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Ah, The Thing...
If I had to define the most important feature that a genre film has to have in order to be a great film, I would say- it has to leave you guessing, it has to leave you trying to figure things out. In can't leave you with all of the answers, there has to be room for interpretation, because that's one of the most insidious ways it can invade your mind and memory; that is, you keep thinking about it, trying to work it out. The Thing is one of those films.
How does it do this?
For a start, the special effects (oh, the special effects...oh, the special effects...) are notoriously brilliant. Rob Bottin's practical effects are horrifyingly convincing, bringing the Thing creature to a terrible life we'd all rather it didn't have. The graphic, disturbing and often surprisingly brief scenes of absorption, assimilation, transformation stay with the viewer. Combining the high realism of the effects with the often, though not always, brief or distorted shots of the victim/attacker grant it a hallucinatory flair. This is, of course, fitting given the Protean nature of the beast in question. One cannot get a grip on it, cannot grasp hold of any of its surfaces. What does the thing look like? Of course, the answer can only be partial- it looks as it wishes, there is no knowable true form for it to assume.
But, the question that I have always grappled with (and, reportedly, so did the cast and crew) is- would one know that the Thing had taken or was taking you over? At what point would one loose volition, would one be under the Thing's control? Presumably, as we see the Thing bodily absorbing Bennings, Gary and at least some of the dogs, it can be immediate and total. From that point onwards, the Thing has access to the body and, one assumes, memories and perhaps even idiosyncrasies of the assimilated form, in combination with those of all its previous victims, being able to mimic them perhaps perfectly. However, what of Norris? The character's refusal to take command was viewed by the actor as him knowing that the Thing had infected him, that he was compromised, that it is utilising him as a resource. (What a horrible thought that is, realising that your body and mind are being consumed, processed, put to use as a means for further propagation by an incursive entity...) This thus indicates that there is a period of 'grace,' so to speak, where one is aware of what is happening, and presumably also aware that one cannot stop it.
The Thing is not a unitary entity either, it is a conglomeration of entities, a Gestalt organism composed of billions of individual organisms working in tandem with one another. How much of its host does it take with it? Do Thing-thoughts happen behind the imitation, or does it loose itself within the host-identity, only revealing itself and taking full control at opportune moments, when an instinctual switch is thrown? Could it conceal itself from itself? Might its survival instinct be so powerful that it could completely override its sense of self (whatever sense of self a Gestalt organism would recognisably have in comparison with a unitary, Cartesian self), entirely conceal its identity in order to pass undetected among its prey. The discovery of its true Thing-nature would be as traumatic, likely more so, for the host as for those around them. When Blair, surely now infected (my theory- Blair is infected from the scene where he first described the organism and puts his pen to his mouth...), tells MacReady that he is feeling 'much better now', does he think he is? Does his transformation surprise him? Does the Thing baulk at itself?
A final speculation: might the Thing's ultimate survival strategy be to conceal itself from itself and from the other Things? Might the Thing so entirely assimilate a persona to forget its Thing-self, destroy the other Things to assuage suspicion for as long as possible, and so retreat to a safe haven and begin the process again? Might that be what happens to MacReady or Childs after the screen cuts to black?
As you can see: The Thing leaves me guessing...
The Thing is not a unitary entity either, it is a conglomeration of entities, a Gestalt organism composed of billions of individual organisms working in tandem with one another. How much of its host does it take with it? Do Thing-thoughts happen behind the imitation, or does it loose itself within the host-identity, only revealing itself and taking full control at opportune moments, when an instinctual switch is thrown? Could it conceal itself from itself? Might its survival instinct be so powerful that it could completely override its sense of self (whatever sense of self a Gestalt organism would recognisably have in comparison with a unitary, Cartesian self), entirely conceal its identity in order to pass undetected among its prey. The discovery of its true Thing-nature would be as traumatic, likely more so, for the host as for those around them. When Blair, surely now infected (my theory- Blair is infected from the scene where he first described the organism and puts his pen to his mouth...), tells MacReady that he is feeling 'much better now', does he think he is? Does his transformation surprise him? Does the Thing baulk at itself?
A final speculation: might the Thing's ultimate survival strategy be to conceal itself from itself and from the other Things? Might the Thing so entirely assimilate a persona to forget its Thing-self, destroy the other Things to assuage suspicion for as long as possible, and so retreat to a safe haven and begin the process again? Might that be what happens to MacReady or Childs after the screen cuts to black?
As you can see: The Thing leaves me guessing...
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