Evolution and Diversity of Fiction, Bloodchild and Attack the Block
I unfortunately missed the discussion on Bloodchild due to being late to class,
which is a shame because I really enjoyed it and it fits perfectly with the
topic of diversity in science fiction. As the genre gains more popularity the
people that read them eventually write them and those people through natural
progression become ethnically and sexually diverse (black, Hispanic, male,
female, gay or lesbian). Octavia Butler is a master at using science fiction to
make familiar topics unfamiliar outlining any gender role issues. She uses a
unfamiliar and inhuman setting, characters, and plot to disorient the reader
and removes any preconceptions about the themes of the story. It brings about
specific issues I assume Butler wishes to stress in the reader’s consciousness
and now that she has successfully disoriented the reader the themes no longer
compete with any preconceptions. Most readers may already have an opinion about
gender roles in regard to human childbirth. However in Bloodchild the parasite lays eggs in the humans against their will
evoking a drastically different response. The reaction of the reader is
probably of injustice yet the scenario when taken out of context is not that
different from traditional gender roles in humans and especially dealing with
childbirth. Bring up a lot of question about and female gender roles and the
power they each have. We tend to romanticize things like childbirth and sex but
Butler removes all of that a baby is just seen as a parasite to a mother. For
me the relationships between the humanoids and their alien overlords serve as a
great metaphor of the dissimilarities between men and women. On the film side
of things Attack the Block takes to
the more gender tied diversity but it’s awesome I would recommend it to anyone.
It follows a group of inner city kids with some gang affiliation trying to
protect their block from an alien invasion. It’s funny and extremely relatable.
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