The Evolution of The Thing
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cultural perspective, the struggle represents the conflict between the military
priority of dealing with a clear and present danger compared to science’s desire
to promote knowledge, even when it poses a danger to the general public. The
arrogant scientist, a reflection of the archetypal Dr. Frankenstein, reminds the
viewers of the inhuman experiments of Nazi scientists such as Joseph Mengele
and of the unleashing of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During this
time period, Americans put more faith in the military than in the scientists (and
politicians), as attested by the wide popularity of General Douglas McArthur.
The scientist believes that the alien must represent an advanced
technology since it came from a world in which the inhabitants were able to
build a space ship, which was beyond the capability of human beings. The alien
is also a form of plant life, devoid of the emotions and sex drive which the
scientist believes have held back human progress. Unfortunately though, the
alien seems to have no desire to communicate with earth beings, only to destroy
them and to survive on their blood. Dr. Carrington actually uses some of the
tissue from the alien’s arm, which the sled dogs pulled off, to begin breeding
seedlings which ostensibly will evolve into full grown aliens, like the one
attacking the compound. The alien (played by James Amess) displays only
savagery and destruction, seeming to be incapable of building a space craft or of
sharing knowledge. In appearance, it is a clear imitation of the Frankenstein
monster, as is Carrington’s stubborn defense of it, reminiscent of the obsessed
Dr. Frankenstein.
In this film, a new weapon is put into play to destroy the alien:
electricity. Captain Hendry and his men employ an electric cable to bum the
vegetative alien to death. In spite of its advanced scientific knowledge and of
Dr. Carrington’s desperate attempts to warn it or save it, the alien walks straight
into the trap and is destroyed. As follow up, Hendry destroys the seedlings Dr.
Carrington had produced from the alien arm in order to eliminate all possibility
of any continuing alien presence. Ultimately, it is human camaraderie that saves
the day. “The group becomes for [Howard] Hawks, a metaphor for the American
dream—a nation capable of facing the challenge of the unknown and facing its
own diversity and division, not through strength or knowledge alone, but
through an abiding affection that bonds it together” (Phillips 52).
Part of the terror the film inspires is that of “the Other,” an unknowable
intelligence bent on the destruction of humanity. The cultural perspective comes
at that time both from the revelations of the Concentration Camps showing the
depths of evil the Nazis were capable of and the single-minded enmity of the
Japanese with their kamikaze attacks. Now, the Chinese hordes, described as the
“Yellow Peril,” and the implacable Russians, also possessing a huge and
determined military, represented an incomprehensible threat to American values.
Some critics feel that the threat symbolized is nearer to home in the form of the
“corporation man” who pursues business over human concerns (Phillips 55), a
similar complaint from the Depression era about the Hoover administration. The