The Alien is Us

[krpalmer]

Of late, I've been reflecting a bit on something between a common complaint and a running gag in commentary on science fiction, "aliens" (if usually from works already being sniffed at as "not deep enough") that get dismissed as "just people in funny makeup/suits." Going deeper still than even "bilateral symmetry" seeming a little suspicious at times, it does seem easy enough to think "just put more thought into really alien aliens, ones who don't think like us"... the problem is just that you then have to wrack your merely human mind to "think of something you can't think of." The danger beyond that might be "alien incomprehensibility" getting reduced to an easy excuse for them being "threatening."

Falling back from that to the easy pokes at "aliens" winding up "all of one type," I did wonder a bit about whether even those "warriors" or "merchants" or "primitives" could have some reflection on the different facets of humanity itself. At times, I've wondered if, in focusing on the "external reality" of stories, the careful explanation of motivations and backstory, we've begun to miss or even dismiss "symbolic interpretations." I've seen stories where even incomprehensible alien artifacts could be interpreted as pessimistic jibes at the hubris of grasping everything, even as actual scientists have wondered out loud about trying to build "universal languages" starting from basic scientific and mathematical statements.

When it comes to "threatening" aliens, though, I'm a little afraid it did hit me that "somebody shows up wanting what we have; they don't bother to listen to us" just might have some relevance to when the Europeans arrived in the Americas. As I said, though, you can't just make a smug statement and stop trying to think.

Comments

[incisivis.livejournal.com]

I had the natural distaste for simplified alien races before, but I've mellowed slightly in the belief that it is very difficult to get across the complexities of a culture within the confines of one small story.

The idea of aliens serving the purpose of relfecting humanity, rather than simply being characters in their own right, is also something I considered.

Of course, one of the many things I love about the Zentradi is that the simplicity of their race is a plot point, and treated as a burden rather than a natural state of affairs.

[krpalmer]

I suppose I was thinking a little that "world-building," as good a thing as it is, always has to face the long-developed complexities of our own world. That's a valid and interesting point about the Zentradi anyway, although I have to admit I might have been thinking "so how do they 'reflect us?'" as I was getting my thoughts in order...

I do appreciate getting a comment here, but I have to apologise for not responding to it sooner. While I'm posting through this site now, I'm logging into Livejournal more often to read my friends list there... (It's no doubt just a matter of adjusting my settings here to get email notification.)

[incisivis.livejournal.com]

Don't fret about not replying: it's totally okay.

World-building is a tough thing to do, because you have to make it *seem* real, but it's impossible to capture all the complexities of the real world, because you have to tell the story first, not slow down and explain everything (well, good writers usually don't). That's not to give monocultural aliens a free pass...I think most writers could at least *try* a little harder to produce well-rounded species and characters without having to embody all the geographic and cultural complexities of our real world.

My personal way, if I were ever to write aliens (I'm working on that, actually) would be to try to write them as characters first, and have any philosophical representation come about by unconscious accident. However, that opens another can of worms...how do we make characters seem "not human" while giving them full personalities and facets?

As for the Zentradi, it seems that at one point, namely the tail end of SDFM, the writers were going for the idea that the humans and Zentradi may not be so different after all, in their desire towards war. However, other productions seem to throw the idea by the wayside, coming up with a more cynical interpretation of the Zentradi at times, or presenting both races as equally benign. It might have been more interesting if they kept that parallelism, though it would also cause some issues of its own with the series' themes.