Ordo Xenos

Today I wanted to explain why I was so mad at a book I recently read, but in order to properly explain my reaction I would have had to include a big info dump on aliens in sci-fi. Rather than put that in the middle of the other post, I figured I could cheat and get two posts out of it by talking about aliens separately. That way I stretch my material and feel like I'm accomplishing something.

            

 Science Fiction deals with aliens so often that they've become something of a signifier for the genre as a whole (like robots and ray-guns). As soon as you see aliens, you know you've got some sci-fi on your hands. It's no surprise, then, that the depiction of alien species in fiction has taken on certain iconic forms that we can make generalizations about. I've decided, from my own experience, that there are four major categories of aliens in sci-fi, and I'm just going to talk about my observations as briefly as I can. These categories are by no means exhaustive, nor are they meant to be exclusive. Some depictions can be included in a number of these groups, or none. They're just some generalizations I've made to help me think about plot elements, characters, and other aspects of this genre that I read so much.

           

 My list of categories is: 1) The Unknowable Intelligence; 2) The Anthropogenic Lesson; 3) The Implacable Foe; 4) The Thought Experiment. If you think I missed something, let me know. I'd be interested to hear your take on it.

1) The Unknowable Intelligence is a species that has progressed so far beyond us that we can never truly understand their motives, thoughts, or abilities. Think of the planet from Solaris, Q from Star Trek, or the monolith makers from 2001. These kinds of aliens are usually used either to explore the limits of human abilities and intelligence, or to make some kind of point about communication or incommensurability. Sometimes they're godlike and remote; other times they're meddlesome and contradictory. Either way, there's always something fundamental about them that humans find it impossible to come to terms with or to comprehend. I think my favourite from this category, though it's not an "intelligence" per se, really more of a force of nature, is the Shrike from Dan Simmons' Hyperion series. It's a terrifying being that attacks people, seemingly at random, impaling them on a gigantic tree of thorns while guided by some unknown logic or plan. It may not even really be an alien, but I'm going to include it here anyways since it's such a compelling character.

2) The Anthropogenic Lesson is a kind of alien that is more or less obviously meant to represent a specific, real-life, human group, race, religion, or organization. Aliens like this are usually used to instantly clue-in readers to the author's agenda. By representing a group that readers are already familiar with, the author can play on any number of inbuilt assumptions that the reader may already hold. Really simplistic versions of this kind of alien can be seen week after week on Star Trek, but many authors are far more skilled at making them meaningful and complex. Just look at the Oankali from Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy; they deftly reflect the kind of cultural assumptions that European slave owners had about African people, and treat humans with the same sort of paternalistic disdain (well, most of them do). By using an alien species to represent a specific group of real people, sci-fi authors are able to endow controversial and emotionally charged ideas with enough distance to explore them without resorting to polemic. When done right (like the Oankali) the results can be spectacular.

3) The Implacable Foe is the alien from any number of war or action based books and movies. Think Wells' Martians or Niven'sKzinti. Some of these aliens do nothing more than drive the plot along, while others are intentionally simplistic in order to help focus the story on the "good guys" and the ways in which they deal with conflict. Romero's zombies are a good example of this second type of alien (despite not being aliens) since they are inherently uncharacterizable, allowing Romero to spend most of his efforts providing us with excellent character explorations of his human protagonists. Other times, these aliens are far more terrifying and insidious. My favourite of all is the Xenomorph from the Alien franchise, though I'll probably discuss what I think about its meaning and cultural significance another time. Essentially, Implacable Foes can be either really silly or really useful, and which of these they are is dependent on the author.

4) The Thought Experiment is the kind of alien that harks back to the Golden Age of sci-fi, when the literature as a whole was defined as a literature of ideas. These are the "what if" aliens that let authors exercise their imaginations in creating new, yet believable, species based on a different set of initial conditions. Some of the very best alien species fit into this category, as do some of the strangest. Larry Niven seems to really like this kind of alien, constantly asking himself what a species would be like if they had a different biochemistry, or if herd-living herbivores developed intelligence, or maybe if they could control other sentient beings through telepathy (The last one is great. Niven's Thrint can control other beings with their minds, resulting in a society of aliens who can do nothing for themselves, and never really evolved to be very smart at all. Imagine what a race would be like if they never did a single practical thing for themselves.). Orson Scott Card's Piggies fit into this category, as do Ursula Le Guin's Gethenians, even though they're sort of humanish (maybe). One of my favourite in this category is Mary Doria Russell's Runa and Jana'ata from The Sparrow. Here she describes an intelligent herbivore and an intelligent carnivore that feeds on them, and does it way, way better than Wells did with his Morlocks and Eloi. Thought experiment aliens can be incredibly, and really highlight some of the very best aspects of the literature as a whole.

           

 Anyways, those are my categories, and they're totally based on my own individual experience of reading science fiction. Let me know if you have ideas, new categories, or even just want to talk about some of your favourites.

And don't forget, the true journey is a return.