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A lot of science fiction stories explore different aspects of fear, most especially the fear of loss:

• loss of self or identity,
• loss of autonomy or freedom,
• loss of values held dear,

and more. One of the classics that has been reinterpreted numerous times, including last year’s Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig film, The Invasion,, is The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney.

Written in 1955, the book has inspired four films and, doubtless, more to come. I found this very interesting article about the history and the different ways in which human duplicates have been used in fiction and film at the National Post. Check it out — it is quite interesting:

Scott Van Wynsberghe: A brief history of body-snatching

“The alien is the creation of a need — man’s need to designate something that is genuinely outside himself, something that is truly non man, that has no initial relation to man except for the fact that it has no relation …. it is through learning to relate to the alien that man has learned to study himself.”

From the prefact to Aliens: The Anthropology of Science Fiction,
edited by George Slusser and Eric S. Rabkin

This morning a bird flew into the patio window and knocked itself out. I found it lying on its back breathing rapidly. I picked it up and held it in the palm of my hand. It just looked at me.

This got me to thinking about aliens in science fiction. Just like that little bird, the likelihood that an alien would have any true understanding of my intentions are pretty low. Or are they?

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