An Ecological Reading of Interspecies Mutation in Annihilation

Abstract

Humans’ detachment from nature, as justified by an alleged exceptionalism falsely granted by our ability to reason, has resulted in the ecological crisis we face today. Besides, our fear and suspicion of wilderness has also prompted us to master the natural world on our terms. This article aims at exploring how Alex Garland’s film Annihilation (2018) discomforts the audience by challenging our assumptions about a nature that we believed already conquered. The analysis will focus on how the film portrays mutations that produce hybrid creatures mixing animal and plant DNA thus destabilizing the limits between human and non-human. This crossing of porous boundaries illustrates our vulnerability as species and our dependance on the ecosystem that surrounds us.