# Themes in The Descent



## McMurphy (Aug 8, 2006)

I noticed that there is already a thread in regards to the debate over whether or not this film is a quality production and, since it is apparent some users have strong opinions about the matter, I just wished to clear up right away that rating The Descent is not the focus of this thread.  For people who wish to discuss their reviews of the movie, I recommend the one present in the review section of the site.

There are some themes of The Descent that beg to be discussed and examined to a greater extent.

The character development and how it reflects and contrasts between the two main characters, Sarah and Juno, who supply the greatest amount of inner conflict within the party, not only molds the fates of everyone involved in the abyss exploring, but it is the faction of plot that keeps the multiple sequences of carnage from supplying nothing more than shock value.  From the very first scene of the film, Juno and Sarah are thrown into positions that will ultimately pit themselves against each other.  Juno’s affair with Sarah’s husband is hinted at right away.  As the story progresses, as does the rift between their character qualities.  Sarah, before her transformation, is more of the nurturer, while Juno is prone to be the natural leader of the group.  Both of these characters' dispositions are tested and broken down when faced with both the inner demons of their pasts and the “demons” within the jagged corners of the cave system.  Juno, due to the already mentioned disposition, is the first of the two to topple her own fears with the need to kill her way through the would-be predators.  

Juno, unfortunately, gains this heightened level of survival instincts with her past and present guilt attached.  With her affair with Sarah’s husband, she is already in bed with keeping secrets from the group, so it is her recourse when she accidently kills one of their friends after a bloody first encounter with the cave dwellers.  Juno’s shady underbelly forms her survival to include leaving the party members behind in the name of self survival and never admitting the true sequence of events that have taken place within the abyss.  It is reasonable to suggest that, when she is caught in a tug-of-war over the possession of the maimed understudy (and presumably Juno’s new lover), Juno is facing the personification of her own guilt and mischief.  She loses her tug-of-war.

Sarah (again, the grieving nurturer) reaches her transformation through a completely different—yet related—course than Juno.  Sarah early into the adventure becomes separated from the others, which is embodiment of her separation from her friends and even the world ever since her husband’s and daughter’s sudden death.  There is no doubt that these predators beneath the earth’s crust is the physical plane version of the inner demons of each of the explorers involved, and Sarah's “Belly-of-the Beast” trial is the feeding grounds of the predators.  Littered with thousands of bones of their victims (both human and animal), there lies the abandoned articles such as helmets and kerosine cans of past climbers and the not quite dead body of the friend that Juno accidently slaughtered.  The articles represent Sarah’s past and even perhaps the affair that she subconsciously have known about for some time but had not faced in interest of keeping the family and friendship intact.  The dying friend is the truth-bringer who confirms Sarah’s notions of Juno. The dying friend asks Sarah to kill her out of mercy—something that Sarah reluctantly performs.  The difference between how Sarah and Juno kill this friend is the single most paramount example of their contrasting positions in life and their underpinning character.  Juno kills the friend out of her own recklessness, and Sarah kill the friend out of her sense of mercy.

Before Sarah’s transformation is complete, she must prove victor in an archetypal battle with a mirrored image of herself within the “Belly of the Beast” trial.  This point in the story is the only time that a clearly female version of the underground demons have screen time, which is evidence enough that the battle between it and Sarah is intentionally significant by the screenwriter.  Viewers must take special interest in how and when Sarah kills the female demon.  The battle with it sends her into a deep pool of blood, in which she stays submerged long enough to let all the air bubbles popping on the liquid’s surface to subside completely.  When she re-emerges and is covered with blood, her rebirth as a killer has clear echoes of the final act of Carrie by Stephen King.  Sarah’s personal demons, her emotional agony over her family’s death, and even the very meekness of her character were represented by her mirrored self, and, when she kills it on the other side of the pool, she is no longer anchored by those traits.  She has withstood her greatest trial and has came out of it as a changed person.

