Assignment 3, The Thing

Avery Stainton

VISA 1500

November 22nd, 2021

Dr. Terryl Atkins

Part A: The Thing (1982) Action Analysis

The depiction of action in movies varies based on the target audience, time period, and story, but almost all movies have hints of it in it. The Thing, directed in 1982 by John Carpenter is a movie in which action is hidden alongside its thrills. As someone who had worked in both Horror and Action, Carpenter combined his powers to create a film reliant on sudden, aggressive bursts of excitement. Now, The Thing is one of the most famous monster movies of all time. When it was released, it was able to pull in the equivalent of $54,457,933 today’s money into the box office. All of these years later, The Thing is considered a classic, and inspired many film techniques used today.

In this scene, MacReady blasts a Thing-version of Palmer with a flamethrower, after discovering its true identity via blood test. This movie is filled with fiery action, but I chose this scene in particular because of how close we are to what is going on. All of the other characters, all of which are men, are tied to chairs, awaiting their blood test, and can’t escape the alien creature that has just appeared. With the close up, flailing shots of Palmer, the audience too feels like they are trapped and can’t get away. Throughout this scene, the camera cuts are quick, and flash between a view next to the seated characters, and Mac with his flamethrower. Every few seconds, we hear the thunk of Mac trying to ignite the flame again, but failing, raising the tension, until it finally goes off and incinerates the creature. Despite the fast pace of the scene, the audience knows exactly what is happening, and how dire the situation is. This is important for any action scene, as written by Harvey O’brien, “The action movie works best when its acting, in action, active, in progress – when its heroes are being tested, and when the audience can see and understand what they are being tested by” (O,brien. p.3). At this point of the film, we know that the stakes are high, which makes the scene all the more effective.

One thing that stays consistent throughout the movie’s action sequences is the lighting. They are almost always initiated by bright orange flames that send the scene into chaos. These flames dance around the screen as the characters fight, run, and shout; as their size grows, often the action does as well. It is thought that “a large portion of flashing light scenes convey the sense of fear and unsettledness, while the number of flashing light scenes enhance the media attention aspect of an event…” (Truong, et al. p.64). Carpenter uses this idea to create both suspense and attraction to the scene via the flickering of flames, and the blasts of the flamethrower every few seconds. These flames add a lot of contrast to the calmer scenes of the movie, which are usually entrenched in soft blue tinted snow: the opposite of fire. This film was also shot on a wide camera to allow us to see the extent of the carnage being depicted. In another scene, a building explodes in the night, and the width of the scene shows the blue tinted snow turn red and orange, before settling once again into darkness.

Overall, The Thing is not inherently known for being an action film, but when looked at closely, it checks off all the marks of the genre. It is a film where every scene is well planned, and continues to stun audiences year after year.

Works Cited

Determining Dramatic Intensification Via Flashing Lights in Movies. (2001). Deakin Worldly. https://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30044907/venkatesh-determiningdramatic-2001.pdf

O’Brien, H. (2012). Action Movies: The Cinema of Striking Back (Illustrated ed.). Wallflower Press.