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resemblance is that it is a war that cannot be ended easily, since the mentality of
the terrorists is alien to Western values and refuses to negotiate or play by the
rules of engagement in war observed throughout most of the twentieth century.
In conclusion, John W. Campbell Jr.’s creation of The Thing has
resonated in the popular culture for nearly seventy-five years now. The image of
confronting an alien being threatening the entire world population has evolved
from a confident, post-Depression endorsement of American heroism, through a
post-Korean War endorsement of American military capability, to, after
Vietnam and the World Trade Center attacks, a dark, uncompromising view of a
force perhaps too powerful for the greatest heroism and self-sacrifice Americans
and their allies are capable of performing in the 1982 and 2011 film versions.
Purdue University Calumet
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