Hodgepodge: Anthropology, Alice, Aliens Called Buggers, Beauty and the Beast…and Twilight Zone
Posted by: jessica, in UncategorizedThis story was so fascinating to me! First of all, it seemed that Bishop was truly an anthropologist. His friend Morley sent him to learn as much as possible about the Kimonians and to report back as truthfully as possible. He was educated and incredibly smart (on Earth’s standards at least) and it seemed that he was fully prepared to report back. However, as the situation pans out Bishop is no more prepared than anyone else because of some flaw in human wiring. To be honest, I felt that the moral of this story (to follow the train of thought from the Ugly Duchess from Alice) is to be more humble and to view life as a continuing education.
Speaking of Alice, I completely freaked out when the story made an Alice reference!! The “live-it” is something that could exist within Wonderland (if you were to bring Wonderland to that level of technology…I’m not sure the 19th century Mr. Carroll would want it present within his world). You could argue, however, that the “live-it” is a type of Wonderland…and, therefore, all daydreams are “live-it” experiences. Stepping outside of the context of Alice, the “live-it” reminded me of that old Disney Movie Smart House. Pretty much, the house is an entire “live-it” interface…however, I’m not sure that it has purposes that are solely educational. But, for example, the two children are awoken with huge images of basketball games and concerts or can choose a scene by which to eat. These scenes place them within the action…maybe I’m just being a little nostalgic; I’m not sure.
Anyways, moving on to Buggers. While reading the text, I couldn’t help but continue comparing the Kimonians to the Buggers from the Ender’s Game series. I know I’ve mentioned the Bugger’s before…but they are also telepathic. When they first come in contact with the human child Ender, he is floored. I imagine that I would be as well…He only speaks out loud to them accidentally because he is instructed that it is wasteful and because he can here them speaking within his own mind. To me the one-sided telepathy is even more striking…I personally like to think that my thoughts are 100% private unless I choose to voice them. If I found myself in this situation, I would probably end up like Mel Gibson in Signs….sitting on the couch wearing some form of aluminum foil helmet!
The speaking cabinet is another aspect of the story that I’d like to discuss. Honestly, it reminded me of Beauty and the Beast (yet another Disney movie). Being able to converse with some form other than a human is a concept far beyond my realm of thinking! I have to say that I am glad that the only things I speak to are humans…I think I would feel as though everything around me was a spy. My words would definitely become few and far between if I was in that situation. However, I have to say that me saying this in a blog is incredibly ironic. BUT I think that while blogging, the only beings that read my blog are human…so I suppose it’s all the same.
Last but not least, I did have one other sinking feeling while reading the story. I was very afraid that it would end like an episode of Twilight Zone called “To Serve Man.” In short, aliens land on Earth and begin shipping humans away to their planet. Once people leave, they are never heard of again. The aliens leave a book behind…the title is deciphered to mean “to serve man” (the rest of the language is to complex and is taking a lot of time to decode). Eventually, man figures out that the use of the word “serve” does not mean “to be a servant to” rather, it means “to prepare and eat” man. I have to say that I was very happy that the men on Kimon were not eaten…even if they were used as playthings. The ending is much more hopeful, even if Bishop is stuck in a place where he can never truly be free again.
Haha…so if it wasn’t clear from all of the random connections I made, I LOVED this story. It was really jarring for me and is making me question what exactly my goals are before taking action on them. However, I believe that thoroughly thinking over your goals and actions is absolutely a good thing. In addition, I am glad to have realized (once again) that life should always be a continuing education. And, personally, I feel that everyone can always use a little more humility in their life.
Wow, this was a lot longer than I expected…but I suppose that’s a good thing. I think I’ve had enough for one night.
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April 1st, 2008 at 5:07 am
I also loved the story. The connection I make to technology is that Kimon is superior to Earth and people from Earth are constantly trying to get “clues” but the letters can only reveal the “facts.” What is missing in the whole process and the reason the Earthlings can’t understand Kimon is that there a gap in communication. Because the letters home don’t describe the evolution of knowledge that people are gaining by being exposed to the higher culture, no one can learn from it unless they are there. This connects to the issues of technology and the ability to record our own learning processes, for example, in our blogs.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:23 am
That was a great read. I like the references to Disney movies you made. I, too, watched Smart House and can agree that the “live-it” experience may have influenced the movie-makers or atleast the connection you made was valid. When you made the connection with Beauty and the Beast, I pictured us all talking to tea cups and clocks, and although no candlestick will ever read your blog, there are inanimate objects that surely read (or atleast scan through) your blogs. I remember one of my teachers even talking about a blog he wrote in which he made a reference to Britney Spears as an example to explain something about programming and he got an email with a link to all the latest Britney Spears info. Although that doesn’t prove that anything is “reading” and understanding your blogs, but hey, maybe one day when artificial intelligence is more complex, they will be sending us emails that connect Britney Spears to programming because they actually understood the blog, rather than just finding a key word and sending automated links to bloggers.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Jessica you are the one person that I could depend on to see the Alice in Wonderland connection as well as Beauty and Buggers! haha Priceless, and it makes me feel a bit dumbed down too because I know exactly what you know and I didn’t put them all together as you did. But bravo and thank you! If you and I were to play the characters in the story, you would be Bishop because he figures things out and I’d be one of the ’smart’ humans that can’t put their brains to any productive use. Yikes!
I’ll be stuck as a preschooler forever on Kimon! On the reference to Alice, I also see the cheshire cat mirrored in the Kimonians. That cat is always there to mock/laugh at Alice when she is confused or troubled and now every time the Kimonians have laughed at the humans I think of that mischievous cat! It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the movie so my perception of that darned cat may be off…but that is what has stuck in my memory so… Have you ever noticed that aliens always have the ability of telekinesis? Obviously humans really want that ability! Thanks for being a genius!!
October 30th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Hi just thought i will let you know that i also had a problem with this blog coming up frozen also. Might be monkeys in the page.