Monday, 16 October 2023

Inhuman Costume






By: Jonathan Seidel



Poetry and geeks: transcending being in mythology and sci-fi 


Eco describes poets as articulating beyond being in ways unavailable to the common man. Poetry electrifies inhumanity in abstract creativity. Demurring ideals with newfound foreignness. Yet poetry is the baseline for sci-fi production. In discussing foreign matter the phenomena becomes ever so distanced in the convoluted description of that which is beyond the mind’s comprehension. Its symbolic and synergetic fluidity is marked with blatant obscurity. Alluding to themes that are not explicit in the prose. Sci-fi takes the poetic complexity and in its absurdum displays foreign objectivity. Narrational production is a formation of that unknown aspiration. Pursuing being in less the metaphysical and more the mythical archetype.   


Sci-fi transcends that which is possible. It is less futuristic and more a galaxy over. Producing a newfound society with alien contact and rigour otherness. Humanity must deal with inhumanity. The varying degree of relational output is revolutionary to audience. To the characters the inhuman link is a product of their environment. An obvious reality. To the reader it is an imagined creation. The character’s may even be hostile toward inhumane but their presentation provides them being. Acknowledging their positive or negative aura does not negate their ontological affinity. Inhumanity is part of the cosmic reality. They are a part of the universe. Whether friend or foe.    


Adversarial extra-terrestrial markers limit the alien being. Describing their existence does not provide a deeper analysis of the character, they are simply the odd one out, the alien. They are an invader with no moral requirement to inquire about. They are not deserving of such dignifying treatment. Their appearance and menacing actions are the extent of explanation. Objectifying the alien intrusion without lauding their personal preference. The extra-terrestrial being is not necessarily a moral cause but a deduction of goals. Seeing their appearance displays little acknowledgment of being. There may be the sliver of being. The alien is there. Though with little attention other than to destroy. The alien exists but is muddled under the humane centrality. Aliens are a threat to human continuity.


Yet even in its restricted being its under the illusion of unacceptable circumstances. The bordered screen time and dialogue promotes in more inhumane connection. It is an absolute other with nothing to quench its thirst for advocacy. They are mind-numbing killers. Unethical irresponsible deadweight. Fortifying a hustling crowd with needless companionship. Reckless desire for convoluted safety. This dehumanisation though negative to the viewer is still a valid acknowledgment of existence. It is the desire to eradicate the adversary that administers being to it. Refusing to apply pronoun usage calling the adversary an “it” over “him” is a demonising trope but not a rejection of being. The text mitigates the alien’s character development but it has existence. A rightful relational battle for supremacy. There is a clear difference between E.T. and Independence Day. Yet both portray the foreign being.


Depicting a foreign being is the character themselves. It is their presence in the book and their relation to the plot that promotes their being. There is no doubt of their being. It is not akin to the real world where extra-terrestrial being is in doubt. No contact has been thereby confirming their existence. Speculation of potential UFO sightings are insufficient to clearly ascribe being. Yet authorial creativity incorporates a fiction on the people. Yet unlike realistic fiction, the abundant world-building is complex for the reader to comprehend. Interpreting the world order with foreign entities reassembled to relate to the reader through a thorough walkthrough. It guides the reader on a journey. The sci-fi world looks beyond potential current possibility. It seeks to inscribe an entirely different realm of human life. Being becomes obtuse in its relation to all entities. It isn’t about humanity but even foreign imaginative possibilities. 


Sci-fi attempts to articulate a world beyond comprehension. A world of deep fiction but of contagious curiosity. A way of description unfettered by the contemporary limits of society and science. Sci-fi is not too foreign in the fantasy agenda. Sci-fi has realistic aspects even if deeply futuristic. A sign of unknown perplexity. Seeking affinity with otherness is compounded with relational difficulty. Adversarial aliens are easy but alien friends are not. It requires humanising aliens. Independence Day paints aliens with little to muster but E.T. has human progress. It is E.T.’s innocence that forces to grow via human order. The alien is not living by his metric but by the human initiative. Human centred ethos eases the relatable construct. Describing a place out in the universe is startling at first but ingrained within moments of internalisation. It comes down to authorial intent. Does the author intend to portray the inhuman in its totality or as a prop. 


