Strategies of alterity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategies of alterity - Essay Example For as long as the beloved remains so, he or she may only be defined according to the emotions that he or she brings about from the lover. Barthes obviously takes a pragmatic perspective about romantic relationships. Even as he considers the importance of lovers in knowing each other, he also recognizes the fact that lovers can never fully know or understand the other. Although both Alien Encounter and Outer Space were outright works of science fiction, particularly discussing about the yet to be fully explored frontiers of human and alien relations and the possibilities of life forms beyond the Earth, the spaces it actually meant are the void in human knowledge. The tone of both pieces were light and humorous although the theme that both represent is quite serious. Both being narratives, the readers/viewers are addressed in the second person, which effectively relates them to the theme in point. The female characters in the movie are in search of someone special to them respectively in order to fill up the void in their individual lives. (Sarbanes 57) They did so when then they encountered aliens. However, these beings from outer space do not become special in the sense that became other halves of long-term romantic relationships with the main female characters. Their significance is in their ability to let the women see beyond the void they are experiencing, making them able to live their respective lives better. The desiring subject of the book and the movie is the main female character. Seemingly, the objects of desire are the aliens but, in fact, it is the wish to have happier and less lonely lives. Scopophilia is the sense of gratification that an individual experiences by just looking. According to Freud, scopophilia is one of human sexual instincts although it exists independent of the functions of the main sexual organs. For the person committing scopophilia, an object, often another individual may be