As a horror movie, John Carpenter's The Thing seems to have it all: amazing practical effects, body horror, psychological drama, Kurt Russell ... Indeed, there is only one element this movie lacks, and that is anything at all corresponding to the titular villain. There is no thing in The Thing! What we have instead is a process, a pattern, a way for which the term "thing" is as good as any other. (What is a thing anyway?) In this episode, Phil and JF, having decided that Carpenter's film qualifies as a Christmas movie because there is snow (and a dog) in it, explore the metaphysical implications of a cult classic.
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REFERENCES
John Carpenter, The Thing (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/)
Weird Studies, Episode 100 on Carpenter Films (https://www.weirdstudies.com/100)
Weird Studies, Episode 157 on Videodrome (https://www.weirdstudies.com/157)
Ridley Scott, Blade Runner (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/)
Ridley Scott Alien (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/)
Thomas Aquinas, On Being and Essence (https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/aquinas-esse.asp)
Haecceity (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/medieval-haecceity/#HaecDunsScot)
Ernest Fenollosa, The Chinese Written Characters as a Medium for Poetry (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781014296146)
Weird Studies, Episode 89 on ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ (https://www.weirdstudies.com/89)
Weird Studies, Episode 127 on ‘The Impossibility of Automating Ambiguity’ (https://www.weirdstudies.com/127)
Wikipedia, “Quiddity” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiddity)
Vilhelm Hammershøi, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilhelm_Hammersh%C3%B8i) Danish painter
Jez Conolly, The Thing (https://www.amazon.com/Thing-Devils-Advocates-Jez-Conolly/dp/1906733775)
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780460875059)
Dylan Trigg, The Thing a Phenomenology of Horror (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781782790778)
Plato, The Timaeus (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781500405182)
Lucretius, “On the Nature of Things” (https://classics.mit.edu/Carus/nature_things.1.i.html)
Clive Barker, The Great and Secret Show (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780060933166)