Ship Manifesto-- Calvin x David
Does it already have a ship name, Calvid? Davin? SpaceHorrors? I don't know.
I was thinking about Life (2017) and what the not just subtext but TEXT of the movie was saying.
THIS SHIP IS CANON (in the worst possible way.)
Here's why...
Long post, unhinged meta under the cut:
⚠️SPOILERS FOR THE VERY END OF THE MOVIE! ⚠️
Tw: rape, abuse, kidnapping, body horror, trauma, discussions of Mpreg, suicide mention
The Hypothesis: David is still alive at the end of the movie because Calvin decided to mate with him instead of eating him.
The Canon Evidence:
Calvin treats David differently than anyone else. He doesn't eat him and keeps him alive, even cushioning him with webbing when the pod crashes. (Which also prevents David from getting away from him. Also should be noted that Calvin is really fucking strong and David has muscle atrophy and various health issues from his prolonged stay in space--he's not going anywhere.)
When Calvin attacks David in the pod it's not like the other times Calvin attacked the crew. While not graphic in depiction, the scene with Calvin's violent advances, David's screams and vacant expression highly resembles a rape, which it probably was.
As mentioned on Reddit, the symbolism at the end of the movie of the pod in the ocean with the rescue ships going towards it resembles an embryo being fertilized.
This might be a bit of a stretch but David seems to be kind of Mom-coded. Earlier in a tearjerker scene David is seen reading a children's book. Also as the medical offer functions in a nurturing role for the rest of the crew. He's the mom friend. Also for the others who rotated in this is a mission. But for David the ISS is his home. He's a stay at home mom.
Given all these context clues, whether David is capable of having his alien babies or not, that was probably what Calvin was trying to do.
Word of God states Calvin establishes communication with David while the pod is falling and Earth isn't necessarily doomed. What is the point of going to the effort to communicate with your food or feed him to your hypothetical offspring? Of course Calvin could just be a sadistic asshole and taunting him. But with the whole webbing Mycelium thing It seemed like he was putting in a lot more effort than with anyone else. He wants his life partner to talk to him.
("C'mon baby, don't be like that. I thought the screaming meant you liked it. Was I not enough to satisfy you? That's okay we'll work on this. I know I'm still small in this form. Don't worry I'll eat a lot more humans and grow much bigger for you. ;) )
Speculation, interpreting the Chase scene
David thinks he's using himself as bait because Calvin wants to eat him, a reasonable assumption as he's eaten everyone else so far. But that's not what Calvin is doing.
Calvin might think David is saying "hey sexy I like you, look I brought you gifts of oxygen but I'm gonna make you chase me because I'm playing hard to get, and look at this nice safe nesting place (the escape pod) I found for us."
Calvin accepts.
And then Calvin performs a terrifying dance of power and dominance, shows off his huge tentacles tipped with knives, and tries to woo David with his colorful head flaps, like a male bird showing off it's color patches for a female while David stares impassively in passive acceptance--actually frozen in horror with nothing to do and nowhere to escape to but since David doesn't eat him or try to get away Calvin interprets that as a yes, that David wants him too.
David screams in pain. The audience does not see what exactly Calvin does to him but it's a fair bet he's aggressively taking him with those huge barbed knife tentacles, no lube.
Afterwards when Calvin establishes communication/reads David's mind, Calvin likely sees David like a Femme (Homme) Fatale who led him on, trying to tempt him to his doom but seeing as he was trying to kill himself as well Calvin might think David was just confused, broken, brainwashed and used by these vile humans. He forgives the (potential) mother of his children and decides to try and fix him. He also finds it hot David almost outsmarted him, that is a worthy partner, but he also must punish him for his insolence and deception.
He will break him of these rebellious tendencies by using him as bait, just as he used himself as bait for him. Other humans will try to rescue him leading them to their doom. Calvin knows it will eat David up inside to know all these people are dying and it's all his fault. It will also serve to isolate him further from other humans who will eventually catch on and try to kill them both, and David will have no "protector" but Calvin.
Why David?
Of all the lifeforms on the ISS, David is the only lifeform that didn't attack Calvin. Though he does try to kill him (and himself) he never attacks Calvin directly.
David deliberately made Calvin chase him, possibly triggered Calvin's mating behaviors.
I saw a headcanon that David is on the autism spectrum from the way he speaks. And I think that fits, he's a quiet nerdy guy, seen reading while the others socialize. He also tends to avoids eye contact which might be another reason why he survives Calvin. Calvin as an apex predator might be operating with cat rules--staring is seen as a threat and avoiding eye contact is seen as a safe person, a non-threat.
Calvin has concluded that David is docile, (submissive and breedable) and he can safely keep this one as a pet.
If the above hc is true and David is autistic and the others are not this would further fuel his alienation (no pun intended) from the others... (and society writ large.)
While generally a nice guy David holds a general disdain for the human race at large. He let's this slip a couple times. This is largely due to his past seeing the horrors of war while acting as a medic in Syria. If Calvin is telepathic (as has been implied) Calvin likely picked up on that leading to something along the lines of:
"I can overlook your flaw of humanness because you're not like the other humans. You hate humans too. Cool! Let's hate humans together! Our spawn shall overtake them. Let's bring about the end of humanity."
Also Calvin might be grateful to David for saving his life even knowing that wasn't what David was trying to do.
The movie is called Life with the tagline
"We were better off alone"
Words that reflect an abusive relationship. Which at the end of the film David is trapped in. David is likely stuck with Calvin for the rest of his life however long or brief that might be.
Further Speculations
If David's got a chestbuster or Calvin Jr larvae in him It would be unpleasant but mercifully brief death but that's probably not what happens to David given that 1. The horror is in David surviving 2. It would be too much like the Alien franchise and 3. what we know about Calvin.
Calvin though treated like a wild animal for most of the film is canonically a long-lived being with human level intelligence (or beyond!) who's likely the last of his kind, he's probably lonely.
It makes more sense he wants to keep a companion for life, to mold and groom him into a perfect life companion.
While webbed up hes possibly making body alterations to keep him longer, or transform him into another immortal Calvin-like thing, or bonded with him symbiote style. He clearly did something to David to keep him from bleeding out after what he did in the pod. So David is stuck with Calvin for a good long while
So... superficially this ship of man-eating alien x awkward depressed human man resembles Symbrock in a different font ("what a loser, I want that one,") but really it's more like Hannigram in levels of fucked up.
To recap--this bit of shipping/fridge horror makes the ending even worse.
David is trapped with his rapist and abuser who can read his thoughts and may or may not be made to spawn a bunch of mini-Calvins that will destroy the human race. Calvin's probably encouraging him to embrace his latent hatred for the human race, and Calvin will probably try to make him live forever so David's likely not having a good time here.
Mating may not work because they are different species and David is presumably cismale but Calvin is going to keep trying regardless. Even when it becomes evident David's not giving him spawn that is not a reason to kill him or give him up. Again, Calvin is probably lonely.
That might be okay too, not spawning. It's a biological drive but spawn would be the most threatening thing to Calvin in this environment so he might find the lack of spawn and gay sex preferable. He'll just keep using David for his needs and/or companionship. David (likely) has no say in this.
Though through the power of transformarive fandom we just might make this canon horror show a little lighter.... There's always aus. Putting them in the coffee shop au would likely be a recipe for disaster though.