I think a central theme is how humans respond when they're removed from society's strictures and oversight and have to provide order for themselves, especially when faced with a life-or-death crisis. There's a lot of arguing about who's doing what, who should make decisions, even who should die. At one point, McReady pretty much murders a non-Thing human with the magnum and it barely registers, with only one character making a snide remark about it. No one threatens to drag him into court later or anything because they all know that they're on their own. There's also the them of trust vs. paranoia. How do you know you can trust someone? Can we ever trust anyone, or is there a monster inside everyone that will try to take advantage of someone else when they're weak or the opportunity is right? What happens when healthy distrust turns to rampant paranoia (You might murder an innocent person, for one thing). Another theme (which occurred to me while writing the first theme) is "survival of the fittest" or "man vs. beast/nature (of a sort)" which includes the Thing in the competition. The weather is also a factor here. Which species will prevail with no outside help or interference? With the isolated locale, it's almost like a sealed gladitorial arena where one species will survive; winner take all. Finally, there's the theme of the unknown, or unknowable. The Thing is so alien, so monstrous, the mind just freezes up when confronted with it in all its protean, Lovecraftian glory. We don't know about the Thing's background, why it does what it does or what it's goals are. We can speculate, but in the end it's just speculation. It seems to want to make a break for the coast in the guise of the sled dogs, but then it's also found building some kind of airship or starship, so maybe it just wants to leave. The men are plunked in the middle of a nightmarish crisis and need to piece things together as they go.

CJ, that is terrific analysis and you hit my two biggies in your list: Paranoia and the related dynamic of the how people survive when the social order is suddenly disrupted in a radical way. We see a similar dynamic in the movie Alien, only here everything is doubled in intensity because of the lurking Thing-in-us-all potential. Your other points are spot-on, too. The man v. beast dynamic clearly there and perhaps even, too, a variation with each of the men getting in touch with their own beastly nature, some when the Thing imitates them and takes them over, some simply by reaching down into the more lizard-brain part of their psyche, as when MacReady blows the guy away, per your reference. Your last point is a really strong one, too: Sometimes the less we know about a Nemesis character, the more frightening they are. I'm reminded of the situation confronting Spielberg when Bruce the Shark didn't work for the first few weeks of production "Jaws," which forced the director to intimate the shark's presence, not show it. In some ways more terrifying that way, yes? Clearly I am going to have to see this movie now! Thanks for your thoughts. As I say, excellent observations.

Good reference to Jaws: Let our imagination go to work. Another aspect I noticed, just for discussion's sake, is that the only ones who presented a united front against the Thing were the dogs. They looked out for each other, worked together, and even tore at the kennel door to get back in to help their brothers and sisters when they got thrown out into the snow (I bet more than a couple men would just run away to save their hides). The men meanwhile, nearly tore each other apart all by themselves out of paranoia and the urge for self preservation. I know, of course, that the dogs have some heightened senses working for them, but I think it's an interesting contrast none the less.