Sun or Moon?
If there is one well known love affair within literary circles, it is the love between science fiction and horror. They have been together since Frankenstein, which is considered the first science fiction story, so horror has always been a part of science fiction’s history. Not to mention some of the best known horror stories like “I Have No Mouth but I Must Scream” and “Alien” all come from the world of Science Fiction. To ignore this ongoing collaboration is to do both genres a horrible disservice. So today we are going to explore the genre mix of horror and science fiction, mostly focusing on the final frontier: space. Get your helmets on kids, it’s going to get spooky as we talk of other planets and other things we can find in space.
What do we know about space, truly? We know it exists, we know there are planets and stars and star systems. We know of galaxies and black holes and a bunch of other things. Yet we also know that is not all that is up there. We know of dark matter, but we do not know why it exists. We do not know all the habitable planets near us, or even if the ones we think we could live on would be habitable. After all, maybe the soil of this perfect planet is made of arsenic and mercury? Implausible yes, but we don’t know and fear of the unknown is the fear to trump all others. Then there is what we do know about space that is horrific: what would happen should someone slip out of their suit in space, what happens when we enter a black hole, and what would happen to our bodies if we should go out into the sun. All these scenarios are horrifying in the way that natural disasters are: we cannot stop them if they happen, and there is little we can do to prepare for it. Exploring these two features is where space horror succeeds, and then there is, of course, life on other planets.
For many people, the mere thought of alien life is a terrifying one that interferes with their logic. If there was life, it would have contacted us by now. If there was life, it probably didn’t survive and that is why we are alone. If there was life, maybe it chose not to talk to us for a reason. What reason could that be though? Are we not smart enough, advanced enough to talk to the rest of the universe? Maybe we are too primitive, or maybe too violent. Maybe they see our wars on Earth and say that it cannot be safe to teach humanity higher technologies. In any of these cases, there is a chance that it may be the appearance of creatures themselves that might horrify humanity such as in “Childhood’s End” by Arthur C. Clarke. Or maybe the creatures are more beast like than intelligent such as “Alien”? Worse, maybe they are creatures like those in the “Predator” films, skilled hunters that like collecting trophies. Most likely though, our minds cannot fathom what alien life would look like. While you can stick to standard alien tropes, I know that nothing I could create would be as insane as what nature creates. If you doubt this, look at the various types of life on Earth.
I see the moon...but can the moon really see me?
As you can tell, I view space as the great unknown, almost as much as the depths of our oceans. They are the two places we know nothing about, so therefore, they are the two places where horror can and does live. One only needs to mistakenly see a face in a Martian mountain to know that. As for my favorite thing done on horror and space, I’d have to go with the cult classic “Event Horizon”. Yeah it is cheesy but that’s due to studio not allowing the R rated cut to go through. One of these days, I want to get my hands on that version of the movie so I can see it in all its bloody glory. Feel free to tell me your favorites below and I will see you all on Food Thursday.
