“I think, you’re confusing suicide with self-destruction.”
Dr. Ventress
Spoiler Warning: Hope you’ve seen the movie bc/ I’m about to spoil it. If not, hope you’ll see it and we can talk about it later.
Alex Garland, the writer and director of Annihilation 2018, loosely based the script on the first book in the “Southern Reach” trilogy, the 2014 novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer. Garland even decided not to re-read the novel, instead, he decided to adapt it “like a dream of the book”. The story follows a group of scientists who enter the Shimmer, a mysterious quarantined zone of mutating plants and animals caused by an alien presence. Garland emphasized a few times in his interviews that sci-fi is the best genre to openly explore the fundamental ideas of biological and existential concepts, and I fully agree with him.
I’ll briefly go over the plot to help us refresh our memories. In the opening scene of the film a cellular biology professor and former U.S. Army soldier Lena (Natalie Portman) is under interrogation. We learn that she was a part of an expedition to an anomalous zone as the Shimmer, but she was the lone survivor to return. The Shimmer emerged three years from a meteor that landed on a lighthouse in a wildlife refuge and its gradually expanding and increasing its boundaries. Many exploratory expeditions were organised, but only Lena’s husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac), returned home after a year of absence in the Shimmer. He cannot explain where he was and how he came back, and his condition quickly deteriorates. Lena volunteers to join a new scientific expedition involving all female scientists, prepared by psychologist Dr. Ventress (played by Jennifer Jason-Leigh). Three other women participate in the expedition: Cass (Tuva Novotny), a geomorphologist, Anya (Gina Rodriguez) a paramedic, and Josie (Tessa Thompson) a physicist. Each character represents a variation on the theme of self-destruction. Demonstrating the themes through character design is a theme found in all genres but I think, sci-fi is particularly good at expressing abstract ideas through story building. Annihilation in that sense, is a great example of how a film can serve as an exploration of an idea, embracing the sci-fi genre and taking the fundamental process of how life spreads and evolves, expressing it in the setting of a story and the forces of antagonism that inhabit it. Uniting us all, under the thematic umbrella of human tendency toward self-destruction to create a powerful and intriguing cinematic experience. Demonstrating that something can be created following annihilation.
The story opens with a monologue by Lena explaining the concepts of duplication, mutation, and self-destruction. She is giving a lecture and poses the question: “How come a cancer cell, a product of our own bodies are able to eventually kill us?” This question lays the foundation of the story and the core questions can be asked and answered through this question, in the movie.
The shimmer
In the shimmer, like the unconscious, all of its contents are blurred and merged into one another. In it, one never knows exactly what or where anything is, or where one thing begins and another ends. Time, space, and matter merge seamlessly as if in a dream. The order and the structure of the outside world do not exist inside. Where getting lost is inevitable and yet it is the place where we collectively find ourselves. All of the volunteered women are risking their lives by going into the Shimmer, seeking to find answers to each of their problems. As the story unfolds we see that only those that are going through deep inner instability would find themselves caught up in the Shimmer.
“Its not exactly something you do (going into the Shimmer) if your life is in perfect harmony.”
Dr. Ventress
If the core of this story is chaos then beauty is not the only thing that one’s bound to find.
The enemy within
The monsters we believed to be exclusively external in nature, dwell abundantly within our own bodies, within our minds. A realisation emerges, “Am I the real danger?”, “Am I the thing bent on self-destruction?”
“We drink, we smoke, we destabilise the good job or the happy marriage.”
DR. Ventress
Expecting self-destruction from ourselves would be to admit to one’s own shortcomings which we so often try to hind behind a masked personality. Denying it would be to disown its existence within oneself completely. For the denier, the only way out is to project one’s own monsters onto the people around them. “How could I ever be a monster?”, “Maybe you or you, but not me?”, “For it is I, who knows the way and who will save the world from damnation!” This unconscious failure to come to terms with one’s reality then becomes nothing more than another ultimate dead end. It is only those who, that on some level have made peace with the fact that spending time in this world is slowly changing who they are and how they perceive themselves and their growing realisation that the tumor of the shimmer isn’t necessarily caused by something outside of themselves, but perhaps an echo from their own inner world that find peace. And so, the way to save the world would be to save oneself. But why would one bother to go through such lengths to salvage something that wasn’t perceived to contain much value to begin with. Life does what it wants. Why bother struggling against its will?
