| An extraterrestrial is the representative of a rational extraterrestrial civilization in human culture. The term may denote also the inadequate or not socialized person. The concept "alien" can also be replaced with the words "newcomer" and "Martian". The existing concept "sleepwalker" has now become outdated and more likely designates the person sick of sleep-walking. Most likely, the phenomenon of an "alien", as well as the concept connected with it (the Extraterrestrial civilization) have the roots of existential horror connected to the human consciousness likened to the comprehension of the uniqueness of the human brain in the Universe as which modern science considers unlimited.
In human culture, the alien more often appears in the form of the humanoid. There was an original "classical" image of the alien as a humanoid with the flabby body, the gray color covered with a skin and its disproportionate big head on which there are huge slanting eyes of black color without pupils. The Alien-humanoid, as a rule, differs from the human form, the expressed bottom and top finiteness, the pair external signs focused on a vertical axis. In the overwhelming majority of cases in people's imagination, aliens are representatives of a civilization which considerably surpasses earth dwellers in technological and cultural senses.
The alien in art culture
In art culture (books, films, and comics) images of aliens considerably vary. If some kinds of aliens are designated, images are often similar to terrestrial animals, in many cases - monkeys. Sometimes aliens are thought of as a pure incorporeal reason. On occasion, the morphology of aliens appears unclear, but they take up human forms.
The image of the alien strongly differs depending on the first contact with the extraterrestrial race or the far future in which such contact is ordinary. Practically, always at the image of the first contact, the alien appears in an image of the humanoid though there are exceptions (for example - the American series "Aliens"). More often, in a situation of the first contact, aliens appear as an aggressive force which can destroy mankind. The sensibleness of such actions, as a rule, remain with the conscience of the author - in some cases aliens aspire to grasp the Earth being guided by accurate motives (passion to a gain, need of resources), sometimes - not realizing the harm of such actions for mankind.
At the image of the far future, the imagination of authors goes further. In such cases the coexistence of earth dwellers with several other civilizations, usually, is represented. It forces authors to vary images of aliens. Almost in all cases they are guided by features of human consciousness - negative characters appear in an image of ugly humanoids, reptiles or beings not subject to human reason. Positive characters are similar to ideal people or positive beings from human mythology more often. Sometimes images of aliens differ by peculiar originality - for example, they move by the means of a wheel located in the bottom part of the body.
The alien and human consciousness
In the western culture the alien personifies for the person, something unknown, which brings new sensations bearing with self and potential danger. It is a simultaneously attractive and frightening image which is successfully maintained by a modern mass culture.
In the Soviet culture an alien had personified the reasonable being that usually possessed a high level of intellectual development and culture. The Soviet fantasy brought an attention to the question on the possibility of contact to extraterrestrial beings, describing the complexities of interaction of independently developing cultures and the benefit from their cooperation. |
Great Britain is the center in the latest massive UFO sightings. Many witnesses reported seeing UFOs, and even a police helicopter had given chase to a UFO after the UFO almost collided with the police aircraft in Cardiff. The helicopter kept in pursuit for several minutes, but had to stop due to a fuel shortage. Ironically, the wave of UFO sightings in England comes just weeks after many comprehensive Government files on UFO activity were opened to the public. Some of these records include numerous reports of air traffic controllers seeing UFOs and military personnel seeing little green men.
