Something that caught my interest was how the "monster" was portrayed in both films. In The Day the Earth Stood Still the alien is shown to have a caring, humanistic quality about him. He's a nice person who doesn't want to see other people harmed. Klaatu is misunderstood by the others to have negative intentions, which is the very opposite.
In The Thing the monster is portrayed as something that could not have a shred of kindness inside. The only moment that the monster is given a chance to be seen as good was when the scientist approached him trying to make communication. But the monster only threw him to the side and continued his pursuit. We never learn what his intentions were, or what he thinks about the people.
As an audience, we're left to hate The Thing, without a shred of doubt. With Klaatu, we look at our own downfalls and how we may be making a huge mistake when resorting to violence first.
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I think you meant to say that the monster from The Thing could NOT have a shred of goodness inside, but that's just a typo. I thought that your comparison was good and really showed where the directors stood when making the films.
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