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Article: Implacable justice: arguing politics and theories of law via the encounter with powerful alien species.(Critical essay)
- Article from:
- Extrapolation
- Article date:
- June 22, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Extrapolation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Although the dystopia continues to beckon as the most obvious vehicle for authors wanting to argue their politics in science fiction, the human encounter with aliens is also employed for that purpose and enjoys one important competitive advantage over the dystopia. While both storylines permit authors to make claims about human nature and comment on the sorts of anxieties and grievances animating contemporary politics, the alien encounter allows authors to do so in a manner that is perhaps less obvious. This is because the reader's attention is drawn to the salient physical and behavioral differences of the alien Other rather than to behavioral differences among humans. ...