Juno and Sarah meet up as different people, and the inner conflict between the two is required to come to a head.  Without including a spoiler in this post, it will be stated that the conflict is resolved within the boundaries of the reality set forth by the film’s premise.  

There are several other themes and examples of conscious adherence to storytelling archetypes present in The Descent.  In the interest of not adding too much length to a single post, I will instead pose the question to you:

_*What themes did you observe in “The Descent”?*_


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## Foxbat (Aug 8, 2006)

That's quite a post you've put there. Obviously, you've given your position on the matter a lot of thought. Unfortunately, it has  reminded me that I have yet to see this movie. But, when I do, I'll remember and come back to this thread. 

Still, reading your opinions made me think that this sounds like a 'rite of passage' movie....where, through conflict and overcoming adversity, the protagonists finally come to terms with their own identities.


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## McMurphy (Aug 9, 2006)

*Does Sarah Dream of Deckard Robots?*



			
				Foxbat said:
			
		

> That's quite a post you've put there. Obviously, you've given your position on the matter a lot of thought. Unfortunately, it has  reminded me that I have yet to see this movie. But, when I do, I'll remember and come back to this thread.
> 
> Still, reading your opinions made me think that this sounds like a 'rite of passage' movie....where, through conflict and overcoming adversity, the protagonists finally come to terms with their own identities.


A rites of passage in regards to coming in terms with their own identities is exactly what I was thinking, too.  I mean, there is more going on in the film, but that theme or even analysis must be intended to be a central one.

I hope you do remember to revisit this thread.  I would love to read your thoughts on the manner.

After discovering the UK ending (I had to settle for the altered American one), I am currently convinced that Sarah never left the hospital: a theory I wouldn't mind fleshing out with others at some point.


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## ravenus (Aug 9, 2006)

You'll have to pardon me but I do feel that a bit too much is being read into. But I do agree with the "Maybe Sarah never left the hospital" angle, it did come to me. But connecting Juno's hiding of the accidental murder of her buddy to her past actions...doesn't really mean anything, she could have been a naive babe o' the woods and still hesitated from telling the rest of her friends that she'd been swinging the machete a bit too wildly. My 2 bits there.


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## McMurphy (Aug 9, 2006)

ravenus said:
			
		

> You'll have to pardon me but I do feel that a bit too much is being read into. But I do agree with the "Maybe Sarah never left the hospital" angle, it did come to me. But connecting Juno's hiding of the accidental murder of her buddy to her past actions...doesn't really mean anything, she could have been a naive babe o' the woods and still hesitated from telling the rest of her friends that she'd been swinging the machete a bit too wildly. My 2 bits there.



But don't you find it interesting that Juno stabs Sarah's best friend, her nurturer, in the throat and that it was obvious that the best friend was keeping quiet about Juno's affair even though she appears to have known about it in the first scene?  It seems possible that her death is supposed to represent or, at least, reflect the friend's silence by Juno's request.


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## Paradox 99 (Aug 10, 2006)

Great thread McMurphy.
I'm going to watch the film again with your question in mind, as I'm certain that are plenty of themes woven into the story.

Apart from the things you've mentioned, the only other theme that comes to mind is in the way it reminded me of another film (I thought of Carrie too btw). The Descent reminded me of "The Thing". The Thing was a story containing only men and showed the various ways in which each of the personalities dealt with the crisis of a hostile predator. The descent was the flipside of the same coin. We had a diverse range of characters all dealing with the threat in different ways, except (obviously) this time we are seeing women rather than men.

One other theme is there which I haven't worked out yet.
What was the significance of the birthday cake? I haven't quite grasped that one.


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## ravenus (Aug 10, 2006)

Paradox 99 said:
			
		

> What was the significance of the birthday cake? I haven't quite grasped that one.


As I recall it's on her daughter's birthday that the terrible accident at the start of the movie occurs.


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