By far I believe the Cylon race from the TV series Battlestar Galactica, the 2003 version, to be the most interesting monsters. Not because they are freighting but because they bring up issues and make you question what it means to be a human.
For those that don't know about the Cylons they begin as robot helps who achieve some sort of intelligence and try to preserve their lives and begin a war with humans. The war comes to a stalemate of sorts and the Cylons leave the planet to start a life somewhere else. Many years pass and the humans are attacked once again by the Cylons, but now they have become so advanced that they have flesh and bones and are identical to humans. They infiltrate human society and some aren't even aware they are Cylons.
Cylons tie in very nicely with Cohen's 7th Thesis. "Monsters are our children" he says and in this case they really are. We create the Cylons and then they technologically pass us up, come back to Earth and see us as a lower being. Through out the show the Cylons struggle to understand their purpose, why did we make them as they are? It begs the question were we the humans created in some similar fashion and evolved way beyond what the creator originally imagined long ago. There also exist some Cylons who were unaware that they were a 'robot' and become labeled and rejected from the regular society even thought there are no differences between them. Which can be an obvious analogy to gender, race etc. Most of the humans don't feel bad about torturing Cylons because either they don't have feelings or are just a really fancy computer. Where is the line to be drawn to be a human. You can look and act the part perfectly, but it only takes one thing to disqualify you?
For those that don't know about the Cylons they begin as robot helps who achieve some sort of intelligence and try to preserve their lives and begin a war with humans. The war comes to a stalemate of sorts and the Cylons leave the planet to start a life somewhere else. Many years pass and the humans are attacked once again by the Cylons, but now they have become so advanced that they have flesh and bones and are identical to humans. They infiltrate human society and some aren't even aware they are Cylons.
Cylons tie in very nicely with Cohen's 7th Thesis. "Monsters are our children" he says and in this case they really are. We create the Cylons and then they technologically pass us up, come back to Earth and see us as a lower being. Through out the show the Cylons struggle to understand their purpose, why did we make them as they are? It begs the question were we the humans created in some similar fashion and evolved way beyond what the creator originally imagined long ago. There also exist some Cylons who were unaware that they were a 'robot' and become labeled and rejected from the regular society even thought there are no differences between them. Which can be an obvious analogy to gender, race etc. Most of the humans don't feel bad about torturing Cylons because either they don't have feelings or are just a really fancy computer. Where is the line to be drawn to be a human. You can look and act the part perfectly, but it only takes one thing to disqualify you?
I agree with you- this is a fantastic example of Cohen's 7th thesis. The Cylons are very much the literal children of the human race, and a big part of the show is centered around the humans having to take responsibility for the beings that they have created. In a way, humanity shows its true monstrous qualities when they treat their Cylon captives cruelly. Most of the time, the humans refuse to understand their motives, only wanting their destruction. Monsters like the Cylons really serve in the story to show the morality of humanity- they become a test of sorts in order to see how people will interact with them. This kind of monster leads to a lot of interesting questions and introspection and is one of my favorite ways for monsters to be used in stories.
ReplyDeleteInteresting choice of monster. I've seen most of the 2003 Battlestar Galactica series and I really like the points you made. I like what you wrote at the end where you talk about what makes us human, because the cylons who thought they were humans lived a completely human life, they had friends and people they loved, feelings and emotions. The cylons are definitely a reflection of ourselves, the viewer can see themselves in the cylon. I could also say the cylons fall under thesis 4, the monster dwells at the gate of differences. The humans can torture and abuse the cylons because they are different, which is an obvious statement about our society and racial, and gender issues.
ReplyDeleteI think your tie in with Cohen's 7th thesis is pretty spot on, especially in how literal your statement is. Have you watched Caprica? It's the prequel to Battlestar Galactica, and in it, it's shown that the first Cylon was literally the child of its creator! Sort of hits it right on the nose, huh?
ReplyDeleteBut I see what you're saying here. In this case, the Cylons really are our children. Our robotic murderous children!
I'm curious to hear what you think of the Cylons as they relate to the some of the other theses, especially in regards to the first. How do you see the Cylons as a part of our cultural body? Especially i'd be super curious to hear how you'd compare them to the original Cylons too as it relates to Cohen Theses. (is that a fair comparison? I'm not familiar enough with Battlestar Galactica to really know, hah!)