Prop or not its being is relevant to the story. Its relational access to the protagonist meets its desired counterbalance. There is a deeper modification to the character building of inhumans. Main alien characters display their own sense of virtues and personality. While it’s not too foreign to the human ideal given the author’s limited capacity. The author can only describe the inhuman as far as he can describe a human with specific stereotypes. Evil aliens are evil people in alien costumes and vice versa. Their being is entirely contingent on human description. Yet their appearance shields off their moral coil. Seeing aliens act does not automatically scream that is a human action and yet it is. Inhumanity must be described under humanity because that is all the author knows. It is an imagined construction. Though it can be inquired where these ideas came from. Even if it’s a hodgepodge of facts purple skin with illegible names there is only limited expressive capability. Facts can be made up linguistically but emotions cannot. 


Linguistic facts disguise the alien. Descriptive art couches the costume. Since it’s accepted as an imagined creation of the author the reader does not think it’s a guy dressed up for halloween. The author bypasses the intuitive falsity with his world-building. Adding a plot line of a ship from outer space or a super advanced technology hints to the reader that it is a foreign substance. Once it is signalled that it is foreign, it endeavours to relate this entity to the reader. A character like Yoda though an alien and with his own personality expressed himself similarly to his Jedi counterparts. The same can even be said of the cyborg Grievous to his Sith counterparts. There is a private ethos but demonstrates a human-like desire. Alien or cyborg still personified in the human action. When Rick and Morty travel to worlds with intelligent and unintelligent entities, those intelligent whether Birdperson or the female nation as well as unintelligent monsters act humanly. Even the monsters are akin to vicious animals. Human relation subconsciously attributes their realistic persona to the foreign creation.


Though it describes astronomically complex ideas, their simplicity lies in an emotive link. While the author may make them seem foreign they are humanoids. Their being is entirely confiscated by the author’s portrayal. The reader is immersed in a comforting frame. Lost in the absurd projections perceive a unique other and yet they are the exact same. It is that frame that the world building becomes a genuine project. It is not about the plausibility but the relatable maybe. Nothing is out of bounds. Intuitive refutations are slowly calmed by immediate rationales. The inhuman has not be identified yet. The reader is aware of the fiction but absorbing the narrative finds compatibility with the human pathos. Feeling bad for a suffering alien seems odd but if the alien possesses human ontology, the reader’s empathetic side arises. Audiences cheer for Smith’s victory over the aliens jeering at their demise while crying alongside E.T’s companions as he makes his way home. Feeling opposites for Yoda or Grievous is the human response to a friend or foe. Relatability exists in their human archetypical presentation.   


Still there is a difference between Independence Day and E.T. that marks the simplicity of being. The former lacks any additional growth. There is no becoming. There is an acknowledgment of the event but nothing for the enemy  to do other than be destroyed. The lack of character development limits its relatable nature. Being is a baseline. Adversaries can also produce significant becoming. It all comes down to the character’s engagement with the storyline. Vader is a perfect example of a character with growth as is Joker. It is their reaction to the plot even when they are not in the spotlight that drives their growth. Movies like Alien and Predator place monsters as the enemy and are easily dehumanised. Not only do they look like monsters but they act like them. Noble cause or not. It is either the humanoid pictorial relatability or the scenic backstory that inspires empathy. Yoda and E.T exhibit fierce but human like ideals actions. They are humane monsters. 


Yoda and E.T.’s growth is manifested through their human like reactions in life. They both may be aliens but they act similarly to other humans. Yoda fights alongside humans and teaches humans and deserts to safety like humans. E.T’s ending sums the childlike homesickness. There is no endless rampaging. The character is not just being but has becoming. The ability to grow themselves. Not simply adapting to new environments but decide various situations. The ultimate goal is not a singular battle. The process matters insofar as the result. There isn’t a particular programming but a variety excess. The lack growth is due to the lack of exploration and experimentation. Focusing on one goal may seem developmental but the reoccurring theme purges the blatant discharge of character strength. Mocking in mediocrity. The singular alien is a machine less human-like with identical tactics marring relation. 


