If negative results – unfortunate, dreadful, or deadly. It could be widespread enough to become an extinction-level event.
Be clear about the purpose of the point of contact. In Star Trek Kirk going after the alien chicks reveals his character and creates character arcs. In Alien the ‘mating’ is a story arc and drives the plot forward.
Cinematic Techniques
Galaxy Quest – Tech Sargeant Chen [Fred Kwan] [[Tony Shalloub]] is about to embrace the Thermian Laliari. We can only see them from the waist up and she still appears human. Then her octopus arms come up to embrace him and it’s really obvious that they are very different from one another. She gives him a questioning look, he shrugs in love’s delight, and they fall into a passionate kiss. To emphasize the alien nature of it, Guy Fleegman [Sam Rockwell] makes a face and says, “Ooooh, that’s not right!”
When bringing together different species you want to photograph them face-to-face from the same angle if it is a mutually accepting situation. If it is predatory in any way then the predator is at the higher angle looking down on and overpowering the prey. A most unsettling example is the alien attack on Lambert [Veronica Cartwright] in the first Alien film. We do not see an actual rape but it is strongly implied.
Show the non-human’s point of view of humans, like in Predator, when we saw through the alien’s infra-red vision. Or if there is a compound eye, you see multiple images. You could even have a character who looks like (and is played by) a human. Give them odd-looking eyes via contact lenses and when you show their point of view, have it significantly different from human vision – aha! they’re an alien.
Conclusion
Be clear on the purpose of the point of contact. In Star Trek Captain Kirk continually going after the alien chicks reveals his character, the character of those commenting on it, and creates character arcs. In Alien both horrifying rapes are part of the story arc, intensify the horror, and drive the scary plot forward.
Be sure to give us the follow-up. If positive results – a stronger bond to something higher and different for one or both characters, and as in Avatar, for a wider group. If negative results – show us how unfortunate, dreadful, or deadly it is and how far that effect reaches, as in Alien(s).
Interspecies Love is a really rich situation you can use to make all sorts of statements and send all sorts of messages in your stories – while greatly entertaining us in either heart-warming or terrifying ways.
*****
Exercise #1 – Awareness
What is the most unique mating between species you have come across (presumably in myth or media)?
*****
Exercise #2 – Writing
Write a scene where interspecies love/sex takes place. It can be either terrifying and oppressive or tender and loving. In your descriptions and dialogue compare and contrast the two beings: how are their heads/limbs/mouths/sex organs alike or different?
****
Further Reading
Aesop’s Fables - Laura Gibbs
Bhagavad Gita, Mahabarata, Rig Veda, Upanishads - Hindu classics
Bible, The
Bimi - Rudyard Kipling
Bulfinch’s Mythology
Faerie – Brian & Wendy Froud
Golden Bough, The - Sir James Frazer
Greek Myths, The - Robert Graves
Grimm’s Fairy Tales - the Brothers Grimm
Inner Drives – Pamela Jaye Smith
Joseph Campbell...... All his works. In particular:
The Power of Myth - from the Bill Moyers TV show
Hero with a Thousand Faces (aka the Hero's Journey)
Inner Reaches of Outer Space, Metaphor as Myth & Religion
The Masks of God - 4-pt analysis of mythology through time
Library of the World’s Myths and Legends - Peter Bedrick Books
Metamorphosis - Virgil, Roman poet and mythologist
Mother Goose - compilations of folklore and fairy tales
Mythic Past, The - Thomas Thompson [on the myths of the Bible]
Mythologies (of many cultures, separate books) - Geoffrey Parrinder
Mythology - Edith Hamilton
New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology
Painted Bird, The - Jerzy Kozinski
Power of the Dark Side, The – Pamela Jaye Smith
Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert A. Heinlein
Swallow, The & Children of God – Mary Doria Russell
Symbols.Images.Codes – Pamela Jaye Smith
Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols & Sacred Objects – Barbara G. Walker
http://ffnp.blogspot.com/2013/02/what-could-they-possibly-see-in-each.html
Interspecies Internet – TED talk
http://www.ted.com/talks/the_interspecies_internet_an_idea_in_progress.html
Further Viewing
Alien Nation
Alien(s)
Babylon 5
Constantine
Deep Space 9
District 9
Earth Girls are Easy
Enemy Mine
E.T.
Galaxy Quest
Highway to Heaven
Howard the Duck
King Kong
Man Who Fell to Earth, The
Men in Black
Michael
Planet of the Apes
Splash
Stargate
Starman
V
X-Files
CHAPTER TEN
Transformative Chivalric Love
A true lover would rather be deprived
of all his money and of everything that
the human mind can imagine as
indespensable to life rather than be without
love, either hoped for or obtained.
Andreas Cappellanus -The Art of Courtly Love
Aspiring to something one cannot have often results in great works of art and humanitarianism. The chosen beloved cannot be had, but that yearning can become fuel for creativity. It’s the Muse factor. Yes, sometimes the lovers do actually have sex, but often the “pure love” is more powerful than if the energy were drained away in a regular relationship.
This type of love is slaying dragons and saving virgins. It is about being all that you can be, and more.
Its steps include yearning, surrender, and redemption – all with passionate, pure, unconditional love.
It is tempting but dangerous to look upon the shining face of deity. A safer way is to love a person through whom you can become more spiritual. We seek divinity within each other.
