Blog Post #1: Everyone Has a Little Bit of 'The Thing' in Them
In John Carpenter's movie, "The Thing", a crew of
American researchers are backed into a corner and revert to primal survival
instincts after they encounter an alien organism that can kill other living
things and take their form. They don't know who's infected by the alien
and so they start to go to extreme measures in order to survive. This theme of
survival is shown in the film several times. Wanting to survive, and the
lengths people are willing to take in order to live. The scene where R.J.
MacReady ties up his crew and takes blood samples to test whether or not they
are infected is a good example of this theme. Carpenter does so much in this
scene that make it so much more suspenseful for the viewer; we don’t know what these
guys are capable of doing now, especially in that situation.
The scene begins
after Norris turns out to be infected and is burned to death. MacReady demands
everyone to sit down and get tied up as he performs a test on everyone to see
if they are infected. Clark had picked up a scalpel earlier before Norris had transformed and now it seems like he is ready to make an attempt to end MacReady's life as he is preoccupied threatening Childs. The camera angle and lighting seen in the screen shot above helps enhance the viewers suspense. From this angle, we can clearly see the scalpel hidden at the side of Clarks body and no one else can, especially not MacReady because his back is purposely turned towards us to further enhance the suspense that he has no idea what Clark is up to behind him. The fact that Clark has to result to backstabbing his very own friend is evidence that shows how the darkest sides of people come out when they are pushed into a corner and want to survive so bad. Clark runs up onto MacReady but fails, and ends up getting shot in the head.
In this screen shot, MacReady is threatening Childs to do as he says or he will shoot him. Childs calls his bluff and then MacReady points the gun right at his face and assures him that he is being serious. The camera angle here is pointed in such a way that we are facing Childs as if we are in MacReady's shoes pointing the gun at him. The look on Childs face is not only scared, but he also looks as if he is hurt that MacReady would betray him like that and put a bullet in him for not listening. This wave of paranoia brought onto them by the alien is beginning to tear their friendships apart. They mean nothing if theres no trust between them. This is a good example of how nothing else seems to matter to them now that they are just trying to survive.
MacReady also tests Clarks blood after shooting him for attempting to kill him with a scalpel. It turns out that Clark wasn't infected and Childs comments that MacReady is a murder. This is significant because its a reminder of their morals, even in a situation like this, theres right and wrong. It's almost as if they needed to be reminded that killing people is illegal and bad, even if they are in a struggle of survival.
"Watching Norris in there gave me the idea that maybe every part of him was a whole. Every little piece was an individual animal with a built-in desire to protect its own life"
When MacReady starts burning the wire to begin testing the blood samples, he explains his theory behind the test. After seeing Norris detach his head and try to survive, he came to the conclusion that the blood would do the same if burned by the wire in order to attempt to survive. MacReady is saying the quote above while the camera pans across the remaining people tied up. It's almost as if MacReady is talking about all of them in the room, not just the alien. You can see it in their faces, it looks like they are taking what he said personally. The theme of survival throughout this movie has turned all the crew members against each other because of their built-in desire to protect its own life. All of them have broken down in one way or another. The irony is that the thing has been trying to do the same thing that all of them have been trying to do: survive. You can now see how everyone has a little bit of the thing dormant inside them in the sense that they will be willing to go through such great lengths and throw out all sense of morality in order to survive.