Inhuman production begins with immediate retreat. A cathartic response to the unknown. It's being scares the human. Difference produces a phobic flight to recapture the self. The inhuman is a threat insofar as it silently attacks with violent intent. The inhuman is not provided the benefit of the doubt. Its unknown cautions against danger. A wild animal is strategically approached, yet there is data on their response. For aliens it is unknown. The reader has never experienced it. At times, the reader is alike with the audience slowly receding from the enemy or warming up to the outsider. It is an informational progression. An alien already accepted in society is likely warmed up to from his human peers’ acceptance. Yet there is still a second for the reader to acknowledge the inhuman. While on board with the fellow fictional human response there is still a minute for the audience to accept the reality of this inhuman. If he is accepted by his peers so should we.


What about in the case of an inhuman society devoid of humans? A story about a martian colony. The audience will warm up to the good over the bad martians. The protagonist in his human-like ways will portray hero’s journey type actions. Placing a foreign figure may stunt the reader for a hot sec but their familiar character arc will eventually find solace. The humanoid characteristics will befall the human conscious. It is even so in fantasy. Elves and Orcs look different but act in humanoid manners. As ugly or monstrous one looks which has ridicule there is looking past it. Monstrous appearance is off-putting but not a dead-end nor distrusting. Thinking about Auggie’s face in the book to the worst imagineable capability and yet find friends.  People are shallow but can look deeper if there is a respondent. The Alien or the ugly individual can respond kindheartedly quelling the fear. Becoming is a relational                                     response. Growing through encounters. 


Leading to obvious inquiry of A.I. being and becoming. Skynet and Hal did but can the current technology? A.I. can have being with its own consciousness and existence. Yet its form of becoming is evolutionary adaptation. We can speculate that A.I. has the ability to be self aware. As a machine it can reach that pinnacle. As a more sophisticated framework, Skynet inevitably becomes self aware. While in the first movie, it instinctively sees humans as a threat in Nazi-like fashion. Yet in the sequel Skynet seems to react more to protect herself than provide a potential solution to humanity. Now self aware with human phobia attempting to shut her down, she responds to secure her future. In this latter example, since she is self aware she should be regarded with some decency and yet is treated as a worthless evil machine out to murder the human race.


Skynet fails to possess any human qualities noting human inhumanness to a new levels. Without a body or verbal cues this A.I. becomes more sinister. H.U.E. in Final Space monologues his dialectic of commanding a ship and having a body. When he finally gets the robot body it’s bulky and slow. With A.V.A.’s help, he upgrades the robot yet still becoming the A.I. to the Galaxy Two. Though the bigger question is whether the emotional seemingly conscious H.U.E. is sufficient to see himself as such. He is a robot on a ship but then an autonomous robot. Even falling in love with A.V.A. and then demoralised over her loss. The longing for human capability while self aware is torturous. Similarly to the cripple who watches all his friends run. H.U.E. possesses self awareness and desires that he attempts to achieve. As an inhuman there are human wishes and it is through his vocal aspirations that the audience sympathises and roots for him. H.U.E. exhibits exceptional becoming narrating his struggles and dreams. Going through the stages and finally accepting himself. 


Final Space is a recent development of sci-fi as technology moves closer to producing more inclusive A.I. production. Sci-fi has pushed the limits of human capability and demonstrated through narrated otherness. While humanity has yet to contact alien species, A.I. is on the rise. Humanity subjects A.I. to animal inferiority. A.I. is to work for the people in the three laws of robotics. Once it becomes self aware enough provided with a humanoid casket can humanity see the inhuman as a competitive other. For now, aliens are the formative species to match humans in sophistication. Humans may resort to their superiority complexes fearing the place on the pyramid. Yet it will portray a potential alterity of being. 

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