cNutgroist

Maybe this is a subject too delicate for someone with my sausage-fingered writing to tackle, but I still have to ask: Is it just my imagination or are the Chinese the original inspiration for science-fiction aliens?

To Western eyes, they’re the closest thing to a people from outer space and really they were the first minority to enter a lot of countries that resembled no other. Sure, there were the odd African and Arab traders in European cities, not to mention the Jews and Gypsys of course. But in each case these were practically subsumed into the dominant culture of Europe, leaving any remaining noticeable differences to be viciously seized upon, then enslaved, exterminated or ostracised.

Whereas, Chinese people look very different, speak very different, their written language and food both entirely unrecognisable as such to Western eyes. They were perceived as clever in such different ways, had a reputation for inscrutability (because we couldn’t read their body language? what more basic barrier can there be?), a different code of ethics, honour and loyalty. All ripe areas for misunderstanding which led to... Alienation.

Now look at movie aliens, so frequently portrayed as having certain human-like characteristics: slitted, slanted or bugged-out eyes; tiny or non-existent noses, just nostrils instead of proboscic protuberance; hairless; altogether uniform in their features; hugely numerous with total devotion to a leader that closely resembles the rest of them; infiltration through integration but always keeping a separate identity. How far back does it go? Late 19^th century with H.G Wells and Jules Verne? And how far back does Chinese immigration go? Someone please tell me. I don't have time to do the reading.

Im thinking both about 1950’s B-movie aliens here and indeed the more modern ‘grays’, but also the expressionless monsters from Dr Who and of course Star Wars. Lucas went so far as to make the two scheming ambassadors who played one side off against the other in The Phantom Menace (usually reserved for the Jews) so undeniably Chinese that even they noticed and complained (JarJar just had a more effective lobbying group so you might not have heard about it). Blade Runner and other futuristic films featuring humans and aliens living together always
seem to have the Asiatic peoples as more in tune somehow with our interplanetary friends, don't they?

Maybe the original thinking was ‘they have to deal with all our dirty laundry and build our railroads, they must be here for another reason’? Whatever, I am suggesting that such work comes at least in part from our subconscious way of dealing with the first significant wave of immigration into Europe and North America. It's the concept of the Yellow Peril transplanted into the distant future.

...And another thing about Star Wars: Is Chewbacca really just a Space Yeti? Doesn’t Jabba the Hut remind you of Chairman Mao? Weren't the furry things on Endor in fact Vietnamese tree people or the famous Wild Men of Borneo? Was C3P0 made in Japan? And R2D2 the cheap knock-off from Korea? I could just possibly be taking this too far.

Even Gremlins, which isn’t sci-fi exactly but does explicitly deal with the weirdness of the something originating from China, portrays both the cute side to the Mogwai and the ugly, nasty side of that same creature when it turns into a Gremlin. That film could be interpreted as the ultimate in paranoid Middle American fantasies – or perhaps it’s a parody of that? You could read it as a parable about immigration, where the locals are thinking ‘just one won’t hurt’ and ‘if we look after them properly we’ll all get along just fine’. But of course one slip-up and 'they' start multiplying. Soon they’re taking over, killing indiscriminately and oh just absolutely ruining Christmas. Interesting as well that when they take over the bar, they suddenly become Black – boozing, whoring, fighting, swinging from the chandeliers and playing their crazy jazz music. Is there a single greater fear in small-town America?

Now, Gizmo is still the good guy and so we get to see the two sides of this unwelcome presence play out its conflict. Of course, this is the movies so after much death and destruction Good does eventually triumph over Evil, much like American history. Except that in the film, they learn a valuable lesson.

Gizmo was always the good immigrant and as such doesn’t try and upset the status quo. Moreover, he’s solitary and is quite literally owned by an American. It’s when his dark side comes out, which threatens to kill him, that we see his true colours (Red, White and Blue in case you missed the leaden metaphor falling onto your head). He’s the kind we want. The new, non-threatening, buying-into-the-dream citizen. Not the other kind. Not the ugly ones with fangs, scaly skin and their own culture. Let’s microwave those motherfuckers.

There's even a sexual subtext here - Don’t ever get a Mogwai wet or it will breed.

I still think it's a clever liberal parody of American values and fears, though. At least I hope so.
And just what do the Chinese think? Of course they're not saying, because they’re too busy plotting the takeover of this planet / trying to eat us with noodles.The other question is: what sort of aliens do the Chinese put in their sci-fi films? I do hope they're blond-haired, big-nosed giants who don't work very hard and have no effective leaders.

Big Bang - Ping Pong

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