John Carpenter isn't known for happy feel-good horror films. The Thing is no exception.
Carpenter creates a setting which allows for extreme tensions, and not simply due to the deadly and isolated location: Antarctica. He hints at a major flaw in humanity itself: self-loathing. Humanity has a distrust of others due to their country of origin, skin color, and other factors beyond its control. In a sense, in the context of the film, humanity tries to separate itself, to be homogeneous. In the beginning of the film, after the helicopter crash, a clear sign or geographic ignorance is displayed when one character didn't distinguish between Norwegian and Swedish. Hence, a major flaw in several characters.
Tension rises at the beginning when all forms of communication fail. Radio communication is vital to the base, so for that to fail signals future failures. Speaking of communication: several characters are guilty of lack of communication simply due to their egos. Each character is certainly guilty of having an ego, but is overshadowed by creeping fears.
The introduction of the Thing, does have certain parallels to the Lovecraft novella At the Mountains of Madness. The Thing has properties similar to that of the Shoggoths, the slave race of the Elder Things, whom rebelled against their creators, nearly destroying the entire civilization. The Thing can imitate living organisms; even their personalities to a limited extent. The Thing is much more terrifying, even to the extent some will commit suicide out of fear of being assimilated by the Thing.
The nature of the Thing is worthy of terror and awe. It has no discernible true form and its cells act on their own, so in a sense, the Thing is a microbe which absorbs which life form it comes into contact with. Dr. Copper (Richard Dysart) calculated that the Thing could imitate every human being on the planet in 27,000 hours, roughly 3 years. With the current population of Earth at 7,500,000,000, the Thing could imitate 6,666,666 people per 24 period.
This information increases the tension among the crew and drives them to the brink of madness with despair and fear.
During their battles with the Thing, it proves to be difficult to kill. It isn't just instinct, it has intelligence.
Rating: 5/5
Shawn, you make a good point about The Thing not having its own discernable shape, at least that we saw in the movie. I'm not the type that needs a story always wrapped up nicely, with all the loose ends tied in a bow, but I kept wondering if the aliens on the ship were infected or if it was crewed by a race of The Thing?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that's covered in the original book...
I like how you point out the more human aspects of the film, which is an integral part and probably the most important to atmosphere and the isolation they go through.
ReplyDelete(Though its actually Blair that figures out the amount of time the humans of earth could be assimilated, which leads to his mental outbreak not letting anyone leave.)
And I'm with Chad on wondering if the creatures on the ship were attacked by a previous form of the Thing. An interesting thought.