What are the implications of the movie’s final scenes—Lena’s dance/battle with the being that reflects her and her conversation with “Kane”? The slides address questions about destruction and transformation in the movie. The movie isn’t specific about Lena’s transformation in area X, but what do you see as one or two possible changes wrought by the experience? How is she a different character at the end of the film than at the beginning?
6 thoughts on “Annihilation–Group 3”
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The end of the movie was certainly confusing, but almost as in a good way – I have many questions. It almost seemed as if the Lena at the end of the movie was an entirely different being from Lena at the beginning. In the final part of the interview frame of the film, she answers questions in a monotone, dead manner. It made me question for a while whether she was actually a clone of the original Lena, as the Kane clone possessed a similar monotone speech and a lack of explanation or emotion. The shimmer in the eyes during the embrace had me thinking whether the shimmer is not actually gone and is possibly alive and well in their cells. As a molecular biologist, I have a lot of questions about what the ideas behind the rapid evolutionary time “prism” were. Am I meant to know the answers, though? I think not, it seems to be part of the “uncanny” as addressed in the slides. Perhaps Lena has absolved guilt, as suggested by some of my classmates below, but it seems to me that she is similar to who she was at the start, just completely shocked by her horrifying experiences and at a loss for where to go after seeing what she saw.
As for the meaning of the “dance” scene, I’m at a bit of a loss as to a critical explanation of sorts, but I still found it quite beautiful. It seemed to me as if this new life force cloud that arrived on Earth was a tourist, wanting to learn from Lena by mimicking her how life worked under the laws of our universe. Lena stared into the very source of life, which was a stark contrast to her previous understanding as stated during her lecture while looking at the cells. It’s almost as if her entire paradigm was shifted looking into that abyss, and she could never go back. Why did the shimmer crash into Earth in the first place? What was it there for? How was it destroyed by Lena’s attack? I can’t tell if I’m glad that these are unanswered questions, or if I’m unsatisfied and wanting more!
I was pretty confused at the onset of the “alien-clone-like” creature that followed and mimicked every move that Lena took at the end. For one, we never see these clone-like creatures in any part of the movie except the end. Throughout the film are depicted various genetically mutated and refracted versions of both beautiful and not so beautiful “animals” as we know it such as the beautiful two, white deers that move in tandem and the not so beautiful creatures such as the alligator that has mutated to have two layers of teeth, and the “bear” that seems to mutate and combine different kinds of genes of things that it kills. Throughout the movie, I never really thought too much about the shimmer copying the genetic code of a human and transferring it into another “alien-living” creature that seems to be seen at the end of the movie with the being that reflects her. This seems to be happening at the end of the scene, and signifies to viewers that the shimmer can in a way “create” a living creature just by being in the shimmer. We see this in both Lena and her husband whose replica returns back out of the shimmer in the beginning of the movie. My question to all of this is, Why did the alien like, replicas only appear in the end of the movie and were not roaming around in the beginning? Why were there only two? And, why did Ventress go through this self-destruction annihilation in the lighthouse but Lena did not?
The fight/dance battle at the end almost seemed more intense than any of the other scenes of human to mutated creature interaction (alligator vs Josie and bear vs Cass). This seemed to be literal self-destruction by Lena, in which whatever Lena would do, the replica would follow. When Lena was pinned against the door, I thought perhaps Lena would die by her own replica, which seemed to only be mimicking the moves by Lena and not actually causing any harm to her.
Lena is definitely a new character by the end of the movie, and it does not seem like she will ever be able to go back to her “normal” self. For one, this is confirmed by the color of her eyes changing in the very last scene, which was also seen in the clone of her husband. Second, there is multiple times within the movie that show that everybody is going through changes in their body but mentally and physically. Mentally, we see the changes through characters such as Anya who in a way goes crazy, ties everyone who is left with her in the shimmer, and accuses them of lying and perhaps killing Kass. Moreover, characters such as Ventress and Lena’s husband in the video recording talk about flesh moving inside their body. Physical transformations include obviously the annihilation of Ventress and the transformations of all creatures and plants that occurs around them. Within Lena, I recall her looking and feeling a sensation within her arm as well as looking at her disoriented blood in the telescope. Everything changes in one way or not when they enter the shimmer, and although physically it is evident that Lena changes, I definitely think mentally Lena is different as well. It would be hard to see her character transform into anything remotely similar to what she was like before entering the shimmer. Given that Lena, who has changed from the experiences in the shimmer as well as Lena’s husbands clone, who is alive and responding at the end of the movie, it would be interesting if they made a part 2 of this movie and see what the transformations of these two characters could do to Earth given that the shimmer is destroyed by the end of the movie.
