Meaning of the movie Annihilation

The film Annihilation is based on an archetypal plot: an unknown evil invades the territory of a peaceful kingdom, and the hero must fight it and hopefully win.

This plot is as old as the world, but by analyzing different works, we can see how a person’s idea of ​​the nature of evil and attitude towards it changes in different eras.

Aspects of Evil

The main aspects of evil that stand out in Annihilation are, firstly:

Invasion, trespass

At the beginning of the film, it is shown how a foreign body penetrates the closed biosphere of the Earth and gradually begins to take over the territory.

In exactly the same way, acquired diseases occur in any organism: a pathogen invades the body and produces a negative effect. It is no coincidence that the flicker is compared to a cancerous tumor in the film.

Any alien invasion is regarded by the closed system as evil.

The second aspect of evil is:

Distortion of the image

In the body, image distortions arise due to mutation. When an organism does not just develop, realizing its own potential, but turns into another organism, loses its identity.

In the psyche, this manifests itself as loss of self-identity, madness.

The third aspect of evil is

Integrity violation

The maximum violation of the integrity of the body is decay, death, destruction, i.e. transformation of formed unity into formless multitude.

Partial violation of integrity is caused by various types of diseases and aging.

This problem is highlighted in Lina's conversation with Kane.

“If you bypass the Hayflick limit, you may be able to prevent aging.”

Cancer is undoubtedly an evil for the body of the carrier. At the same time, cancer cells are immortal, because can divide endlessly without dying. The first thesis of the film follows from this:

Cancer, which seems evil to us, contains the “key to all locks” - the solution to the problem of aging and death.

That is, one evil (cancer) contains the potential to counteract another evil (aging).

This thesis already shows the direction of solving the problem of evil, which is set in the film.

In addition to violating the integrity of the body , there is also the problem of violating the internal integrity - the unity of consciousness and personality. Instability of the psyche, internal conflicts, loss of unity of the personality, loss of reason, and so on - these are examples of a violation of internal unity, internal integrity.

These two aspects of evil - the distortion of the image and the violation of integrity - can have both external and internal causes. They may be the result of infection through violated boundaries, or they may be the result of internal weakness, passivity, unwillingness of a living being to maintain integrity in itself.

Craving for self-destruction

Team members carry such internal damage even before the mission is completed. In the film, this wormhole is designated as a desire for self-destruction. It is this that is the main motive for the heroes to travel to the zone. Not scientific interest, not the desire for knowledge, not the desire to serve society, not self-realization. No, despair and meaninglessness of life is the main driving force of the band members.

Lina destroys the marriage. Anya is a drunkard and drug addict, Josie is suicidal. Cass lost "the person she was" due to the death of her daughter from leukemia. Ventress is lonely and dying of cancer.

This is the evil that destroys them from the inside.

Ventress: "Most of us destroy ourselves at certain stages in life."

This means that in a number of difficult situations our will tends towards evil. Instead of maintaining the unity of the subject, it deviates towards disintegration, death.

Ventress: “These are not decisions. These are impulses. We are coded to self-destruct. Every cell."

Thus, hiding behind science, a person abdicates responsibility for what happens to him. In psychology, this is called rationalization - mental defense, when a person explains his own actions based on external circumstances, and not on genuine internal reasons.

In fact, if we agree with the statement that a person is only the sum of external influences, then what is the demand from him? This is not us, this is life, isn't it? We do not destroy ourselves, but our body. I don't make decisions, my brain does. Very comfortable position.

Thus, internal evil, human self-destruction, receives justification in the film from the lips of a psychologist. All psychological problems turned out to be reduced to a biological “God’s mistake.” That is, in essence it turned out that the cause of evil is God.

Psychology, represented by Ventress, admitted its powerlessness in confronting internal evil and passed the baton to biology.

This is the second thesis of Annihilation.

The internal evil in a person, his desire for self-destruction, is inherent in his material body, programmed at the cellular level.

Now Natalie Portman’s heroine, being a biologist, must either agree with this, and therefore absolve herself of responsibility for cheating on her husband, or refute it by correcting the error at the cellular level due to some internal change.

Meaning of the film Annihilation

As you already know, the film draws a clear and unambiguous parallel between Flicker and cancer. Therefore, another characteristic feature of the unknown evil is its unconsciousness.

Lina: “It’s unlikely that it even knew that I was there.”

Flickering doesn’t want anything and doesn’t strive for anything. Just like cancer, Flicker is a life that does not obey laws; life out of control; life that does not recognize any restrictions or forms. It is evil because it destroys the individuality of any creature.

Lina comes into direct contact with this evil, giving him a piece of herself. In this way, the integration of opposites occurs. But the question is: who integrates whom? Does the hero subjugate the opponent or does the opponent pretend to be defeated and subjugate the hero?

The answers to this question provide two possible interpretations of the film's ending.

You can read my ahother review - Superposition Movie Ending Explained (In Detail)

We can say that the Shimmer acquired an intelligent form and, like a Trojan horse, quietly infiltrated the human body. That is, everyone decided that evil had been defeated, but in fact it remained to live in Lin and Kane.

But I think that everything is a little more complicated, but at the same time more logical.

The logic is this:

Cancer destroys the body, but its cells are immortal.

An organism is a unity, but its cells are mortal.

A hypothesis follows from this:

If you synthesize ordinary cells and cancer cells, then ordinary cells will become immortal.

Let's draw an analogy between cancer and Flickering:

1. Flickering destroys individuality, but itself is immortal.
2. Individuality is one, but mortal.

Hence:

The synthesis of Shimmer and individuality will give immortal individuality.

The problem with previous expeditions to the zone was that no one managed to keep their individuality. Each time the flickering turned out to be stronger and decomposed the organisms. In the zone, all living beings achieved immortality only by becoming the material for endless mutations. Flicker used biological species, distorted and mixed them, and only Lina managed to synthesize with Flicker without losing her form and retaining consciousness. That is, Lina managed to tame evil, subjugate it to her will.

Why did she succeed? Because she rejected her self-destructive tendencies.

Lina repented of her betrayal and sought to repay her debt to her husband. She had a powerful incentive to achieve her goal. And this will allowed her to maintain the unity of her own personality.

Thus, the psychologist’s thesis that the desire for self-destruction is programmed at the cellular level is refuted by Lina’s actions.

If Kane could not stand it and committed suicide, and Ventress voluntarily surrendered to annihilation, then Lina transferred her desire for self-destruction to her double, thereby destroying him. We see that Shimmer, in the form of Lina’s double, seems to sacrifice himself, submitting to her will.

Therefore, at the end of the film, Lina and Kane become immortal and, probably, immune to internal discord. Those. perfect people. And their indecisiveness in self-identification is explained by the fact that thanks to the Flicker, they feel the presence of all other beings within themselves.

Thus, thanks to the decisive and uncompromising actions of a professor of biology and a former soldier of the US Army, the synthesis of Shimmer and man was successfully accomplished, the energy of evil was subordinated to a reasonable form and directed into a peaceful direction.