Week 12: Bloodchild

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

            I had a very visceral reaction to this text, and honestly I just had to sit and look at the wall for a minute after I finished reading. This story is nightmarish to say the least. It definitely plays upon the fear that a species more advanced than our own could one day overtake humanity. Based on the descriptions given, I imagined the Tlic species as resembling giant centipedes, which definitely made the visuals in my mind worse. I was particularly disturbed by the Tlic’s use of “eggs” as a drug to sedate and control people with. It seemed to be a way to extend human lives while simultaneously keeping them dependent and suggestible. The main character, Gan, began receiving eggs only a few days after he was born. Even Gan’s older brother who distrusts the Tlics always indulges in the eggs when available. This use of control and addiction immediately made T’Gatoi seem more sinister to me.

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

         At first, I assumed this was an alien species that had invaded earth and taken over. However, as the story continued it was revealed that humanity had fled the earth and ended up on the planet of the Tlic. In the situation, humans are the actual aliens. While I was horrified at the role humans played in the lives of the Tlic, the thought did occur to me that we do similar things to other species here on earth. While we don’t grow our children in other animals, we do contain them, breed them, and raise them to slaughter for our food. Its just something to think about. The only reason humans can do these things is because we are the top of the food chain, but what if we weren’t anymore? I have personally been struggling recently with the morality of eating certain things, and this story definitely made me think even harder.

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

            If I were adapting this work, I would probably choose to make it either a short episode in some kind of horror anthology or extend the story into a feature film. If it were to be adapted into a movie I would picture something like “Annihilation” with very interesting creature and world designs. When I was reading, I kept picturing these home scenes (where all the kids are laying around tripping on eggs) with low, fluorescent lighting. This story would be very visually dynamic on film. However, I think the narrative would need to be continued from the point that Butler left off on. In order to appeal to a large audience, people would want to see some sort of triumph or liberation of the human characters. I imagine this may undermine the authors intention for the message of the story, and therefore this might not be possible.

4. Gaming is, at the very least in part, a narrative medium.  What do you think is the relationship between the gaming and the concept of literature?

I think that long form story telling and gaming go very well together. Viewers are able to stay invested for 60+ hours in a story, because they are the main character who is responsible for moving the narrative along. Relationships with other characters feel very personal. Victories and defeats are up to the skill and decision of the player, and therefore hold a lot of weight.  I have personally completed a number of stories through games and getting to the end is extremely satisfying, especially if the narrative and characters are written well.