While the “creeper” at the heart of Jeff Vandermeer’s book is absent from Alex Garland’s adaptation of Annihilation, the film is filled with unsettling, hybrid creatures. The “bear” that terrorizes members of the expedition while they’re tied to chairs might be the most disturbing of all.  What makes this creature so unsettling? Why is it more creepy than an actual bear would be?  Or, if several others have written entries on the “bear”, ask yourself what makes another creature from the film unsettling. 

Throughout Annihilation, the Biologist struggles to understand the natural world—in the swimming pool, the bay, and, of course, at many points during her mission in Area X, to name just a few examples.  Choosing just one instance, one particular moment of her thought, what paradigms do you see shaping her thoughts about the relationship between humans and the natural world?  Be specific about the passage of text that you’re referring to, since we may want to look at it in class.