I love a good adventure story into lands untold, from the thick, dense jungles of Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, to the dangerous, prehistoric plateau of Conan Doyle’s The Lost World. The former is a dramatic tale of colonialism, where the European man infects the land causing tremendous change. Annihilation is pretty much the opposite. Humans traversing a strange new world that has completely consumed their own, transforming it into a chillingly beautiful alien ecosystem.
Although it is obvious that we are watching a science fiction film, the elements of the Gothic are startlingly apparent. The Gothic genre has its roots as far back as the 1700’s with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Ontaro, from that stemmed countless classic Gothic tales such as The Strange Case of Dr Jeykll & Mr Hyde and Dracula to name a couple. Although the genre at the time was saturated with ghastly tales of the supernatural, it did have a distinctive scientific influence whilst also containing “anxieties about racial and social degeneration, the threat of going native, and the invasion of Britain by demonic colonial forces” (Davison 222). It is this fear of the unknown, invasive force that saturates Annihilation, bringing it strongly into the realms of the Gothic.
Humans are not able to survive in Area X, they either never return,
are killed by the mutated and vicious wildlife that now dominates the
environment, or they go insane killing themselves and/or others. What is so
interesting about Area X is that it has remnants of a human world, with
familiar landmarks, a small town with houses, a military base, yet they have
been altered in a way that makes them seem so alien. What was once their domain
has now turned against them and it is spreading, threatening to encompass the
entire world. Area X can, therefore, be considered as a Gothic space.
According to the Cambridge Companion to the Gothic, “a
Gothic tale usually takes place in an antiquated, or seemingly antiquated
space- be it a castle, a vast prison, a graveyard […] a primaeval frontier or
island. Within this space, or a combination of such spaces, are hidden some
secrets from the past that haunt the characters, psychologically, physically”
(2). Similarly, Annihilation presents
Area X as a terrifying and formidable space that perhaps even effects people
prior to even entering it. The film does not hesitate to show how the place can
affect the mind, we see its towering oil-like walls from the complex, giving a
sense of claustrophobia and dread, especially on the realisation that it is
ever expanding.
We learn from the start that Lena’s (Natalie Portman)
husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac) was on the previous expedition to Area X, and that
he had returned a year later with no warning, appearing to be effected in some
way by his ordeal. As Lena’s team venture into X, they come across a video
camera which shows her husband slicing open the stomach of one of his teammates, to reveal that his organs are moving unnaturally. Now to begin with,
Kane looks surprisingly calm about what he is about to do as if it is
completely normal; however, the recording distils an element of panic in the
present team, they all think that their predecessors went completely mad. This
horrific act of mutilation immediately transforms the environment into one of
intrigue into one of terror and anticipation. What will happen to these women? Will
they end up like the men on the expedition before them? This fear is also
expressed in the team as they become increasingly nervous about what secrets
Area X holds.
As it turns out, Area X is pretty lethal. With strange
bear-like creatures roaming the space, human-shaped graveyards and the ominous
lighthouse. The animals, although having familiar forms, in the seem to have
been transformed into otherworldly beings. The huge alligator, the first
creature they come across is an albino and has layers of teeth akin to a shark,
giving it an overall sense of otherness.
The nature that surrounds the team in Area X is altogether uncanny, it
is familiar, whilst being ever so slightly different. This even occurs in the
plant life, the flora is absolutely gorgeous, a mixture of species of plants
that create awe-inspiring colours. Even the fungus that has exploded out of the
dead body from the previous expedition is hauntingly gorgeous, yet there is an awareness that it is actually very dangerous; perhaps providing a hint of what
will become of humanity when Area X expands throughout the whole of the Earth.
This threat of invasion is a common trope in Gothic
narratives, for example, Count Dracula wishes to spread vampirism throughout the
UK, the whole world into blood-sucking fiends. This invasion occurs first, through
the death of humans, in which their bodies grow into fungi. The other two seem
more complex. The first being through apparently turning into human-shaped
bushes that litter the remnants of a town. We see Josie (Tessa Thompson) weave
pieces of twigs into her skin, disappearing around a corner and seemingly
vanish into the mass of tree-shaped people, apparently becoming one of them.
These figures are entirely creepy, as they are in the human form, they look
like an art installation, they look man-made. On the realisation that they are
not, they transform into an uncanny graveyard-like motif. They are
purposefully mimicking the human form, but why?
The second form of invasion occurs when Lena, on entering
the lighthouse, journeys down into the tunnel formed by the initial crash site
of the alien and is subsequently entranced by a mysterious mass. In doing so,
it transforms into a metal, humanoid shape which proceeds to mimic her every movement.
On eventually blowing it up, we see her escape its clutches. However, the final
shot shows her embrace her husband and they both have altered irises, implying
that they have been either replaced by or transformed in some way by the
alien. In Annihilation, it is not
overly clear what the motives of the being are. From the last few scenes it
seems that its motives are to completely transform the earth and replace
its inhabitants one by one, firstly in an apparently subtle way by mimicking
those who end up making it to the lighthouse and the other with the overall
transformation of the landscape, obvious to the human eye.
It is perhaps the lighthouse which provides the most
striking of Gothic images in the whole film. Gothic narratives usually have an
imposing landmark, usually a castle, or grand house that is shrouded in
mystery. The lighthouse is very much the dominant Gothic space in the film. It
is the site of the initial ‘crash’, it is where Area X began to expand from.
All expeditions are told to get to the lighthouse and explore to find the key
to solving the mystery of why Area X has formed. But it is also the site of the
most dangerous transformations, of Lena and Kane. Entering the lighthouse means
being trapped and transformed by the being. Again, like in Dracula, those who
enter are trapped with a danger of being turned into something that is not human.
This pillar provides a domineering symbol in the film, it is where everyone
wants to get to, yet it has such a sinister presence.
Annihilation provides an uncanny environment that has such
familiarity, paired with an overall sense of dread that makes it extremely
effective as a Gothic work. The themes of an invasive force that is subtle and
patient make it feel more frightening than rampaging aliens destroying
well-known landmarks. It is a truly beautiful, intriguing, yet creepy film that
will leave a mark on future works of science fiction.
By Siobhan Eardley
Works Referenced:
Conan-Doyle, Arthur. The
Lost World. London: Penguin 2007. Print.
Clery, E.J. “The Genesis of Gothic Fiction.” The Cambridge Companion to the Gothic Fiction.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002. 21-39. Print.
Davison, Carol Margaret. History
of the Gothic: Gothic Literature 1764-1824. Wales: U of Wales Press, 2009.
Web.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula.
London: Penguin, 2003. Print.
Wells. H.G. The Time
Machine. London: Harper Collins, 2017. Print.
Siobhan of the Dead 