"Ornyx & Crake"

In Ornyx and Crake, by Margrett Atwood, the human race/ population has been obliterated by a deadly plague. All that is let are the Crakers, who are genetically manipulated beings and can survive in the environment. Ornyx is a mysterious woman appearing in Snowman’s (Jimmy’s) dreams and hallucinations. It’s a genre novel that deals with overpopulation, disease, all through the lenses of a science fiction story.

I feel that sometimes genre storytelling is a type of storytelling that can lend itself to more interesting kinds of stories. I also feel that genre stories don’t exactly have to be purely genre, as it can vibe implemented to casual stories, which can make those stories pop and gain more notoriety to different readers. What is great about genre stories is that it can be placed into different kinds of stories and not be tie into it’s own kind of storytelling. You can place different aspects of a genre into different stories. It can make stories seem very interesting and can make them appeal to a broader audience that wouldn’t usually be accustomed to usual kinds of stories.

To me, genre storytelling is still literary. You still have the form of writing stories, the three acts, but it’s the contents that fill each act of the story with makes it very interesting. You can have a normal story, but when you add aspects of different genres, thats when stories like these can take notice.  Here you have a story of a population decreasing in amount, and when you add the alien aspects to it as a reason for it, thats when I feel a story can breathe in new life.

When reading the story, I don’t think that my experience was ruined or changed after going through and answering these questions. I really just saw it as a genre story with interesting element like genetics and businesses. Even though I saw it as a genre story, I didn’t see it as an unamused story, I really think it’s a well executed story that uses aspects of science, genetics, and sourcing, to get its story across. 

"Bloodchild" Answers

1. My first reaction to reading the story is about how interesting it was seeing Butler’s  interpretation of a world where gender functions have been reversed. Here, the male are the ones who give birth and bare children. Also, humans are the ones who crash land onto the alien planet instead of the aliens crashing to earth. I really felt that Butler had such an intertwining perspective onto have things would have been if roles were reversed, and challenged the types of roles we are aware of.
2. I connected by how Butler chose to change and reverse certain roles, mainly by means of storytelling. I like stories that change up formulas and looks at a different perspective that we are familiar with. I feel that the part where Gan, whose mother agreed on sacrificing him as a host for the alien embryos. This is a dark part of the story that I felt was real. The fact that she would willingly give away one of er own to appease a threat really struck me because of how real it can feel when a mother would give up her own child for any reason. The overall tense atmosphere, and themes of survival really hit home for me.
3. I can see the story being  translated to the television show formation the form of a drama. I really feel that the environment, scale, and situations can be made into a sci-fi/drama series. I really feel that the kind of story that Butler establishes and creates can have enough of a storyline to sustain a series adaptation. When it comes to any changes, I would say establishing the world and setting of the story, so that if this were put into an actual show, the audience will need to learn about this world before going into the craziness of the storylines. Establish how bikers this world is and the characters that inhabit it. There aren’t many changes I would Mae, but that would be one of them. 

Lilith's Brood

The overall outline of Lilith is about a group of rebels who are trying to rescue the human race against a group of aliens invading earth. It’s all coincided with a war between humans and aliens, the Oankali, who wish to interbreed with the human. They call it genetic interbreeding.

When it comes to looking at majoritarian culture, and their values, I feel that it brakes it. The majoritarian culture, and everything they stand for is very traditional, and how even though everyone may have their own decisions, I don’t think interbreeding with another non human race would be one that wouldn’t sit well with them.

Overall, the story is trying to challenge traditional norms with something radically different and exciting. The idea of relationships between two people of serrate races and sexes and orientations are usually a hot button issue in the real world society. There are real world individuals who have that kind of mindset of what they believe is right or wrong. Having a story like this needed to be made. Now having an interspecies relationship creates an even bigger impact, for better or worse, and sees how a relation like that can be sustained and can be interpreted towards readers is interesting to me. I really feel that stories like these interest me because of how different it is from other stories like that.

"Snow Crash"

The story gets into describing this drug, named "snow crash", and how it affects the human brain and how because of the brain structure, it’s more susceptible to its effects.

This drug is also referred to as a “meta drug”, as it’s abel to happen online, similar to hackers, but for the brain.I feel that this gives the topic of drugs a creative spin on it, and making it more relatable, especially to those who are inundated with technology and how its so precious to them. The fact that the drug targets  and rewires the brains of people, some who are hackers, the author is able to play on how technology has become such a gluttonous resource that we are ally drawn to not matter what. And how if it gets tampered with for us, we start to become frail and damaged mentally and emotionally. It’s all done to stabilize our over dependence on technology and the types of people who are associated with it.

Commercial ads are also a small aspect in the story. In it, it talks about how it bombards Hiro, telling him about his colleagues and making him want to come back to work for the mafia. I feel that this is an amusing mirror to how we are constantly being shoved commercials and adds into our faces , especially in between watching shows and other aspects of entertainment.  

Overall, I really feel that technology and the over dependence for it is a factor in the story of Snow Cash. Everything from the mafia group to the pizza delivery business, technology is always used. Film is used in the mafia, as well as their scanners to look at their member’s personal information. This is also used for the pizza delivery service, as it's also used to look at their employees, and look at how they can be used to sometimes even invade, their personal space. Technology in the story can be used either in a way that helps or can harm.

BABEL-17

A quick description of Babel-17’s story is about language and how it shapes how people perceive the reality they live in and how they communicate with each other.

When it comes to “mind game” in the story, I feel language may   be perceived as a mind game. Language, by definition means combination between individuals. In Babel 17, language is used to determine how one is to go through certain situations. Their grasp on the language is their way of seeing how one perceives the world and how the different classes, from upper class, new world, Far East, and how to determine each of their values.

 Language, as seen in the story, is used to show political awareness and and establishment, as well as showing character’s actions and how they would react towards certain situations. I feel that this gives language this sense of importance. Language is very important. It is used to verbally show culture and can help other cultures learn from one another. In Babel-17’s case, I do feel that this assumption is exaggerated, yet made into an interesting aspect of the story. Language is used as an understanding, which is quite similar to how language is now; viewed as understanding another culture.