A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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<strong>the</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>r narrative fur<strong>the</strong>r compounded this physicality: embodied messenger; locatable<br />
po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>; manifest mode <strong>of</strong> transport.<br />
The drama <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>r, as played out <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> immediate post-World War II<br />
context, cont<strong>in</strong>ued its focus on <strong>the</strong> messenger and <strong>the</strong> message <strong>of</strong> potential perfection. With<br />
Mart<strong>in</strong> and Adamski, <strong>the</strong> formalization begun by Theosophy and its Great White Bro<strong>the</strong>rhood<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued. Instead <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> bro<strong>the</strong>rhood, we f<strong>in</strong>d <strong>the</strong> beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> a Star Command—a hierarchy<br />
<strong>of</strong> humans from o<strong>the</strong>r planets who are bound toge<strong>the</strong>r <strong>in</strong> confederation and who seek <strong>the</strong><br />
enlightenment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> earth human. Their po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> orig<strong>in</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>ued to recede to o<strong>the</strong>r planets—<br />
most commonly Venus and Mars—and cont<strong>in</strong>ued to become more concrete. The O<strong>the</strong>r’s mode<br />
<strong>of</strong> appearance was <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> beautiful humans—visions <strong>of</strong> Nordic perfection. As <strong>in</strong><br />
Spiritualism and <strong>the</strong> movements that followed <strong>in</strong> its wake, <strong>the</strong> uncann<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> O<strong>the</strong>r was<br />
underm<strong>in</strong>ed by its relative familiarity. The narrative that sprang from <strong>the</strong> alien-human nexus<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued to articulate <strong>the</strong> conundrum <strong>of</strong> radical change <strong>in</strong> a familiar form—a vision <strong>of</strong> alterity<br />
that was comfort<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> its sameness.<br />
Runn<strong>in</strong>g parallel to <strong>the</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>u<strong>in</strong>g saga <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong> immediate post-World<br />
War II period also witnessed <strong>the</strong> rise <strong>of</strong> ufology, a thoroughgo<strong>in</strong>g attempt to align <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
appearance <strong>of</strong> strange objects <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> sky with <strong>the</strong> consensus reality dictated by <strong>the</strong> standards <strong>of</strong><br />
empiricism. The po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> focus for ufology was not <strong>the</strong> presence <strong>of</strong> some anthropomorphic<br />
O<strong>the</strong>r bear<strong>in</strong>g glad tid<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> future perfection but ra<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> recurr<strong>in</strong>g appearance <strong>of</strong> an<br />
ostensibly physical phenomenon. In its struggle to account for <strong>the</strong> impossible with <strong>the</strong> tools and<br />
ethos <strong>of</strong> positivism, ufology struggled to close <strong>the</strong> same gap that so centrally concerned <strong>the</strong><br />
movements previously discussed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>se pages. Ironically, as <strong>the</strong> endeavor moved closer to its<br />
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