The New Weird

If I were to divide up in my mind the biggest possibilities of what I believe might happen to the world in the future (after some sort of ‘collapse’), Borne’s leftover biotech of genetically altered animals might be pretty close to one of the possibilities. At least in that it’s a world where humans continued to develop technology and then implement it in places that might not be entirely smart or thought through. Messing with things at a scientific level and changing what comes naturally can make really useful things or unintentional monsters, it’s a dicey game. I enjoyed reading through Rachel and Borne’s relationship as she grew more and more attached to him. Borne sees things in a different way than Rachel (like the time he took three skeletons and hung them up because he ‘thought they would look nice in here’) and over time she grows protective and fond of him.

One characteristic that I enjoyed in this is the theme of a life that may not be human. What used to be one of my favorite shows from 2008 is the Knight Rider remake (don’t hate me) where KIT is a mustang and his driver is the son of David Hasselhoff’s Michael Knight. In one of the few episodes released before the show was cancelled, KIT has been hacked and his memories of Michael and Sarah and everyone else in Knight Industries who works with him might disappear. KITT seems upset by this, which is hard for Mike and Sarah to grasp because KITT is artificial Intelligence and doesn’t have feelings. It puts to question whether AI is manifesting what it knows of human emotion or if it is intelligent enough to create its own conscience. This theme of a life that isn’t human is seen in Borne as Rachel watches him learn and grow and develop, along with all of the other biotech in Borne.

In the future, I see technology in horror continuing to be a developing trope as it is such a big part of our world today.