Well, you could argue one stems from the other. Which is which would depend on your point of view.
The level of focus on the virtues of our culture and the tendency to depict all others as possessed with some obsessive vice could be looked at either way. For instance, what logic is for the Vulcans, what wrath is for the Klingons, what gluttony for the Gamorillian Guards in Star Wars, all of these things are indicators of how authors are unable, for whatever reason, to envision cultural conditions besides and beyond our own. The theme of distopias as envisioned in other races is certainly prevalent in Science Fiction. But what really concerns me is how authors are unable to see members of other races as individuals, and how they must stress these 'alien' qualities to the point where they rely upon them as the essence of the characters. There are few heroes in SF novels who are not identifably human, despite whatever alien race they are supposed to belong to - isn't this supposed to be escapism at some level, not just a restating of old stories in new settings? The perfect science fiction novel, for me, would probably be about something so bizarre and removed from the human experience no one would really be able to understand most of what is happening. Life on another planet, beings made of ether, machine life, I find it hard to see any of these things in tranditional contexts and would not want them presented to me that way. I look at it as xenophobia. I think authors have the vision to 'see' other forms of life, they are just too hung up on their own to care and write an interesting story about it and so they heap all these qualities and conditions - culture, for instance, which is distinctly a human experience - upon what's out there and that's that. M -----Original Message----- From: Ben Doom [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 2:35 PM To: CF-Community Subject: RE: The Grand List of Overused Scie nce Fiction Clich�s Xenophobic or simply humanocentric? -- Ben Doom Programmer & General Lackey Moonbow Software, Inc : -----Original Message----- : From: Haggerty, Mike [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] : Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 2:27 PM : To: CF-Community : Subject: RE: The Grand List of Overused Scie nce Fiction Clich�s : : : Re: Alien Races being uniform : : 1) Aren't the members of the human race often depicted as being : the same way? For instance, encounters are usually made by way of : a vessel, which is somewhat compartmentalized, role-based, and : everyone is in a uniform. The exceptions are the wayfarers, the : people who are in transit or who the members of the vessel come across. : : 2) The other side of this is that aliens are not depicted in any : meaningful way. Star Wars movies, for instance, show us lots of : aliens without ever telling us much about them. Greedo was a cool : dude, but we are never told much about him or his people. : : None of this really bother me, but it is does seem a little : xenophobic when you think about it. : : M : : -----Original Message----- : From: Raymond Camden [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] : Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 2:16 PM : To: CF-Community : Subject: RE: The Grand List of Overused Scie nce Fiction Clich�s : : : One thing I don't agree with is the mark against alien cultures : that have little variety. Maybe I'm being picky, but I see : nothing wrong with an alien society that is _very_ uniform. As : far as we know, our race (and it's wide variety of people) is : rare in the universe. That being said though, it is kind of silly : when _every_ alien race is depicted like that. : : -rc : : : ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Your ad could be here. Monies from ads go to support these lists and provide more resources for the community. http://www.fusionauthority.com/ads.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
