Diegetic World

Recognizing design fiction in an alien movie

The Thing (1982)

This movie is a story of an isolated research crew in Antarctica that come across an insidious extra-terrestrial organism that is able to shape-shift into any terrestrial organism by assimilating it. The motivation for both parties (the crew and the alien) seem to be survival but what make the story interesting is paranoia playing out.

Though the film is renowned for its realistic creature effects, what I found interesting is the blood test scene.

Boy was it scary. One of the best jump scares I’ve ever experienced. The scene is a great example of show-don't-tell that demonstrates the nature of the alien. The ‘sentient’ blood sample in the petri dish is an excellent diegetic prototype.

I think this movie script is a masterpiece by John Carpenter. I personally think that on its release in 1982, most movie-goers got distracted by the masterful special effects (and spent their time arguing about the pros/cons of it) and lost sight of the screenplay. Most horror movies are heavily dependent on the stupidity (talk about suspension of disbelief) of the characters, The Thing weaves the story in such a way that the prevailing sense of hopelessness persists despite the arguably clever actions taken by the embattled crew in the movie (not spoiling it more). Hopelessness is not a desirable feeling I would like within my world but it does work for this movie’s world.