Assignment Week Four: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (6 points) (film points +3)

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            Annihilation by Jerry VanderMeer is the novel I read for this week. This book much like A Wild Sheep Chase was a different experience than most horror I have watched or read. The book shows the values in society. For example, area x is a big symbol for sublime in horror, not only does it cause death and insanity, but it’s almost mesmerizingly beautiful and serene. Furthermore, this area is a living symbol for the beauty of the alien and the terrifying unknown. The words written on the tower walls as also representations of the absorption of humanity, from the organic makeup of explorers' bodies, to the words they write in their journals, and the way Area X repurposes the material and uses it to nourish itself.

The book has many aspects to why it is intriguing, however the main thing besides the sublime and psychological themes it processes is that its huge on secrets of the society. As the novel moves along we find out that the psychologist is secretly manipulating the others through hypnosis, which lead ot the death of the anthropologist. The entire time the book gives the feeling of anxiety to the readers due to the lack of trust throughout the group. Even as the psychologist is dying from suicide, she doesn’t tell the truth at all to anyone leaving the biologist to feel even more alone than before.

Throughout Annihilation I never really felt scared or anxious from the creatures that killed many other before and in the book. I felt more concerned and curious about the psychologist and the secrets authority officials are keeping for the other. What intensifies this is that they don’t describe the monsters, they describe the people attack in detail but never really what caused it. This makes the reader more suspicious of the other people in the group or even the society they are a part of. Another thing this novel has that I appreciate is that all the main characters are females which doesn’t always happen with horror and or sci-fi. This goes against social norms, much like this book does with its society and humanity values.

The society they are in really shows how far they are willing to go for science and the “greater good”. The film kind of goes against the fact of not really showing the creature. However, this is understandable since it’s a film and without the creature for a sci-fi/ horror it would be rather boring. Other films that I have watched are Get Out and Cabin in the Woods. These films also have big psychological aspects to them and are in my opinion more interesting and realistic horror circumstances than regular paranormal/ supernatural horror do.

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