In addition to the many questions already raised in this thread, I have two additional points that I'm confused about:
Wikipedia had identified the "worm" as being "a live roundworm harvested from larvae", which was edited in January 2015 to read "a larva that presumably is infected with a roundworm":
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Upstream_Color&diff=643114279&oldid=638859842.
In either case, we see Kris infected with a single larva. But when she is waking on her bed we see at least five separate roundworms invading her: her right leg, chest, left leg, right arm, and left arm. It could be argued that these additional worms are hallucinations in her confused waking state; or that the original larva is not a roundworm larva, but as suggested by the January edit is itself infected with not one roundworm but multiple roundworms. We see something microscopically generating, but I think you get only one adult form from a single larva. Or perhaps this is a single "magic" worm that can appear in different places nearly simultaneously. Kris becomes aware of the worm in her right arm, and then immediately turns her head to see the worm in her left arm. She then tries to cut out only the one inside her left leg.
If there are in fact multiple worms in her body, and only one is removed by the Sampler for transfer to the pig, then the rest will still be inside Kris, unless he is able to find and remove them all. I think this is not an unimportant question, because Carruth is so intently specific about showing us these five separate areas of Kris's body, with one worm in each.
I also wonder about the diagnosis at the hospital of a removed cancer that has rendered Kris sterile. The doctors would surely be unaware of the effects of this particular "worm", and it seems more likely to me that what they see as a removed cancer is actually an attack by the worm for its own obscure parasitic purposes. Again, this is not trivial; Carruth makes it an important issue.
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surrealsista72
10 years ago
Kaream,
When the Sampler was removing the worm, it came out in one long tapeworm piece. In fact, it was such a long piece that he had to simultaneously inject it in the pig. When he was removing the "tapeworm" the individual worms seemed to loosen up and come out of her body. I assumed it was one long piece that could be seen in multiple parts of her body at once, but now that I think of it that doesn't make much sense. However, that's how it appeared in the film. I came to believe that what the doctors assumed was a removed cancer was actually the removal site of the tapeworm. Since in the real world an eight foot long tapeworm doesn't get removed from a body and the individual have no recollection of it (that often, at least) they had no other assumption to make about the incision in her abdomen. And yes it was an important issue, it had infected her entire body, her mind and her spirit and changed her.
Peace is of pieces of poetry...
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