#dr. ventress

[pedroam-bang]

Annihilation (2018)

[stillsmybeatingheart]

[badyogurt]

Annihilation and Self-destruction

I saw Annihilation roughly a month ago and I’ve always wanted to share my thoughts about it. Admittedly, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it immediately after watching and of course had to do quite a bit of research in order to dissect the film and its various themes. While it may not have been quite effective as a horror film, I do believe that it does excel as a science-fiction film that tackles a variety of themes that is relevant to our humanity. Whether it be cancer as a disease and our vulnerability to it, our fidelity (or the lack thereof) to each other, our fear of the unknown or perhaps other themes that have completely gone over my head, there is one such theme that the film tackles that I’ve continuously been fascinated about. 

It’s our propensity as a human race to self-destruct. 

Jeniifer Jason Leigh’s character, Dr. Ventress, even goes on to say that it may very well be hard-coded to our very being. That we can’t help ourselves but do it. 

But what purpose does it serve us? Why do we do the things that we do, which only hurt us in the end? Is there something more beyond the pain or the wrong decisions? Why do we drink and smoke, knowing that it’s bad for our health? Why do we continue to stay in abusive relationships? Why do we cheat? Why do we skip studying for that test or gamble away our hard-earned money? Why do we keep ourselves prisoners of the past? Why must we put ourselves through all this pain? As Ventriss surmises, is it really just a part of our being? I do believe this to be true, based on experience. I have succumbed to my own self-destructive behaviors more often than I’d care to admit and certainly have the scars to prove it. Even now, I continue to do things or make decisions that only end up hurting me. It feels wrong but still it’s an endless cycle, one that I cannot stop. The movie, based on how I’ve interpreted it, attribute our tendency to self-destruct as a sort of mechanism for survival. In that, we are reborn every time we self-destruct. We come out of the process, better and wiser. Obtaining the knowledge not to do it again, which in the long run increases our chances of survival as a species. If then, why is it not the same for everyone? With man’s constant drive to self-destruct, there have also been people who have been annihilated in the process. Those who overdosed of drugs, those who have died of lung or liver cancer after years of slaving away to their vices. Those of us who destroy our relationships because we got tempted or we got hurt and have chosen retaliation instead of forgiveness. I can go on and on as to how man have chosen to destroy themselves over the course of its existence. Perhaps, it is what it is. Not everyone is fit to survive. Is this really what the director, Alex Garland, was trying to tell us? Maybe this post was just me trying to vindicate myself of my own self-destructive nature? So I wouldn’t feel bad finding comfort in the act of going back to what will eventually hurt me.

But I am choosing to stay positive. I am still hoping that after the countless scars and after all the pain, I will be reborn into something stronger and wiser. Something that is capable of surviving this world and my very own nature. That I am destined for something far greater than just total annihilation. 

[themovieaffection]

I'd say you're confusing suicide with self-destruction. Almost none of us commit suicide... and almost all of us self-destruct. In some way, in some part of our lives. We drink, or we smoke. We destabilize the good job. Or the happy marriage. These aren't decisions, they're... They're impulses.

Dr. Ventress [Jennifer Jason Leigh], Annihilation (2018)

[pedroam-bang]

Annihilation (2018)

[pedroam-bang]

Annihilation (2018)

[pedroam-bang]

Annihilation (2018)