John Carpenter’s 

The Thing Trailer (1982)

John Carpenter’s The Thing is a hybrid genre that consists of Horror and Sci-Fi. John Carpenter is associated with the Horror and Sci-Fi Genre, so we know that this will be a movie of both Genres.

The setting of the movie is in a snowy secluded area, shown by establishing shots. Secluded areas, such as cabins in the woods are very much associated with horror. Also, throughout the trailer we see a lot of close ups, which are strongly associated with the horror genre as it shows the characters fear. Once again, another thing that associates with horror is the tracking shots, which is affiliated with someone being chased, which is what always happens in horror films. The Film deals with the themes of fear, trust and the unknown, which are all main themes of the Horror genre.

A technical signifier in the trailer is the lighting, every time we see a character it is dark, there is always dark lighting everywhere the characters go. Darkness and shadow are associated with horror but are also associated with the unknown.

The plot of the Movie is very typical of the Sci-Fi genre. Alien or aliens, come to Earth and either want to annihilate or enslave all humans. So the Antarctic base is regarded as a microcosm to the men, and the alien wants to take it over or kill all of the men.

Claude Levi-Strauss’ Binary oppositions throughout this trailer are, Trust vs. betrayal (they trust each other not to be the Thing) and Predator vs. Prey (The Thing is the predator, humans are the prey). Both of these binary oppositions associate with the horror Genre.

At the beginning of the trailer we hear static from a radio frequency, we then begin to hear a man say, “We found something in the Ice.” the word “something” indicates the horror genre, as it represents the unknown, and all human fear the unknown. The camera then zooms out so show the audience the word, “Thing;” this is the title of the movie, but it also indicates horror as “thing” resembles a monster.

After this there is a fade to white, then an immediate shot of a helicopter that flies to an Antarctic base. We then cut to a shot of a UFO, which is iconography of the Sci-Fi genre, as aliens are associated with Sci-Fi.    

Then the non-diegetic sound of a voice over then activates, the voice is ominous and begins to describe the plot. The voice over is omniscient, as he tells us things that the characters don’t know, “for one hundred thousand years, it was buried beneath the ice.”  Behind the voice over there is eerie, low pitch music which is used to build tension, and resemble mystery. Once the voice over stops we hear Kurt Russell explaining what the “Thing” is and what it does, this is an action code, because this moves the trailer on. We know this to be true because the music builds up and we begin to finally see the thing.

The unsettling music signifies paranoia; as the little montage at the end of the trailer shows people running. And Kurt Russell has explained that the thing could be anyone of them, and that leaves the characters and the audience wondering who; this is also an enigma code, as it raises the question to who’s the Thing? We also hear the “Things” famous blood curdling scream at the end, which signifies pain. Blood curdling screams also resemble horror.

The main character of the film is R.J. Macready, and is stereo typical of the main character in a horror or Sci-Fi film, as he is the first person to know what is happening and is the character who takes charge. We know this to be true, because in the trailer he is the one who explains what the “Thing” is to the other characters and the audience. All the other characters in the trailer seem to be stock characters, as throughout the trailer all they seem to do is challenge the character, like the betraying best friend, or follow the main character like the trusting best friend.

In the film there is a character called, “Mac,” and “Windows.” The film was made in 1982, so this could be coincidental or it was used to resemble the rise of technology in the 80’s. This has nothing to do with genre; I just thought it was a cool fact to add.