The Thing

Film, has a predilection to mutate and remake itself into new forms that over time force further change, while also reinforcing established processes. In film, the cinematic representations of metamorphosis present the spectator with spectacular demonstrations of this evolution, derived from a sophisticated organisation made up of sets of complex experiences and traditions expressed by signs that are made visible through cinematic language and its apparatus.

It is clear that many approaches to defining film have emerged from the plethora of film theories developed over the years. Some film theorists have used literary, artistic or philosophic models upon which to base their theories, some have seen film as a means of expression comparable to the semiotics of a language, while others have come up with purely cinematic theories. There is little doubt that the wildly eclectic realm of accepted theories in film studies is expansive. And it is also evident that the critical practices that have generally dominated the discussions of science fiction film are equally broad and elastic, ranging from the humanist, ideological, feminist, psychoanalytic, experimental and the post-modern viewpoints, to mention but a few.

This paper will briefly look at the role of John Carpenter's The Thing, as a symbol of both cinema and its expanding and transforming technologies and theories. It will also consider the changing attitudes to film and will look at the film philosopher Gilles Deleuze, who has brought some relatively new insights into film theory. His hypothesis of the time-image can be seen to be of great importance and pertinence to the changing face and identity of cinema.

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