An “Other” THING

Linda Williams has pertinently described the curious affinity between monster and woman, the two 'Others' to normative male sexuality and desire, in classic and modern horror film in "When the Woman Looks," Mary Ann Doane, Patricia Mellencamp, and Linda Williams (eds.), Re-Vision: Essays in Feminist Film Criticism (Frederick: University Publications/American Film Institute, 1983), 83-99.


In this paper, I shall attempt to illustrate, through the evolution of the violent manifestations of the Thing organism, from its original conception through adaptation and readaptation, and its historical contextualisation, the power of the creative processes as a perception of the present as history.