A common theme in several of the sci-fi works that we have read
including The Coming Race, RUR, I,Robot, and I am Legend is the fear of an infecting
“other” waiting in the shadows to overthrow the human race. These novels,
several of which were published in previous centuries, address the common anxiety
that there will come a day when the human race is no longer in control of the Earth.
The human race is paranoid about becoming a minority in the world that we have
claimed as “ours.” This anthropocentric tendency undoubtedly fuels our anxiety
and is a central reason that the novel I
am Legend is so effective at realizing these fears. The novel I am Legend is anthropocentricly
focused on one lonely man, believed to be the last human on Earth, and his struggle
for survival against an emerging vampire race. In the novel, the takeover of a
vampire race is facilitated by a bacterial infection to which Robert Neville is
miraculously immune. In the end, the vampire race is able to surpass Neville with
the creation of a drug that combats the vampire infection and somewhat
humanizes the race. Anthropocentricity, or in this case vampocentricity, is also
what motivates the vampires to take Neville’s life. The tables have turned and
he is now the abnormal one, the “other,” the new legendary creature that Earth’s
inhabitants fear. Therefore, the anxiety of the abnormal “other” is a fear that
cannot be escaped.
This idea of the other really stands out to me. I somewhat agree that "the anxiety of the abnormal other is a fear that cannot be escaped." To be other is to be unknown, or different from Western culture. When we say someone is other, it means we do not have a good understanding of that person or we think of that person as less than--less than Westerners. Although it appears we may always have anxiety about that which we do not understand, our fears can be escaped if we recognize them. Ideas don't just exist in our mind as other, rather our thoughts are conditioned by Western institutions and social groups. What impact do the literary giants of science fiction have on our understanding of that which is different from Western society?
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