There is one major sticking point that bothered me about Campbell’s “Who Goes There” (and the terrifying childhood memories of watching The Thing). Everyone immediately decries the Thing as an immoral monster. And, although, there is an attempt to weakly refute the inherent evil of the creature, it isn’t a strong one.
Is it evil?
I wonder about the perspective of the writings when it comes to this question. It was written in the same time period, relatively, as other popular science fiction works such as Fahrenheit 451 and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The latter two in particular have to deal with the anxiety of the changing world climate — the growth of communism and the accusations thereof. Fahrenheit 451 grew out of the desire to burn “pervasive communist literature” and what that might mean for society. McCarthyism, communism. The idea that secret communists were stealing our secrets. A fear not too faroff, mind you, lest we forget Klaus Fuchs.
So, I wonder then: is the premise of this story similar? It certainly almost seems like. An unknown, maybe monstrous force assimilating your best friends, co-workers, confidants and changing them. Subtly, yes, but changed nevertheless. I wonder if there is a replication of the fear about the growth of Nazi Germany, assimilating countries into its ever expanding biomass and still retaining the original country. The fear of tyranny and other undemocratic forms of government across the world.
If from this perspective, then yes, the creature is evil. It is trying to subvert what we as a people believe is “good”, however subjective that may be.
But, then, from another perspective, I’m not so sure. I’m reminded of the film Cloverfield. A rampaging monster destroys New York, and, of course, there’s a group of young adults with a handheld camera to capture the whole event. But, in the movie, the creature is portrayed as a child who has lost its mother. It’s going crazy because it’s scared, terrified, and hurt. It wants its mother back and can’t seem to find her.
What if the Thing is something similar? A terrified infant creature stuck in a foreign world with foreign creatures (that might appear monstrous to its eyes) that wants to get back home. It exists only as it knows how to exist. It isn’t assimilating people with any maliciousness, but because that is all it knows.
Can that be evil? I don’t think any more than a lion can be evil for killing a gazelle. It’s simply the basic principles of the creature.
Still, that seems more evil to us: the idea that a creature is taking over humans. Why is that so much worse? There are parasites that take over the bodies of ants and control them for their own biological purposes. I certainly don’t think of that as some sort of terrifying evil. So then, why am I so unsettled by a fictional creature taking over a human’s body? I mean, hell, the parasite is real and could theoretically evolve to take over humans at some point. But I’m not scared of that.
Is it because the Thing is becoming human when it, inherently, is not human? What does that say about us as a people, then, if we instinctively draw away from the concept of something imitating humanity? If anyone has any thoughts, please let me know!
I’ll just assume this is why puppets kind of creep me out.
