Bella Rivas - Annihilation

     I found Annihilation to be a fascinating film. The concept of the film was very interesting - a biological parasite that mutates and combines the DNA of both plants and animals, and mutates the DNA of whatever . It also showed the very basic theme of known vs. unknown. The known being the world outside of the shimmer, the unknown being the shimmer. This parallel of known and unknown was shown many times throughout the movie, such as the two deer who moved in unison, as one was made out of flowers and the other was an animal. Another example was the scene where the metallic being mirrored everything that Natalie Portman's character did. Biological mutation was also presented when the head scientist of the mission revealed that she had cancer, yet went into the shimmer knowing that she would not come back. She was ultimately consumed by a different form of biological mutation.

I saw a parallel to Blade Runner in this film. Specifically at the end, when Natalie Portman's character did not know if she was herself or not, and how this was determined by their eye. Again, playing on the definition of humanity and the worth of human life. While the individual who came out of the shimmer was not evil, they were most likely not human. Again, bringing up the concept of how, we as humans, assign value to people.