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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homunculi known as <strong>the</strong> grays. The only th<strong>in</strong>gs “alien” about <strong>the</strong> be<strong>in</strong>gs such as those met by<br />
Adamski were <strong>the</strong>ir apparent perfection, <strong>the</strong>ir technological capacities and <strong>the</strong>ir ostensible po<strong>in</strong>t<br />
<strong>of</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>, whereas <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> grays <strong>the</strong> proportion <strong>of</strong> familiar to strange seems <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>verse.<br />
The humanoid form <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> gray recalls <strong>the</strong> human but <strong>in</strong> a distorted fashion—huge eyes, vestigial<br />
nose, mouth and ears, four-f<strong>in</strong>gered hands, apparently no true orifices—and it is its humanoid<br />
form that is <strong>the</strong> most familiar aspect <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> gray. O<strong>the</strong>rwise, <strong>the</strong>se creatures seem to <strong>of</strong>fer very<br />
few po<strong>in</strong>ts <strong>of</strong> identification.<br />
The power relation between <strong>the</strong> abductee and alien O<strong>the</strong>r serves to heighten <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>tensity<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> abductee’s objectification even fur<strong>the</strong>r. Abductees, unlike contactees, are wholly<br />
powerless. While George Adamski was hosted aboard a space ship, with all his <strong>of</strong> queries fully<br />
and politely addressed, and <strong>the</strong> reasons for his hosts’ attentions thoroughly expla<strong>in</strong>ed, <strong>the</strong><br />
abductee experiences no such niceties. In <strong>the</strong> now classic domestic abduction, <strong>the</strong> human<br />
<strong>in</strong>terlocutor generally awakes <strong>in</strong> a state <strong>of</strong> panic—a panic that is <strong>in</strong>tensified when he realizes that<br />
he is unable to move. One correspondent with Whitley Streiber illustrates both <strong>the</strong> sense <strong>of</strong><br />
paralysis that abductees <strong>of</strong>ten experience as well as <strong>the</strong> power <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> experience to not only crack<br />
open <strong>the</strong> facade <strong>of</strong> narcissism but explode <strong>the</strong> very self.<br />
I reckon my head had been on <strong>the</strong> pillow for less than thirty seconds when, for want <strong>of</strong> a<br />
better word, it exploded—<strong>the</strong> only way I can describe that shock<strong>in</strong>g sensation is that I<br />
thought a bomb had blown me to pieces and that “I” was nowhere and had ceased to be.<br />
After a few seconds, <strong>the</strong> vacuum <strong>of</strong> what used to be was filled with an entity <strong>of</strong> total evil.<br />
This evil th<strong>in</strong>g so terrified me that I wanted to start fight<strong>in</strong>g, until I became conscious that<br />
I was unable to move my limbs. Although I was scream<strong>in</strong>g to my wife to wake up and<br />
help me, my lips barely moved and <strong>the</strong> screams were whispers. 317<br />
It is <strong>the</strong> fear <strong>of</strong> erasure and replacement, so aptly illustrated by <strong>the</strong> preced<strong>in</strong>g, that comprises <strong>the</strong><br />
central motif <strong>of</strong> abduction. Paralysis—terror that reduces <strong>the</strong> abductee to his or her animal<br />
self—<strong>the</strong> render<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> body as th<strong>in</strong>g by <strong>in</strong>vasive “medical” procedures performed aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>the</strong><br />
317 Streiber 1997, 120.<br />
219