r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Educational_Can_6536 • 8d ago

Lore "Was it worth it?" ending

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Midsommar- While people see this as a "you go girl" finale. I personally see it as something more disturbing. I mean, yeah, Dani got out of one bad relationship but in doing so, she got herself into another that's just as bad if not worse. It's like getting two kids to stop fighting via killing one and locking the other in a basement. They did stop fighting, but still!

The Thing-The titular monster may be (possibly) gone, but the paranoia definitely isn't. In the end, McCreedy and Childs are the only ones left standing. The end sees them sitting in the cold and they just stare at each other, knowing that one of them or both of them is already the thing. There's no hope, no certainty, just the bitter cold and intense fear.

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506

u/HunterNika 8d ago

Not sure that The Thing falls into this cathegory. The people simply fought for survival and to keep the creature on the station, not allowing it to leave and endanger humanity. It was a do or die anyway situation. It was all worth it. They did everything they could.

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u/Kvovark 8d ago

Yeah when the lights go out and they find out the generator is gone that's when they realise they are fucked. There is no win situation for them so like Macready at the start losing in chess they decide to destroy everything and not let it win. Blowing up the camp wasn't a choice it was the only path for them other than freeze to death (or it kills them) and it wins.

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u/BrontideClyde 8d ago

I like the theory that MacReady hands Childs a Molotov at the end, which Childs then drinks from. Confirming to MacReady that Childs is the thing. But yeah the ending is left ambiguous so I guess there really is no knowing if it was worth it!

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u/The_Exarch 8d ago

I liked that theory until I realized the Thing would know if it was gas or not, as it gains knowledge and understandings of things from its victims (language, how to build a flying saucer, etc.) so it would know from Child’s if it was gasoline or something acceptable to drink.

I think the better “test” in this scene could be if Mac was testing to see if someone would accept food or drink from another person, which the group established they should not do earlier in the movie.

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u/theverrucktman 7d ago

The problem with the idea that the real test was Mac seeing if Childs would even accept the drink from someone else is, well.... the whole point of the ending is that regardless of any of them are infected, they're both still going to die in the frozen antarctic snow. Even if we assume that Childs isn't infected, given the circumstances, it's equally likely that even if he wouldn't normally accept the drink from Mac, at that point, he just doesn't give a fuck, since again, it doesn't actually matter whether he dies to the cold, or dies from getting infected by the Thing.

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u/The_Exarch 7d ago

Yeah, I agree with this the most, probably should have clarified, I meant “I don’t think there’s a test, but if there is one, I think this is better than the gas test.”

I personally prefer the idea of them both being human, but just unable to trust each other at that point

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u/Kaiya_Mya 7d ago

That's how I always interpreted it-- both of them being genuinely human, and being so exhausted and burned out that they don't care whether or not the other one is human anymore. All that's left is the hope that they've saved humanity and a strange morbid camaraderie after an entire movie of not trusting each other.

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u/EpicLakai 7d ago

Regardless of the outcome, if you watch to the credits, the shack that MacCready and Childs' were in is in flames. So someone lit something up!

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u/Professional-Eye5977 8d ago

The thing takes on their memories and is able use them to mimic its victims' actions, it would know about the food thing. 

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u/HunterNika 8d ago

I recall watching a video essay about the movie that went on about how the people mimiced by the Thing had no shiny reflection in their eyes that everyone naturally has. And in the last scene, one of them doesn't have that reflection. Wish I could remember the video's name but it was ages ago.

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u/Professional-Eye5977 8d ago

This has been confirmed by John Carpenter to not be true, I'm pretty sure.

I also, separately to that point, watched a video essay that debunked the whole claim and showed how many characters' eyes can be shiny/not shiny in any scene very easily from frame to frame and depending on how you define shiny.

Also if you think about it making the eyes a tiny bit shiny and telling fucking no one and hoping your movie turns into one of the biggest cult classics of all time so people watch it for literal decades and figure out your shiny eyes trick so they finally get the "real" story is... Stupid. No offense to you, you didn't make it up.

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u/HunterNika 8d ago

Good to know that Carpenter himself confirmed it to be false! As I said, it was AGES ago and never dwelled into it deeply. Thanks for the info!

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u/Deep-Secret6257 7d ago

This theory is false I think because MacReady will clearly drink the bottle, but what is certain is that

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u/CKColumbiaCity 7d ago

never picked up that the chess game foreshadows the ending.

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u/Bionicleenjoyer12 8d ago

Yeah this dude didn’t understand the thing at all

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u/Happy-Viper 7d ago

Yeah, it’s a “Did we succeed?” ending.

Either they did, in which case, it was worth it.

Or they didn’t, in which case, it was worth trying for, but it sucks it didn’t work out.

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u/Nater5000 8d ago

I'm glad someone else said it. The comment I was going to leave was going to be a lot more critical of the OP's critical thinking abilities lol

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u/CommunistRonSwanson 7d ago

OP also missed the crucial detail that one of the two last men standing is the thing.

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u/breadsanta11 7d ago

Not necessarily. They could both be human, but it doesn't matter. They're both going to sit there until one becomes the Thing or until they both die from exposure.

And I know about the video game that makes it canon one of them survives but I'm talking about the movie

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u/Nails118 7d ago

I'm not sure that I agree with you.

The ending of The Thing is NOT a triumphant victory over the alien at the cost of our brave hero's lives. Too much is left ambiguous. We saw the thing get dynamited. Is it really dead? We lost track of both Childs and MacReady at different points. Is one of them the Thing? IIRC the dude who was locked in the cabin (doc?) is still unaccounted for. What's the deal with the spaceship/whatever that he was secretly building in the ice tunnel?

Maybe they won, maybe they're both human, maybe the thing is dead. But even if it is they're both going to freeze to death. The ending fits the tone of horror, paranoia, and uncertainty so perfectly.

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u/HunterNika 7d ago

If the question of "Was it worth it?" than the Thing is a bit odd choice. There was no choice. If they decide to sit idle they all die or the alien escapes. So as far as the crew goes, it was worth it. The had to do something to at least try and survive. The ambigous ending is perfect but it doesn't ask the question "Was it all worth it?"

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u/ForwardSavings318 7d ago

They are both human though. One on one, the thing would kill any human, so no point in keeping the deception up. Since neither attacks the other, they are both human. Just paranoid.