Well that seems ugly
Feb. 24th, 2018 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI'm still reading nov dec 17 ANALOG and I just read a story where a guy finds a crashed alien and keeps him locked in a basement, but then the guy dies, and when his nephew comes to see his house, the alien gets out. And the alien tells the world how to cure all illnesses, and then leaves.
And so a whole lot of people blame the uncle for locking up the alien for three years, but the uncle is dead, so, you know, nobody to hit. Except the nephew. Who somehow ends up with no support and just has to go on the run alone, because that is a thing that happens when a citizen of a civilised country has random people trying to kill him. And then he gets kidnapped and locked in a basement, by a guy deliberately copying what happened to the alien, so he reckons he'll let him out in three years.
But in those years he's going to tell him all about the guy who died before the alien cures came. Because he wants him to feel bad for not doing more?
I mean, I have trouble with this rather central bit of the story, because why even would you notice what your uncle has in the basement? Even if he's not, as here, estranged? And if you think it's reasonable a family member would notice what you have in the basement, how are you expecting to keep a dude tied up for three years?
There's a lot of gaps in this story.
And *then* the guy lets the nephew out because the alien comes back and tells everybody he came here to kill everyone but three years kidnapped in a basement made him cure all our diseases instead.
I have questions.
Like, a lot.
I mean one logical one is why would invaders intending to kill us send only one person who they don't keep track of?
And why would invaders intending to kill us be able to cure all our diseases?
And if they knew us long enough to learn how to cure all our diseases, why send one person in person only that one time? And tell us the cures only all at once?
But the key thing here, the thing the entire fate of the world apparently hung on, was
how the fuck does keeping someone locked in a basement make them want to do any nice things for you?
I mean, that ... that seems important.
And why tell this story?
Because the only way the pieces go together is if the author thinks keeping someone locked in the basement and telling them in detail about someone's life is the way to build sufficient empathy to fend off genocide, and let me tell you, I have some problems with that theory.
Honestly the whole thing seems like n incoherent mess where none - none - of the specific details actually added up to tell a particular story.
I mean the point of view character raises the question, why did he never talk to his uncle? And never answers it. Just... thinks family doesn't really work like in the movies, with the actually talking.
That's a complete answer? Such as needed a story told about it?
And such a family makes a guy who leaves no particular marks of his personality behind and yet was such a persuasive ambassador for humanity he turned an alien genocide around?
It's not even just that the story is meaningless in its incoherence, it's that I can't figure what the author thinks they've said, unless they said something really ugly like keeping someone in a basement for years just makes them like you.
I mean, it's a mess.
So.
That's a thing.
And so a whole lot of people blame the uncle for locking up the alien for three years, but the uncle is dead, so, you know, nobody to hit. Except the nephew. Who somehow ends up with no support and just has to go on the run alone, because that is a thing that happens when a citizen of a civilised country has random people trying to kill him. And then he gets kidnapped and locked in a basement, by a guy deliberately copying what happened to the alien, so he reckons he'll let him out in three years.
But in those years he's going to tell him all about the guy who died before the alien cures came. Because he wants him to feel bad for not doing more?
I mean, I have trouble with this rather central bit of the story, because why even would you notice what your uncle has in the basement? Even if he's not, as here, estranged? And if you think it's reasonable a family member would notice what you have in the basement, how are you expecting to keep a dude tied up for three years?
There's a lot of gaps in this story.
And *then* the guy lets the nephew out because the alien comes back and tells everybody he came here to kill everyone but three years kidnapped in a basement made him cure all our diseases instead.
I have questions.
Like, a lot.
I mean one logical one is why would invaders intending to kill us send only one person who they don't keep track of?
And why would invaders intending to kill us be able to cure all our diseases?
And if they knew us long enough to learn how to cure all our diseases, why send one person in person only that one time? And tell us the cures only all at once?
But the key thing here, the thing the entire fate of the world apparently hung on, was
how the fuck does keeping someone locked in a basement make them want to do any nice things for you?
I mean, that ... that seems important.
And why tell this story?
Because the only way the pieces go together is if the author thinks keeping someone locked in the basement and telling them in detail about someone's life is the way to build sufficient empathy to fend off genocide, and let me tell you, I have some problems with that theory.
Honestly the whole thing seems like n incoherent mess where none - none - of the specific details actually added up to tell a particular story.
I mean the point of view character raises the question, why did he never talk to his uncle? And never answers it. Just... thinks family doesn't really work like in the movies, with the actually talking.
That's a complete answer? Such as needed a story told about it?
And such a family makes a guy who leaves no particular marks of his personality behind and yet was such a persuasive ambassador for humanity he turned an alien genocide around?
It's not even just that the story is meaningless in its incoherence, it's that I can't figure what the author thinks they've said, unless they said something really ugly like keeping someone in a basement for years just makes them like you.
I mean, it's a mess.
So.
That's a thing.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-24 02:43 pm (UTC)And why would invaders intending to kill us be able to cure all our diseases?
And if they knew us long enough to learn how to cure all our diseases, why send one person in person only that one time? And tell us the cures only all at once?
Aliens gonna be alien.
how the fuck does keeping someone locked in a basement make them want to do any nice things for you?
Stockholm syndrome?
It's not even just that the story is meaningless in its incoherence, it's that I can't figure what the author thinks they've said, unless they said something really ugly like keeping someone in a basement for years just makes them like you.
Neither can I. Are they all like this?
no subject
Date: 2018-02-24 03:49 pm (UTC)stories are variable, at best
no subject
Date: 2018-02-24 03:47 pm (UTC)And then the 'that thing you dont understand was secretly for the best!' is the actual message.
... tied up in a basement edition?
... keeping the secretly harmful aliens away from you?
and it being secretly an old dude pov makes another detail make sense, where it's significant the uncle doesnt have photos on the wall. Like, yes? and? the nephew never even thinks of looking on a computer. or even a phone. but who prints pictures out these days? the only ones i have are either conve tions with famous people or my formal graduation pics.
so, poi t of the story was the old guy was secretly a saint, and you should have talked to him, and one day you'll understand.
it just didnt sell it in any way i cold make make sense.