone, who are in the lead. Other than them, Aidan Delbis, Cedric Dumornay, and Alicia Silverstone star in it.

Will Tracy, who wrote the film, recently appeared in an interview where he discussed the meaning of the title. He said,

"You could take that as a metaphor for contemporary, certainly American life, or human civilization if you wish. That there might be some opportunity or new life that could arise from the ashes of something that's quite corrupt. That's one way to look at it."

The term is actually a Greek myth, as Will mentioned. According to this belief, bees can rise from the corpse of a dead cow. There's actually a process about bugonia that's described in a Byzantine book collection. That includes the brutal death of an ox from a beating by young men.

Interestingly, Lanthimos is also Greek.

There's ambiguity to Bugonia's title

Emma Stone plays Michelle Fuller in Bugonia. (Image via Focus Features)

Yorgos Lanthimos wants the audience to interpret things their own way. Will Tracy explained this by saying,

"I think also, we just liked the ambiguity of the title as well. It kinda sounds like an insect, kinda sounds like a flower, kinda sounds alien, but also sounds like a place, maybe, that could be on Earth. It might also sound like an illness that someone might have. So, I think the non-specificity of it was also kind of attractive."

Though it is not easy to interpret a Yorgos Lanthimos film. Films like The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), for example, can be hard in this case. The Lobster (2015) was relatively more straightforward to follow.

A similar concept appears in the Harry Potter films

J.K. Rowling uses a similar concept in her Harry Potter series, which was later adapted for film. Dumbledore's bird, Fawkes, is a phoenix, which is actually a mythical creature coming again from Greek mythology.

The specialty of it is that it cannot die, and when it dies, it rises from its ashes. There's actually a scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) where Fawkes burns itself, and a baby phoenix comes out of those ashes.

What is Bugonia about?

Jesse Plemons is Teddy in the film. (Image via Focus Features)

The film follows Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), who are conspiracy theorists and believe that Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, is an alien queen.

Both of them abduct her and keep her in the basement for most of the story. There are a couple of twists in the movie, one of which emerges early and focuses on mental health.