How Science Fiction Failed Us – Humanoid Aliens

April 6, 2010 - By Jacinta C. Baca

Just like you, I enjoy Phineas Delgado’s posts about How Science Fiction Failed Us. Last week he asked his Twitter followers to share their own ideas and promised he would write about some of the more interesting submissions. Well, I submitted my suggestion and waited with my fingers crossed… and what was the first reported topic – Individual Flight. Say what? Well, due to the fact that my idea had to have been the most interesting, a well as my lack of patience I felt I needed to use my Nerdy Gurl charms to convince Phineas to let me be a guest writer of his op-ed. Did my charms work…?

That brings us to this week’s How Science Fiction Failed Us – Humanoid Aliens.

You can probably relate… but every time I watch a sci-fi movie with aliens I wonder, “Why do these aliens have two arms, two legs, a set of eyes and a mouth?” Do the writers expect us to believe that on these far away planets, made of different elements, and different atmospheres, these creatures just happened to have bodies, skeletal and respiratory systems this similar to ours?!? Given, I know they have to create characters that real human actors can portray so that the audience can connect emotionally… blah, blah, blah.

I mean, female audiences especially are not going to bond with a neon green blob communicating by telepathy. But we need to boldly go where no Science Fiction CGI technician has gone before – to seek out new life and new civilizations! (Exhale) In other words, we need to take a chance and explore new main characters now that we have great technological advances in CGI and animatronics. We need the Brokeback Mountain of science fiction. This will pave the way for more creative roles for non-human aliens and broaden our imagination regarding the extra-terrestrial life forms that may exist. Can you fathom the possibilities? Nope, we can’t imagine it because once again, past science fiction has held us back!

So why did this happen? How did we allow science fiction creators to pigeon hole us and limit our imaginations?? Well first, I blame Capt. Kirk and his need to procreate with attractive female aliens – huge testosterone-motivated conspiracy here people. Science Fiction creators have also underestimated their audiences’ attraction to certain aesthetic characteristics and therefore typically make non-humanoid aliens the villains, i.e. Jabba the Hutt, The Blob, the Xenomorph face hugger from Aliens, the bugs from Starship Troopers.

Lastly, until recently, only human actors portrayed lead alien characters. This is due to obvious reasons as well as the fact that most audiences weren’t ready to accept a full length film consisting of computer generated lead “actors”. With the combination of directorial bravery and advancements in CGI, things seem to have changed a bit. Some examples of this are The Hulk (2008), King Kong (2005), Gollum from LOTR (2001) and the house elf Dobby from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).

Sci-fi films need a breakthrough and I feel it’s coming soon. We’re going to see the Harvey Milkman and Precious of the sci-fi genre – a character that breaks the mold and opens the door for the non-humanoid aliens that have been overlooked as leading men.. women… things, whatever.