Week 12 - Bloodchild

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?

I was confused at first, and had to reread the story a couple times to understand the plot. The reader is thrown into the story without explanations as to who the characters are, where they live, and what’s to be expected. I was fascinated with the brief descriptions of the alien creatures, and wanted to know more about the planet they lived on and the history behind it all.

2. What connections did you make with the story Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect?

After reading and discussing in class, I’ve discovered themes surrounding slavery between races/species and gender roles. Whether or not this is the intention of the author, I feel that there is an imbalance between the alien race and the humans. T’Gatoi was demanding early on, calling Gan’s family over to keep her warm, demanding he and his mother eat her egg, and impregnating Gan despite giving him a choice between using himself or his sister as a host. Actions like these lead me to believe that the Tlic have a higher role or importance over the humans, which could hint at the idea of slavery. The birthing scene switched the gender roles, having a man give birth to the young instead of a woman.

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you choose; what changes would you make?

I would love to see this adapted into a visual novel, or an audiobook similar to the original War of The Worlds broadcast by Orson Welles. With how little the environment is described, it’d be interesting to see how it’s portrayed in a comic book, with more visuals to give the reader an idea of how the characters live. And to hear the narrator speak as the voice of Gan would make the story all the more immersive. (I would avoid using film as a medium because I feel the story would be overshadowed by special effects and poor CGI.)

4. Are there elements of this work that you would consider afto-futurist?

After looking up the definitions of afro-futurism and diaspora, I can definitely see some connections. A diaspora is a scattered population whose origin lies in a separate geographic locale. “Historically, the word diaspora was used to refer to the involuntary mass dispersion of a population from its indigenous territories, in particular the dispersion of Jews.” This could be compared to how the humans in this novel could have been transported from their home planet to the Tlic’s. As mentioned before, this story also has hints of slavery and overpowerment over a so-called “weaker” species.