Posts

Majoritarian culture

-
Majoritarian culture in science fiction takes a lot of world building and development to completely immerse the reader into the world. Bloodchild is about a human population that is immersed into this very alien yet somewhat recognizable in life on earth. Reading it, I was very uncomfortable which I assume is what Octavia intended. She makes it so unlike some scifi novels, the humans are not this holy grail that is come to save this dying planet. The aliens are just using them for gain against their will. Humans are depicted as such high and mighty people in some novels (possibly written by white men), so it’s interesting that a novel about invading an alien planet written by a poc woman would be a complete turn-around. It’s like the settlers have already gotten used to having this life as hosts for these aliens, which I believe minorities can relate to as well. It's sad since that's how some people's norms were growing up, but interesting that it is port
Post a Comment
Read more

Space Opera

-
Space Opera             For this week, I read Arthur C. Clarke’s The Star . It’s a story about a priest going on a space journey and discovering something that disproves and questions his faith completely. This story was written in 1959, so space travel was conceived, but the story describes us in the far future where we can travel lightyears and find old planets. Ironic, how you’d think back then we would be able to do that now in 2019.             The real irony of this story, is that the life on the planet they found ended then causing a supernova. This supernova was what the priest discovered to be the star of David when Jesus was born, thus starting a whole life of religious beliefs. The death of a human-like planet was the reason for so much happiness on Earth, and finally putting 2 and 2 together would be hard to handle, especially for a follower of Jesus.
1 comment
Read more

Assessment

-
1. What is your reaction to the text you just read? Bloodchild written by Octavia Butler, Gan is only a child so he understands and goes with what he's suppose to do in his alien planet. As a reader, we don't know the morals exactly. Is there a human instinct to be sympathetic to other human like Gan was? Or is this him learning that it takes effort and hardships and death to survive on this alien planet. I was able to put myself in a perspective as a Terran and have an open mind but it still was a hard read for me personally, less about the graphics and more about understanding. It's understandable that the reaction Gan gave was so severe, but I guess it would be like a girl learning about puberty for the first time or learning about how human births work. It's not so beautiful as people make it to be 2. What connections did you make with this story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you are able to connect? Gan is visibly grossed out by what he saw and
Post a Comment
Read more

Ocean at the End of the Lane Thoughts

-
The Ocean at the End of the Lane’s myth wasn’t based on something which I found very interesting while reading it. I tend to subconsciously think that there has to be a deeper meaning to “weird” novels and movies, as in is it based on folklore? Is it based on the bible?             Ocean at the End of the Lane doesn’t tell what Lottie and her family are, but is hinted that they are god-like or demigods that just so happened to get a normal boy involved in their craziness. I enjoy that they wiped the narrator’s memories because I feel like holding onto those memories he had, wouldn’t end the story right. I feel like since Lottie and her family are god-like, they have to keep themselves hidden, but it does seem that there is a weirdness to them from other people. Almost like a myth. From their perspective, they just want things to go the right way and to have balance.
Post a Comment
Read more