WEEK TWELVE: Bloodchild by Octavia Butler (5?)

 It is hard to say I had a positive reaction to the Bloodchild. It was weird and confusing as it was lacking exposition and I was trying to figure out which world I am at. I was asking myself if T’gatoi was human or not even after the phrase “T’Gatoi used four of her limbs” until maybe the talk about stinging which still did not clarify what exactly T’Gatoi is.. The talk about eggs in the beginning seemed normal and I thought they were just talking about nutritions until I realized what eggs they are talking about exactly. Having a bright imagination did not help me here as some of the scenes were very disgusting. The story ended almost the same way as it started, abruptly. It is hard to say that I enjoyed the story but in my opinion it was a good piece of this genre. 

Of course the humans being aliens in this world and being used by centipedes as hosts for their offsprings is a metaphor to black community feeling outsiders in this world. Gan being promised to T’Gatoi also reminds me of ancient times when people arranged marriages for their children since the day they were born or too young. Some cultures still do that nowadays. It is hard to say there was something in this story I could connect but at the end of the story the love towards sibling Gan shows at the end and “sacrifices” himself to protect his sister is something almost everyone who has siblings can relate to.

The medium I would choose to adapt this story would most likely be painting. Mostly because I would not watch more than five minutes of this on screen and there are more opportunities to reveal meanings through symbols in paintings. This reminded me of Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings which have similar energy. I think I would not change the elements themselves but the way they are represented. There are many ways to show the brutality described in Bloodchild in a more eye pleasing way. 

Bloodchild is an afro-futurist piece that portrays the future of human beings on another planet being colonizers and home to the parasitic centipede-like aliens. In this story the humans are facing aliens instead of technology. Octavia Butler uses allegory and metaphors to reveal the hidden philosophy of the struggles her people are going through. There is this inequality between the two species which makes relationships almost impossible.


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