The shadow
“Consciousness succumbs all to easily to unconscious influences, and these are often truer and wiser than our conscious thinking. Also, it frequently happens that unconscious motives over-rule our conscious decisions. Especially in matters of vital importance.”
Carl Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
People undermine their own agenda. To their frustration and bewilderment, they find themselves making irrational decisions. Experiencing mental blocks and even physical ailments that cripple their plans. It’s like a mysterious force takes over control, steering them away from the goals that they were so determined to accomplish. And thus, plagued by unconscious sabotage they never seem to get where they want to go. But why do we self-destruct? How come we wreck our plans without any good reason? Jung discovered answers to these questions as he became aware of the psyche that he called the shadow.
The shadow exists in the realm of the unconscious. Where the light of the conscious awareness does not reach its reality. As if they aren’t a part of us, our undesirable and repressed traits are banished here. As we become painfully aware in fact that they are.
According to Jung, repression will not solve our problems. In fact, it can have disastrous consequences as these aspects take on a life of their own. Operating in obscurity. This is where self-destruction begins. The repressed parts of the personality revolt against our conscious mind from the deepness of the unconscious shadow. And so, we are at war with ourselves without even knowing who we are fighting against.
Luckily there are ways to stop this self-destruction. Instead of repressing its contents, Jung urges us to integrate the shadow contents into our personality. We can only do this by making the unconscious, conscious and discovering its hidden contents. The shadow is not simply the dark and negative side of our personality. Not just a part of ourselves that holds all of our negative impulses. Not a shadowy figure suggesting an ominous “other self” that exists outside our awareness out to destroy ourselves. It refers to something fundamentally different. It is actually more like a dark place rather than a shadowy figure. Like a dark closet in the human psyche where the light of the consciousness doesn’t shine. Where we lock away all the repressed (meaning unwanted or undesired) parts of our personality that we are unwilling or unable to face or re-integrate into our personality at the moment. Which can happen for a variety of reasons. Such as unmet needs or trauma. Often causing problems because of this disconnect.
The shadow aspect’s agenda is noticed when we’re engaging in procrastination and self-destructive behaviour which are keeping us from making positive changes in our lives. As long as we fail to shine a light on what’s lurking in the shade, it will govern us like a puppeteer from behind the curtain.
The solution to this dilemma requires observation and brutal honesty. The unmet needs and agendas of our ego need to be recognised. We need to ensure that we meet our shadow aspects needs, so that doesn’t have to sabotage our ego’s agenda and goals.
The shadow aspect does not want to be illuminated. Its elusiveness is understandable. As it represents what’s unwanted but also rebels against the person who disowned them. If it is found, it will lose its sovereignty. As long as it remains in the shadows, it maintains the power of autonomy to troll, sabotage, and destroy its own personality and above all, is safe. At the cost of protection, the person is doomed to forever be in conflict with themselves.
Facing our dark side means facing the fact that we’re not as good as we think we are. We possess animalistic drives for sex and power. We have a cruel and aggressive side that can do great harm to others. We tend to deny our flaws and weaknesses, but what we deny doesn’t disappear. It sinks into our unconscious and thrives in our shadow. Confronting and integrating its elements into our personality is a means to rejuvenate our life and heal a divided world.
“Only someone who goes through their darkness can hope to make any further progress.”
Carl Jung
For a shadow to be cast an object must impede a path of light. That object is our persona. A Latin word signifying a mask worn by an actor. It represents the metaphorical mask we wear in the social world. A collection of character traits we want others to believe that define us.
“A kind of mask, designed an the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and, on the other hand to conceal the true nature of the individual.”
Carl Jung
Construction of our persona begins early in life. We learn which elements of our own character garner approval from family members, peers, and society at large and which are rejected. The former we integrate into our persona and the latter we hide behind this mask. We identify with our persona and hide our unwanted characteristics in our shadows. Not only from others but, also from ourselves. So they get repressed.
