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"The Thing" (1982)
John Carpenter’s "The Thing" is one of my all-time favorite films. In spite of the R rating and my only being 12 years old, I managed to see this film during its original theatrical release in 1982. It is a remake of Howard Hawk’s 1951 movie "Thing From Another World" (which was based on the short story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell). The Thing made a very deep and lasting impression on me that has not faded in the more than 20 years since first experiencing it.
In my opinion, The Thing is as near to perfection as I could expect a film to be. Every member of the cast gives a great, believable performance. The cinematography is incredible, and the special effects were not only fantastic, but also groundbreaking. The musical score by Ennio Morricone adds a great deal to the atmosphere of tension and suspense. And the script is nearly flawless, with what I think is only one poorly written line in the entire film.
Admittedly a small part of my love for this film is due to nostalgia for a particular time in my childhood. But having seen (and reevaluated) this movie dozens of times since 1982 I still believe it has great value from an Objectivist perspective. One aspect of the film, which Objectivists could appreciate, is that The Thing depicts a collective entity run amok. It is a malevolent killing machine that kills and absorbs every living creature in its path. And when the "thing" is cornered and is forced to change its shape or reveal itself, the resulting blood and gore is truly shocking and terrifying. But as a metaphor for collectivism, the copious amount of blood and the scale of violence are entirely appropriate.
The Thing is a fast paced suspense story about 12 men at a research station in the South Pole, which is under siege by an alien creature that possesses the ability to perfectly imitate any life form it encounters, once it has devoured them. The 12 humans are stranded in an arctic wasteland with no possibility of escape or a quick rescue. Nobody knows who is really human and who is really the "thing". What they do know is that the "thing" will eventually devour each and every one of them if they do not identify it and destroy it. That is assuming the camp member’s own suspicions and paranoia doesn't lead them to kill each other first.
Upon first encountering the "thing", the camp members briefly try to comprehend what they are dealing with. Once they realize that The Thing will try to kill and assimilate them, every one of the camp members is ready to fight it, to the death if need be. Each and every man refuses to be absorbed into the mindless, bloody, collective entity. And they've recognized that the threat extends beyond their camp. It’s made clear that if they don’t destroy the "thing" before it takes the men over, it will inevitably find it’s way to the civilized world where it can potentially wipe out all of humanity.
In my favorite scene, the character McReady (played by Kurt Russell) gives a short speech to the remaining members of his group. The men are outside the camp during the freezing arctic night, each of their faces concealed behind layers of protective clothing and goggles. McReady has taken charge of the camp and is determined to identify and destroy The Thing when he says, "I know I’m human. And if you were all these "things" then you would just attack me right now. So some of you are still human. This thing doesn'’t want to show itself. It wants to hide inside an imitation. It'll fight if it has to, but it’s vulnerable out in the open. If it takes us over then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it’s won. There’s a storm hitting us in six hours, and we’re gonna find out who’s who."
I can certainly understand why any Objectivist would have their reservations about watching a horror film. The vast majority of movies in the horror genre are based on one variation or another of what Ayn Rand called the "Malevolent Universe Premise". But The Thing is an exception because it doesn't promote the idea that humans are doomed to a life of futility and suffering. While terrible things happen during The Thing, the characters fight nobly to preserve their own lives and the world that they value. And without revealing everything about the film’s end, even when faced with a terrible alternative (suicide) to surrendering to the "thing", the men make a principled choice. Faced with no remaining alternatives, McReady decides "We’re not getting out of here alive, but neither is that "thing."
Many have seen the end of The Thing as being either ambiguous, or even nihilistic. I disagree. I think of it the same way that I think of John Galt telling his captors how to repair the machine that they are using to torture him, near the end of Atlas Shrugged. Or the character of Eddie Willers choosing to remain alone in the desert on a broken down train that he cannot repair rather than climb aboard the primitive wagon train that is his only alternative.
Ultimately, you'll decide whether or not you want to see the Thing, and you'll come to your own conclusions. But I hope that at least some of the people that would have likely dismissed the movie will now give it further consideration. In spite of the rather downbeat ending, it is still an exceptionally well made film in every way. Believe it or not, The Thing has long been tied with The Shawshank Redemption for the #1 spot as my all-time favorite film…
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