week 7

2. What is the philosophy of cosmicism and how is it used to convey a sense of dread in The Colour out of Space?

Cosmicism is based on H.P. Lovecraft’s idea that humanity and what we do are mere illusions, that “Human consciousness, human civilization, humane values, and all the rest, add up to a bubble that surrounds us and keeps us from seeing that the cosmos is wholly indifferent to us.” (Patheos). The concept of how small and insignificant humans are to the sheer size and age of the cosmos and cosmicism tries to use existential dread to provoke fear into its audience. Lovecraft used Cosmicism a lot in his stories, the most famous of which would be, “ The Call of Cthulhu”. 

Lovecraft’s horror doesn’t use much blood or gore, it uses the fear of the unknown, where he would introduce an antagonist that was immense in power, an existence that was as old as the earth, that had no malice but had enough power to destroy humanity without any regard for resistance. Lovecraft’s “monsters” would view humans the same way we would view ants, as either; something to admire from afar, or as a minor inconvenience that posed no threat, which could be dealt with by flicking it away, “Cosmicism is rooted in the absence of God and, ultimately, any sort of morality and meaning tethered to such a Presence.”(Duran, 2016). The Colour out of Space film based on H.P. Lovecraft’s story, directed by Richard Stanley, follows Nathan Gardner portrayed by Nicholas Cage as he moves to the countryside with his whole family after a health scare, where he sees a colourful and bright meteorite that falls on their land. The meteorite gradually reveals itself as the film progresses, to be an evil entity from beyond our concept of reality that corrupts and warps whatever it touches with its colour. 

In Colour out of Space, we see the usual conventions of darkness, and muted colour in horror completely ignored, as bright colours are not only used, but they represent the main villain of the film. The main antagonist was simply too large for the Gardner family to face as the entity could corrupt anything it touched, including plants, insects and animals. Near the end of the film, we see Ward played by Elliot Knight, returning to the Gardner farm, which has now been completely overtaken by the Colour, he sees Livinia who has been also taken over by the colour, all the while the Colour is trying to open a gateway to its home above the property. When Livinia touches Ward, both he and the audience are connected to the Colour, and it shows its homeworld, which looked like a bunch of abstract colours, we then see millions of worm-like creatures writhing around, with several giant worm-like creatures moving towards against monument, which looks like an eye which is also seen as a symbol on Livinias forehead. Here the audience is able to see what the colour had in store for humanity and that we would be hopeless in the face of such unimaginable power. 

References
King, S. (2010). Stephen King’s Danse macabre / by Stephen King. Retrieved November 6, 2020, from https://cpl.catalogue.library.ns.ca/Record/5394/Excerpt