European nations labeled natives as an uncivilized "other". Alien invasion movies reflect this process where humans are the "others" that experience hostility from a superior invader.
A fascination swept through Europe with the discovery of the distant lands of South America, India, and Africa. The exploration of these exotic climes sparked a curiosity in what exists beyond the borders of Western Europe. In order to satisfy this curiosity, explorers would record their findings in travel journals that were published for the European market.
Explorers recorded their findings ranging from plants and animals, to geology and climate. While European readers took interest in these various topics, the most popular recordings were the encounters of native populations.
While some writers depicted natives as benign, many others perceived them as cannibal miscreants who lacked a civilized lifestyle. This perception dominated the psyches of Europeans, who viewed indigenous populations as foreign and odd.
With such differences in religion, writing systems, and class hierarchy, Europeans scorned the rudimentary lifestyles of natives that were perceived as base and inferior. With this combination of foreignness and inferiority, Europeans encountered natives with hostility and violence.
“Othering”
In his play The Tempest, Shakespeare shows how humans project this otherness onto natives. Written at the beginning of England’s colonial ambitions, in the early 1600’s, the play takes place on an exotic island in the Mediterranean without any further specificity. This allows the audience to imagine a distant foreign land capturing their imagination in the age of exploration.
A central character in the play, Caliban, who is a native of the land, suffers constant abuse from the Western European characters, who constantly scrutinize his appearance,
“What have we here? a man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish- like smell”
“This is some monster of the isle with four legs, who hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil should he learn our language?”
These lines explore perception where the reader can only imagine Caliban through the eyes of the other characters. This means Caliban has an existence built by internal projections from the other characters, rather than objective reality. This process reveals the process of “othering”, where things of foreign nature are viewed as grotesque and appalling.
Julie Taymor’s film The Tempest explores this concept of "othering" as Caliban is met with fear and hostility. Similar to the original play, Caliban’s appearance strikes fear in the other characters. He appears grotesque and ugly due to the internal projections from the other characters, rather than his actual behavior.
Aliens and Colonial Invaders
This process of “othering” is important in colonial history where European invaders perceived natives as a foreign threat rather than a peaceful population. The inferior perception of indigenous people justified colonial invasion and subjugation which decimated their populations.
Being perceived as an “inferior other” in one’s own country is explored in alien invasion movies where aliens attempt to conquer the world with superior technology.
In these movies the roles are flipped, the humans are the “others” that are met with hostility and violence. While the alien appears to be a foreigner, it is really the humans that are the foreign population invaded by a technologically advanced species.
The “Harvester” from Independence Day represents this superior invader, whose purpose is to eviscerate the human population, in order to claim earth’s resources. This allows for an understanding from the perspective of indigenous populations who witnessed invaders conqueror their country in order to exploit their environment.
With its empty black eyes, deformed limbs, and slimy skin, the revolting alien gives shape to European colonialism. Pure apathy combined with a violent nature results in the horrifying Harvester who will haunt your dreams.
The discovery of alien life remains a fascinating topic. Encountering a being from another galaxy would be an extraordinary experience. While this potential in encountering aliens is exciting and mysterious, our biggest fear is that they would behave like humans.
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