Opinion: Obsession Presents an Unrealistic Standard of How Many People Work at a Music Store

Curry Barker’s 2026 breakout hit Obsession has become an unmitigated Hollywood success story. Produced independently on a shoestring budget, the film has gone on to become one of the most popular horror films of the year. However, with its runaway success, Obsession is teaching lots of impressionable young people a very dangerous lesson. Namely, that going to a music store means seeing a floor overflowing with employees as soon as you walk in the door. 

In the film, the main character Baron “Bear” Bailey uses a magical “One Wish Willow” in order to make his platonic best friend Nikki fall in love with him. This culminates in one of the most unbelievable scenes ever put to film, in which we see Bear at his music store job, accompanied by two other employees, plus a store manager. Excuse me?

To see so many staff members actively working at a music store, much less a mom-and-pop store, quite simply defies belief. Has Curry Barker ever been to a music store before? Just try getting an employee to help you find anything. I defy you to do it.

I remember the last time I went to the Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles, simply looking for new Ernie Ball strings. I spent a full 15 minutes wandering from department to department, clearly looking like I needed help–but to no avail. You’d think the place was deserted!

Not everything in the film is inaccurate, though. The scene in which Bear and his friend Sarah eat lunch while sitting on the floor and ignoring customers? Spot on.

The larger issue at hand, though, is that Curry Barker does not realize the extreme harm his film could potentially cause young people. Imagine being an impressionable youth seeing the film for the first time. Beyond all the creepy, borderline-misogynistic relationship story beats lies an outright damaging lie about what to expect when entering a music store. 

It is also incredibly unrealistic to expect the manager of that music store to be a warm Andy Richter type and not a coke dealer with a side hustle for tax purposes.

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