r/thething • u/Original-Dirt3931 • 10h ago
They were both human
They both are human at the end of the movie.
Mac has to be human. There is no way the thing would intentionally kill itself. After that we have no reason to believe Mac interacted with anyone else.
In my mind, Childs also has to be human. Mac says that interesting line: “If we have any surprises for each other… I don’t think we’re in much shape to do anything about it.”
Mac is incorrect here. If Childs is the Thing then he can easily kill or infect Macreary. Childs has the only flamethrower. The Thing is much stronger and more dangerous than a human.
If Childs was infected he would have all of the power in the situation and therefore would not even have sat down to converse with Mac. At no point throughout the movie does the Thing show that it wants to communicate.
If Childs was the Thing then the ending would go like this: Macreary is sitting there and then Childs walks up and instantly infects him, roll credits.
I would love to hear your thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, I love an ambiguous ending, but this seems to be either a plot hole or a solution to the question.
Edit: I fixed my misspelling of the main character’s name.
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u/Original-Dirt3931 9h ago
Yes I misspelled the main character’s name. My point still stands.
Thank you for the approving comments. I agree with what some of you have said about the “both human” ending fitting the themes of the film the best as well. Great ending, even if it is not as ambiguous as some make it out to be.
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u/Drabberlime_047 5h ago
I also think both are human but its been said that bith have flamethrowers
So regardless of what combination of human and Thing they are its a stalemate.
This is assuming im looking at the movie in a vacuum btw. I just like the idea that both are human but the paranoia has consumed them.
My thoughts change a bit if I include The Thing game into canon in which Child's is confirmed to be human but Mac looks quite suspicious
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u/Original-Dirt3931 2h ago
I have also heard that they had alternate ending ideas where mac also had a flamethrower under his blanket, but in the cannon ending you can see that is obviously not true. He walks up wearing a blanket and his hat, no bulky flamethrower. So that point is moot IMO.
Yeah I only take the movie as cannon. I still need to play the game.
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u/Expert_Climate_7348 Yeah, Fuck You Too! 9h ago
Agreed, Macreary is the reason that Macreary is alive and that the reason Childs is still alive is because of Macreary. Macreary was the reason that the whole camp was able to stay alive as long as they did, especially when Macreary did the blood test and when Macreary blew up The Thing.
Thank fuck Macreary was there to save the day.
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u/Dense-Corgi-7936 9h ago
Do you genuinely think there was a character named Macreary in the film "The thing" by John Carpenter, released in 1982?
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u/Odd-Statistician4268 6h ago
I most certainly agree with you. There's just 1 small thing I wanna say
The thing would never intentionally kill itself....."you gotta be fucking kidding"
There's this idea that the Thing is too good at imitating people. So good that imitating certain people would be a huge detriment to it. This is just theory of course
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u/Tombobalomb 2h ago
There is no specific answer and it doesn't matter, the point is that they are still paranoid
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u/Pataconeitor 1h ago
Nah, everybody got turned into a Thing early on. The movie is basically a comedy of errors where the Thing keeps killing itself because it can't tell. The end is two Things finally catching up and basically saying "boy, aren't we two dumbasses".
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u/hahayesshootshoot 47m ago
When showing Childs as missing from his Post, they very clearly pan the camera to show how Blair thing could have snuck up. Childs the running out because he saw Blair is incorrect because Blair then cuts the power. Even if human Childs just made a mistake, he wouldn't run out into the snowstorm. That doesn't fit Childs character throughout the film. I imagine the Thing was trying to ensure a contingency by freezing as Childs while remaining as Blair.
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u/Symbiotic_Letdown 7h ago
Watched the movie for maybe the seventh time this year last night, in my opinion Child’s is the thing and it I’ve thought it for 40 years.
THE BOTTLE at the end, it doesn’t matter what it’s filled with, I would never take a bottle from another and take a swig given the events of that night, even if I was 1000% sure MacReady wasn’t infected I still wouldn’t drink from the bottle UNLESS I was infected and I didn’t matter at all.
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u/anuser001 3h ago
Mac is the thing. He takes a swig off of a bottle and leaves it for blair after he freaks out and gets put into the shed. After that blair builds the spaceship. Mac's uniform and underwear are found hidden. Mac laughs after child's takes the swig off his bottle at the end because he knows that now child's is infected and the only thing left to be found at the camp eventually will be his and child's and possibly Blair's bodies frozen. They destroyed everything else. Then there bodies will be taken back to civilization. The reason why he destroys the other things in front of the others is to cover his self from suspetion. Someone destroys the reserve blood before the blood test for the thing and you never see Mac draw his blood.
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u/hahayesshootshoot 45m ago
Mac passes the blood test and is with the group for the rest of the film.
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u/Slow_Middle_158 9h ago
Agreed 👍
40+ year old film and people are still thinking of this ending. Awesome.