In The Fly, a scientist named Seth Brundle is experimenting
with the idea of teleportation. In one of his trials with the device, a fly gets
into one of the pods and after he teleports, his DNA begins to fuse with the
fly’s and turns him into a horrific creature. In Altered States, Edward
Jessup is experimenting on different states of consciousness and his desire to
trigger his own altered states of consciousness almost lead him to disappearing
from the worldly reality all together.
These movies could represent the idea of the fear of change or the process of getting older and the body beginning to break down. The chapter, “Mutation and Metamorphosis” describe body changes illicit “the fear grounded in these changes is within the realm of genetics” (164). Within The Fly, Seth Brundle discusses losing his humanity as he becomes more and more fly-like. At first, he embraced his new abilities as he believed that it made him more desirable. This may be a metaphor for the body changing and growing. When you hit puberty, you generally feel more attractive and have an increased libido that makes you more desirable, as Seth did at the start of his transformation. However, as the body keeps getting older it loses its youthfulness and the feelings of what being human might actually mean to a person (a woman going through menopause often feels more depressed as they realize they are losing what kept them youthful). Therefore, Seth’s change into a fly might represent his fear in aging. Altered States may also demonstrate the same fear. As Edward is getting older, he desperately finds himself wanting to change back time and gains the mentality of beings that were in the past. His idea of altered states may be him wanting to gain his youth back.
However, I believe that Altered States more involves a metaphor for a drug user and the movie serves as a warning for those who have become addicted to drugs. Anna Powell writes that “If the user becomes psychologically or physically reliant on the drug to provide insights, deterritorialisations remain relative, compensated for by the most abject reterritorialisations. Seeking alterity, addicts open themselves up to dissolution from which there may be no return” (65). Edward, who is addicted to experimenting with these altered states keeps putting himself into more extreme states almost to the point of dissolution and loss of touch with the physical world. His transformation into anti-matter could either represent an OD or a situation severely close to an OD. Only when he sees the effects that his addiction has on his wife does he make the choice to stop and try to lead a normal life.
Interestingly, Altered States came out during a time that Republicans were declaring a “war on drugs” with Nixon giving it that name in 1971. This movie may have served as propaganda for the young viewers to not try drugs as they may end up with an addiction like Edward.