Bloodchild by Octavia Butler

1) What is your reaction to the text you just read?

A little bit intrigued, a little bit disgusted. It takes a while to get a good image of the Tlic, and of the situation as a whole. They're giant parasitic worms- that's gross. But the world and the relationship built around the Tlic and the humans is so unique from the other stories I've read and watched.


2) What connections did you make to the story? Discuss the story with which you were able to connect.

There's a lot to compare between Bloodchild and other alien stories in which the alien race uses humans to birth their young. Most notably the Xenomorphs from Alien. I don't think I've ever heard a story about a compromise between the aliens and humans, and it's definitely an interesting angle to work with. It's mentioned that early on during this relationship, the Tlic had treated the humans like cattle, but they eventually had the sense to treat the humans with a little more dignity.


3) What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

I've been watching Love, Death, and Robots on repeat since Netflix released it. This story would be awkward, cumbersome, and probably with poor reception if made into a live action film of any kind, but an animated short would bring it to life. Love, Death, and Robots showed that animation can be gritty and pretty, and can push horror and scifi like no other medium can.

The Heroic Journey

Despite my love for fantasy, I've never found The Lord of the Rings series attractive, and I couldn't ever explain why.  It was only after watching the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring that I realized it had to be the lack of women.  I hadn't ever noticed that the stories featured an all-male cast, but it didn't have a character that drew my attention; Legolas wasn't quite enough.  Investing myself in reading The Hobbit was a little difficult for me, but I did enjoy the style of writing- a mimic of oral storytelling rather than feeling 'written.'

The formulaic and predictable nature of classic fantasy is definitely present in The Hobbit, and probably every fantasy story I've ever read, watched, or played before. You even expect it in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign: how do you get this mix of adventurers to cross the threshold and leave this tavern together?

Witches

For this week I read up to issue 12 of Redlands. I've been meaning to read it for a while now, and I'm glad I finally did. I like the characters in this story, because they don't fall into the typical witch archetypes, or at least not from what I can tell. It's possible that it may be in part due to how the trio of witches is split up for the bulk of the story, or that one of them is controlled by another character altogether. It's hard to tell in the amount of content released so far.

Redlands really gives all of the supernatural characters an element of realism, or maybe humanity. They're not flashy, and they're calculated. Even before they begin to delve into their backstories, they feel their age. These are characters that have a history that has molded them. From other works that I know of, writers seem to rely on the stereotype of the witch, for one output or another. They're creepy, and dark, and use magic- is there usually much more to them? I can't recall any instances where I've read or seen a witch's backstory explained. This depth of the witch characters works perfectly with the current cultural climate of women with power, which is even the driving force of the story. The witch is a product of her era, and the modern witches of Redlands really show this.