Hamlet (1.5.167-8)

We take comfort in the familiar. It’s obvious to see it exaggerated in the extremes of media. All films are populated with characters who are like us in many respects: they look like us, they have motives and feelings and personalities like us and we can relate to them. On the other hand it is a tool for the Horror and sci-fi genres to show us creatures that are similar but not quite like us. They may be Not Quite human and that can inspire fear as used in horror films. They may be different but close enough that we can still relate to them on an emotional level as tends to be used in sci-fi. To be more specific we have projected our physiology onto aliens. They’re typically shown as bipedal humanoids with a head, torso, arms, and legs as we have. Often they have some level of intelligence, a developed and distinct culture, and motives or desires that would be familiar to human viewers. Take Star Trek for example: the green-blooded Vulcans are logical and aloof, the Klingons with their distinct forehead ridges are honor bound warriors, The Ferengi are short in stature with large ears and prize monetary success above all. They all are foundations for interesting characters with their own distinct personalities, whether or not they align with their cultures and those repercussions, etc.,etc.,. It is good for character driven stories, however it isn’t particularly likely as these fictional aliens are bound within our own likeness and ability to portray as much. In media it is difficult to find a science fiction film that manages to break away from these molds. There are a few but one in particular I would like to draw attention to is a film called Annihilation.

  In this film, the characters have not names, but positions: The Psychologist, The Physicist, The Biologist. The audience is already denied the chance to project upon these characters. We don’t get much in the way of background, only snippets of dialogue here and there that tell us about them. More importantly, the environment of this film takes this defamiliarization to a new level. Without going to in depth, the characters enter an area that seems to be isolated by a shimmering dome. Once inside, we see plants that have several different species all growing from one stem, an alligator that has mutated to have rows and rows and rows of shark teeth and an internal organ system that is also incongruent. The most disturbing is a bear like creature that is able to mimic the cries of people, specifically a member of the mission who was implied to have been killed by it. Throughout these interactions, the characters deal with the conflict of the subverted normalities. [SPOILER] At the climax, the protagonist finds the extraterrestrial speaking through the body of one of the former team members before it disintegrates. The protag is then confronted with the entity in its raw form. There is no conversations, no fight, just an undulating fractal and the protag. There is no discernible motive: not to destroy, not to conquer, not to learn or to just have a good time. Once the film is over the viewer is left unsettled. Not frightened per se, but feeling as though what they know [or think they know] has been robbed. 

It is easy to look around on Earth and assume that therefore everything else in the universe operates the same way, however that is a fools errand. There are planets where it rains diamonds, nebulas that taste of raspberry rum, worlds that we have not touched and worlds that we cannot even conceive of.