On beautiful aliens

[chipotle]

In some of the discussion on my previous post, cargoweasel expressed disappointment in the “Avatar” trailer for not having a very alien world or very alien aliens. The Na’Vi are very anthropomorphic and distinctly feline; what we see of Pandora doesn’t look that different from a terrestrial rainforest (if we disregard the huge floating islands). As I wrote in response, first I agreed with this, then upon thinking about it I started to disagree with it, then upon thinking about it some more my mind went off in an only tangentially related direction.

First off, it would be neat to see more alien aliens in science fiction cinema. We’ve had fantastically weird aliens in novels for decades, and special effects technology is certainly at the point where we could realize them on film. I certainly don’t disagree with that premise, and I hope someone takes up that gauntlet. Cameron clearly isn’t.

I’ve seen other complaints about the aliens in the trailer. “If Cameron had any guts, he’d have made the Na’Vi look like slime molds.” “It looks like a Disney cartoon about blue people in a magical jungle paradise.” And this started to raise my curiosity. Why is the way the Na’Vi look a source of negativity?

What I’m considering is that the Na’Vi actually are different than other cinema aliens. I can’t think of another one quite like them. They’re markedly more non-human than Vulcans or Centauri or any other TV or movie alien that audiences are supposed to find attractive. But they’re still beautiful.

They’re beautiful. After decades of xenomorphs and creepy black-eyes humanoids and space prawns, with alien “love interests” always being either conveniently shape-changed to human or basically elves in space, the Na’Vi are just maybe a little more unusual than they’re being given credit for.

And yes, of course someone could make a far more exotic alien that’s still beautiful. The Na’Vi aren’t alien to the point where it requires a substantial amount of work to convince the audience that Jake Sully, the paraplegic marine controlling a Na’Vi/human hybrid ‘avatar,’ can still fall in love with a Na’Vi; any truly “alien alien” would be another matter. I’d love to see someone take on that challenge, but the story that could be adapted to that is probably not “Lawrence of Arabia.” (I think toob was on target with that comparison.)

The reason that many people are taken aback with the Na’Vi—and I’m not thinking of Cargo’s comments, to be clear, but rather the “ick, they look so cute!” comments around the net—is, I submit, that we have a set idea of what makes aliens alien, and that set idea pretty much is: chitin. Chitin and tentacles and glistening ooze, and a scientist character who says “they’re beautiful in their own way” shortly before being eaten. If we’re really lucky, they’ll be omnipotent balls of light who, after we finally succeed in making contact with them, will tell us that we’re not ready yet. We’re willing to accept that as realistic—but beautiful aliens living as hunter-gatherers in a mostly unspoiled world? C’mon, that’d never happen.

I think I’m okay with Lawrence. And while I would like to see more alien aliens, I’m thinking maybe a good first step is somebody finally giving us pretty non-human aliens who aren’t humans with pointy ears and, for the love of God, aren’t frikkin’ bugs. In modern sci-fi cinema, that’s actually bold.

Comments

[krinndnz.livejournal.com]

I submit, that we have a set idea of what makes aliens alien, and that set idea pretty much is: chitin. Chitin and tentacles and glistening ooze, and a scientist character who says “they’re beautiful in their own way” shortly before being eaten.

I am highly amused at this. I agree: insect-type characteristics definitely communicate "alien" to us well, regardless of how likely it is that Drake would approve of them. Avatar could definitely be very good.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Me and my legion of pretty aliens agree! :)

[dracosphynx.livejournal.com]

Hrm. I think there is some distinction between alien aliens in a physical sense and alien aliens insofar as humans have an ability to understand them. If a director had a bizarre alien with radial as opposed to bilateral symmetry sit down at a bar beside a human, complain about its job, its mate(s), and order a beer-equivalent... well, regardless of how alien in appearance/biology, would people still consider it an 'alien alien'?

I suspect that doing a really alien alien alien... alien, within the time allotment of a 2 hour movie, while still having a movie people could appreciate, would be tough because there are some competing goals at work.
1) Make the alien believably alien. However, if people could immediately grok the alien ('Oh, it's a *hive*' or 'Oh, they're a bunch of predators' etc.) then people would complain they aren't 'alien'. So the aliens have to be hard to comprehend.
2) Make the movie understandable, so people can follow the plot, or at least don't leave the movie with a "What the heck happened?" look on their faces.

