Ok so am I wrong to read this as a metaphor for AIDS and queerness? Being outed by a blood test? "Passing" as one of an all-male crew? Killing it with fire, which is literally where the term "faggot" comes from?
It's a bit too early for that. The film started shooting in August 1981; the first mention of any kind of disease in the press had been just one month earlier, and even that was buried pretty deeply in the NYTimes. But a good reading is a good reading!
Huh. Interesting commentary, although that metaphor applies also to Alien and Aliens3 (more apt and upfront in Aliens3). It seems to fit, but unintentionally given that the blood test and burning are in the original short story from 1938.
That's a very solid interpretation. I wanna say Carpenter said on a commentary that the blood test was specifically inspired by headlines about AIDS.
You could, but it's based on a story from 1938, and the remake started getting planned in the mid-70s. So I don't think that was in the creators' minds.
I hate to be this basic, but maybe its just great storytelling based universal fears. But I recognize that my love for this film might leave me blind.
The Thing was released just before AIDS became a national story in 1982 so it couldn't have been a direct metaphor. But this was Reagan and cold war espionage and rampant homophobia times. A lot of horror films of the 80s were metaphors of the alien "other"The Thing was released just before AIDS became a national story in 1982 so it couldn't have been a direct metaphor. But this was Reagan and cold war espionage and rampant homophobia times. A lot of horror films of the 80s were metaphors of the alien "other"
I’m curious to hear what you have to say about Cronenberg’s The Fly, which could also be interpreted as an AIDS allegory.
It wasn't intentional, but it's fascinating to see how much of the cultural moment it captures ... Weirdly enough, the first horror movie to be declared an AIDS allegory was THE FLY, even though Cronenberg explicitly said it was about watching cancer turn his father into someone unrecognizable.
As it’s based on a 1938 novella and heavily draws from the original, 1951’s The Thing From Another World, it’s more on the nose to say that each iteration is a metaphor for whatever societal panic we were immersed in at the time.
TIL the origin of 'faggot' as a slur and i had to take a deep breath upon realizing the sheer cruelty behind it