The opening of the film started with a presentation on the beauty of cells that happen to be cancerous. The end of the film ends with Kane and Lena hugging one another as their eyes shimmer. These two events are related because the shimmer represents literal and metaphorical refraction. The literal refraction are the living creatures existing within the shimmer. The metaphorical refraction are the different burdens and shames that each woman carries while navigating the shimmer. I agree with Austin when he states that “only once we accept our nature and nature around us then can we survive,” because this film loves to play with this idea. The scene with the mutant bear illustrates this point, the bear and Cass are one in the same. The mutant bear seems to be suffering in the same way that Cass is, both suffering and therefore mad. In mutant bear this is aggression, in Cass it is psychologically mad which is why she signs up to investigate the shimmer. Thus, if our knowledge of the film is that every single character has to resolve their struggles, then Lena’s struggles are no different than the cancer cells that were shown in the beginning. That is, Lena’s cheating will always be a part of the relationship she has with Kane and despite her coming to accept this reality it will always be attached to them as a couple. This is why both characters ask each other if they are their respective selves, only to reply no. All in all, I am not convinced of witnessing Lena change, but rather come to understand the consequences of her actions. The result is then both characters’ eyes shimmering indicating a refraction to the cancer cells we saw at the start of the film.
First of all, the book was better.
As for Lena’s transformation, I see her entire experience in Area X as her lashing out and self destructing (harking back to Dr. Ventress’s conversation about annihilation). Lena’s lie to her platoon about going further to the coast to turn back shows recklessness and an apathy for the well being of others, and she barely bothers to look for Josie once she disappears. Only in the battle with herself does Lena then regain composure and control over herself (literally and figuratively) and thus survives as a new person. Kane also fits this mold since he volunteers for this mission after learning about Lena’s infidelity.
As a whole the film reminds me of the Nietzsches’s claim that “if you stare into the abyss, then the abyss stares into you.” I would posit that the Shimmer is reflecting one’s humanity and forcing the expeditions to face themselves and their past. If we fight with ourselves (such as in the final scene or struggling with Area X) then we will lose, only once we accept our nature and nature around us then can we survive.
I began to see the clone for its short existence as Lena’s and the shimmer’s child. The tunnel where she finds Ventress is womb-like. The lighthouse is kind of phallic and Lena’s DNA being taken makes the experience seem like a birth. She births a reflection of herself or at least something that is supposed to be her. This is shown through the clone mimicking her actions in the beginning. Although something changes once they begin fighting each other and Lena is pinned to the door. After that moment they seem completely in sync and the clone takes on Lena’s features. It appears that the moment of violence allowed the clone to take something from Lena. Much like how the bear seemed to have absorbed and fused with Cree’s terror. I think it is Lena’s guilt as the shimmer clone touches Kane and gives up its life for Lena. Which mimics Lena’s willingness to give up her life to save Kane. I am not sure what to make of her embrace of Kane at the end of the movie. Is she absolved of all her guilt and able to move on with the new Kane?
I see Lena as a more vulnerable character by the end of the film. She allows Kane to embrace her and she seems unsure of herself which is a track contrast to the beginning of the film Lena. Beginning of the film Lena seemed more guarded as she paints her bedroom walls and cries by herself. After the Shimmer she is willing to talk about her experience openly. Outside of that, I am unsure, Lena is different but its hard to tell just from the end scene how impacted she is. Is she more empathic now that she understands the Shimmer is not meant to cause harm directly just change? I am unsure.
In the Shimmer, weird mutations occur such as the bear mutating into having a very strange and creepy skull and the albino alligator with shark teeth. In the case with Lena, the being in the Shimmer takes on her physical appearance. I did not think that Lena’s “clone” was aggressive as it was kind of mirroring her movements. As time went in, it became more fluid with its movements and copying the way Lena moved herself. However, Lena activates the grenade which will blow up the area near the lighthouse and the being does not follow Lena as she escapes. The being actually went and touched Kane’s body which implies that it also may have copied some of Lena’s emotions. Likewise, I think that the Shimmer made Lena feel guilty for cheating on Kane. She now believes that the reason he took the mission was because he knew it was a suicide mission and he did not care for his life anymore after Lena cheated on him. Therefore, I think she does not even care if it is the real Kane at the end of the movie. She is just happy there is a Kane left and he is alive and they embrace at the end. Overall, Lena changes throughout the movie with one example being how she is more appreciative of what she has.