Diverse Position Sci-Fi

There's a very colonialist theme in Dawn by Octavia Butler, and it's not subtle. The main protagonist is a black woman, whose family was lost years and years before the start of the book. She was kidnapped, but her captors claim they saved her. When the story starts out, she's imprisoned, isolated, confused, and she doesn't know why, or for how long. Kept alone until she's ready to face the alien race that took her away from Earth. The reason for all this? Integration. Much like Bloodchild, the extraterrestrial creatures use the unfortunate circumstances of the humans to their advantage, and while it may not be moral, or welcomed, the result seems to be in the best interest of both races.

There seems to be a trend of science fiction stories that take modern problems and expand them into the larger universe. Of course, any genre does this, but transcending the boundary of reality and universe gives the opportunity to present the problem in a new context. Sometimes, all an audience needs is a new viewpoint to understand the issue at hand. Sometimes.

Cyberpunk and Steampunk

Snow Crash features an alternate reality fueled by anarcho capitalism in which corporations run the world and shape culture. Technology plays a significant role in this futuristic setting, and brings along with it a virtual reality world used both as a tool and an escape from a grim reality, treated as two individual universes. Technology is so ingrained with the real world, viruses can be introduced as drugs, although unheard of before the events of the story. With the advancements we've had since the writing of Snow Crash, we are inching closer to a similar reality. VR is becoming more advanced and commonplace, and with the sophistication of new technology comes the adaptation of coders and hackers.

The Fiction of Ideas

The Drowned Giant takes an interesting look at how the human populace treats subjects outside of our common knowledge. Fear or panic are the probable fist reactions, but in this story the otherworldly creature is as dead as can be, and clearly no threat. Of course there are the few like the narrator who have a natural curiosity, and the scientists who show up and do some amount of studying the giant before leaving. But the rest, the various townsfolk, are left to their own devices, and have no care in the world about who this giant is, where he came from, or how he came to drown. Or even what this means for the world.

I've never seen a beached whale, but I can imagine they would have been treated pretty poorly too in the 60's. The deceased giant is handled with no humanity; the people climb him, carve him, burn him, and hack him to pieces, with no regard that this phenomenal, foreign thing on the beach was once living and breathing just as they are. Honor of the deceased is relative. The death of one's mother has a different weight than a ex-coworker's aunt. The giant is so far removed from the people that he is not treated with the same respect as any dead human is expected to receive.

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.