The only way our shadow manifests itself is through projection. Wherein we perceive other individuals, groups, nations, races, or political parties as the weaknesses, faults, and evils that reside within ourselves. Elements of our shadow also find expression in our day-to-day life by affecting our moods and behaviours. The character traits, instincts, and desires repressed living in the shadow, create a tension between our conscious personality and the autonomous splinter personality of the shadow.
At times of stress or conflict, when our mind is unable to keep the doors of the unconscious closed, the shadow reveals itself with often damaging consequences. Confronting the shadow begins with accepting its existence and realising the personality we portray to the world and our conscious sense of self does not represent us in totality.
Once accepted, honest self-reflection and self-criticism can reveal some of the traits we have been hiding from. The good and the bad could come to the light in us should we wish, as we should wish to live without self-deception or self-delusion. Without self-destruction.
To unearth these elements, we can use a few different tactics. Firstly, we should take notice of any traits in other people that trigger a particularly strong emotional reaction. This is a sign that the same traits lie within us. Or we could peer into the shadow of someone close to us, a task easier than peering into our own. Although some aspects of the shadow are personal, much that gets deposited there is influenced by social and cultural trends and so we share them among the members of our society. A character trait we reject has likely been rejected by a sibling or a close friend. If we can learn about their shadow, clues about our won will be revealed.
“To confront a person with their shadow, is to show them their own light.”
Carl Jung
Confronting the shadow also reduces the ability of our flaws and weaknesses to wreak havoc on our lives. Awareness of an anger issue, selfishness, greed, aggression, obsession, or compulsion grants us the opportunity to exert a modicum of control over it. We can strive to overcome a flaw or at least minimize its potential damage. By becoming aware of these repressed drives and sublimating them we put them in the service of higher ends. They can empower us, motivate us to take risks for a fulfilling life, and even spur our creativity.
“Only down below can we find the fiery source of life.”
Carl Jung
The shadow also homes the strengths of our character, which we repressed as a result of our upbringing or by adapting to a sick society. They represent our unmet needs. Re-connecting with the positive side of our shadow, minimizing the effects of its negative side, and integrating it all into our conscious sense of self, produces a character that tends toward the ideal of wholeness, which Jung believed defined the psychotically healthy. As we approach a state of wholeness, we become more attractive to other people.
For human beings, we posses an instinctive suspicion of those who appear too good and who identify too much with their persona. We know that beneath a bright persona, lurks a dark and dangerous shadow. A far more attractive is a complete character, the whole person who knows not only their strengths, virtues and potential for good but also their weaknesses, faults, and shortcomings and their potential for evil. Too many people see all the problems in society and all the problems in other people but fail to notice the much more serious problems that lie within themselves. Failing to see they are a character split in two and until they confront their shadow, they will only amplify the hostility and divisiveness around their world.
Connecting all this back to Annihilation, only those who truly desire to return will have the power to re-emerge from the Shimmer. And so, one by one the companions perish, dissolve, and disappear until Lena is the only one left. “Why did they have to succumb to darkness? , “Why am I, still here?” The ever-continuing cycle of death and rebirth. The sign of the Ouroboros. “The dramatic symbol of the snake eating its own tail for the integration and assimilation of the opposite of the shadow.” The only way to truly find out what all of this means is to make one final push toward the center. Towards the lighthouse.
“Ventress wants to face it. You want to fight it. But, I don’t think, I want either of those things.”
Josie
The Lighthouse
“… perhaps I should desire it for self-destruction, its ultimately all thats certain. What is the creature that acts as if my shadow? Was I you? Were you me? If you are me. If you are more than I am, then I am a lie, and I can exist no longer.”
Kane
We finally become fully aware that this world is not alien in nature, but a part of our own self that was hidden away in our unconsciousness. Desperately trying to be acknowledged. The only way forward then, is to look oneself directly in the eye and accept this shadow as it is. Only then the final illuminating integration can be achieved. With it, we now know better who we are and thereby are dissolved by our own pathologies. The return to order is therefore shown as a reconciliation of two previously estranged souls. Reconnecting. Both fought and died in one way or another. And, both have re-emerged as someone else. One a mere shadow of his former self. The other is more intact. Strangers but, strangers attuned to each other than before. Embracing one another. As the first step to start anew.
egOnto 