This isn't exactly about making alien aliens, but magic. The director would have to set up something strange and wonderful and engrossing that the audience can follow, but at the same time, never explain it. Once you explain the magic, or alien, then it stops being magic, or alien, and people will complain about how the aliens really weren't alien. So the aliens would have to be so convincingly alien that people did not feel they were (fully) understandable, but presented in such a way (within the confines of the movie/plot) that people were satisfied with not understanding. While, presumably, keeping the aliens as a primary plot point.

Not impossible to do, but I don't think it will get done by someone focussing on 'alien alien' aliens, but on making magic.

[bluedeer.livejournal.com]

Or like the beautiful clone-making Aliens in Star Wars Episode 2, I think it was.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

Alien aliens in the sense you're talking about are actually pretty rarely done in science fiction novels, let alone film. The kind of "magic" you're talking about is pretty difficult to pull off, in no small part because the authors of science fiction stories are by and large human. While I think "write what you know" is highly overrated as a maxim, writing the unknowable is a pretty tall order. When they do show up they're very often variants on the omnipotent balls of light telling us we're not ready yet.

I admit a bemusement at the "who cares we've seen this all before" reaction from folks who are holding up "Contact" as an example of doing it right. I really liked "Contact," but let's be honest: it was an omnipotent ball of light story, in which the climax of the movie involves aliens appearing in human guise to tell Jodie Foster that We're Not Ready Yet. It was a monstrously clichéd plot -- but it succeeded on the strength of its execution.

[tikaani.livejournal.com]

I looked at the trailer and I saw blue aliens with pointy ears and tails. I think Star Trek has provided all 3 of those features at one time or another.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

We have also seen lots of aliens that are bipeds, have eyes, noses and mouths and feature bilateral symmetry.

[dracosphynx.livejournal.com]

Well, if I'm talking about a different type of alien alien, then it's going to be hard to get people to agree on whether or not Avatar has really alien aliens, if everyone is using a different definition of alien. :)

[tommicat.livejournal.com]

Blue kitties are awesome. :)

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Those were pretty. I remember people telling me I should see that movie because they looked like something I'd draw. :)

[varjohaltia.livejournal.com]

If the alien is actually alien, in motivations, actions, and body language, getting anyone to care about it is as anything but a monster is going to be tough. District 9, for example, cheated -- when we figure we're beginning to understand what the prawns are about, it's because the alien gets more and more human body language and expressions, not because we actually get a better understanding of them. The way we communicate and form empathy with other creatures is through similarities. A truly alien creature would hence be something we couldn't grok -- unless someone really does pull of magic. It's been done in a few books at least, but it always leaves a weird aftertaste.

[varjohaltia.livejournal.com]

Well, Star Trek aliens are humans with elf ears. CGI allows these aliens to have non-human proportions and non-human kinematics, which I would argue puts them in a much more noteworthy category.

Not sure if this alien planet of alien kitties speaks English like all the Star Trek aliens, though.

[genet.livejournal.com]

Hear hear. ;)

[tikaani.livejournal.com]

We can't be sure they're speaking english or if the Universal Translator is letting us hear it in english :D

[bfdragon.livejournal.com]

Well, as far as suppositions go: If we had this technology now, to transfer minds and travel to populated alien worlds, wouldn't you start with the most human-like of extra-terrestrials that we could find for a first try? I also have a feeling most people out there would want to go into a body more similar to themselves rather then an ooze creature, anyway. Or maybe the aliens just have to have a certain similarity for a human mind to be put into it.

Most importantly though I think, A goo creature might be interesting, but if that gets in the way of the story then it is the wrong choice to make. The director seemed to want something that a wide audience could relate to, we can at least give him the chance to see what he does with it in this movie before we decide if it's right or wrong.

[aliasisudonomo.livejournal.com]

I submit that the problem of "are they really ALIEN aliens?" is rather irrelevant since in many stories "alien" is just the modern accepted word for "fairies", "monster", and "here there be dragons"... when it isn't being used Star Trek style (here are the Jewish Stereotype aliens! Here are the Honorable Warrior aliens!), and even an honest science-fiction novel often assumes an alien has enough similarity to communicate, since you get a rather boring story otherwise.

Also, blue kitties.

[bootheel.livejournal.com]

(linked by genet)

I agree... but mostly, I just love the pretty aliens! I want to see more of them. So prettyyyyyy.