This type of love has as its goal the transformation of the lovers. It’s not that one of them sets out to change the other, that’s manipulative. In this case though, they become better than they were, because of their aspirational desire to become worthy of the beloved.
The object of Transformative Chivalric Love need not still be alive, as evidenced by the cadres of devotees to various goddesses and icons.
The Defining Myth
Aphrodite/Venus – the Greco-Roman goddess of higher love, true beauty, and passionate romance. As opposed to her son Eros/Cupid, the childish, fun, saucy god of sex and light romance.
Aphrodite embodied the ideals of feminity beauty and passion. This laughter-loving goddess was irresistable and inspired lovers of all sorts...gods, demi-gods, and mortals. Her own liaisons ranged from war god Ares/Mars to Hephaestus/Vulcan, the lame god of the forge.
Living up to the standards of the goddess Aphrodite required strength, passion, and the effort to better yourself in order to be worthy of her.
Exemplar Movie
Shakespeare in Love
Why it exists (evolutionary back-story)
Now we need to get into some metaphysics. If you look at the evolution of life on this planet you see that it all started from single cells and developed complexity and the ability to adapt, right up to today’s most amazing artists, statesmen, humanitarians, and scientists. Yet the tube worm did not go extinct just because a mutation occu
rred and some of them eventually became humans (basically tubeworms with fancy accessories). A logical progression can be observed in biology and in fossil records.
Likewise there is a progression in consciousness. Unless it’s sci-fi or fantasy we don’t find minerals to be sentient [as long as you don’t count computers and A.I., manipulated by humans into a semblance of consciousness]. Plants have sentience – they respond to stimuli in the environment. Someone once said they took the plants-have-feelings so much to heart that they snuck up on their potatoes and knocked them out before baking them.The trees in The Lord of the Rings are quite self-conscious. Animals have varying degrees of sentience, then above that consciousness, and in some of the higher species, apparent self-consciousness.
Humans seem to be a leap ahead of animals in self-awareness, though watching the news, reality shows, or photo of Walmartians for a few hours can call that into question. Esoteric schools see humans as the guardians for the advancement of animal souls. Anybody who has pets or works with animals, knows what science is now proving – they have unique personalities and can feel a wide range of emotions.
In any stepped progression you always look for the next step up. According to Mystery School teachings that would be the Kingdom of Conscious Souls – humans who are aware of being souls inhabiting a personality and a body which is the instrument of that soul. A few decades ago the “Indigo Children” were supposed to be harbingers of this evolutionary step. Now most of them live in mom’s basement playing computer games all night and day. Not sure if that’s upward evolution or not.
According to these philosophies humanity is supposed to be evolving into something greater. Aspirational Love is a tool for that purpose.
How it works (physiology & psychology)
The Mystery Schools propose that human consciousness evolves through three levels: 1) tribal, 2) individual, and 3) group. Non-thinking reactionaries bound to restrictive codes and bent on destroying or being isolated from any others are examples of 1) and you can see them in many of the conflicts around the globe today.
America, like Periclean Greece, Minoan Crete, and other advanced cultures where individuals had rights are given as examples of 2). The downside of American individualism is lack of community, caring, and service to others in the interest of the self. Today’s 1% / 99% split and the various rebellions around the planet, from the former Occupy Movement to the Arab Spring, from Syria and Turkey to Brazil and Myanmar, are vivid examples of the difficulty of shifting from 2) to 3).
Level 3) is the ideal put forth in many utopian stories. It’s a key factor in what many wanted to see after that supposed 2012 turning point. It is about community, collaboration, and a benign interdependence. Chivalric Love inspires and trains people for this level as well as affording them a fantastic romantic experience.
In Maslow’s pyramid illustrating the Hierarchy of Human Needs, the lowest level is food and shelter, the highest level is self- actualization. Chivalric Aspirational Love is meant to raise one to this higher level, where hope lies. http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm
How it serves us now
Goodness knows we can all use some upward aspiration and accomplishment. Too long humans have been wallowing in our dark ways. Look however at the amazing progress in human rights that has been made in the last hundred years or so. Not everywhere, granted, but in many cultures and countries. The resisters, the holders-on to the backward past,are daily more isolated and are literally fighting for their very existence.
The Muse is an archetype of desire and creativity, as all you writers no doubt know.
We tend to fall in love with an idealization of the other person. Being able to maintain the idealism is essential to maintaining the romance. Sure, you can settle into an ordinary relationship and that can be fine. But the passion, the yearning, the joy of connection at the higher levels is all about art, creativity, and higher energies.
In a world where too many people are too casual about too many things it is difficult to find much idealism. We definitely need more stories around this concept of Aspirational Chivalric Love.
Examples in Myth and Legend
Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. The love triangle of King Arthur, Guenivere, and Lancelot. Unfortunately, Lancelot and Guenivere did not uphold the laws of chivalry. They dropped from Aspirational Solar Plexus to the Sacral chakra. They should not have had sex, but because they did, the whole kingdom fell apart. It’s a great example of what happens when Chivalric Love fails to live up to its own demands.
Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon book explores the love life of others caught in this web of chivalric love. Sometimes it works – if they do not have sex. But the failures are tragic and far-reaching.
It’s not like the gods mating, it is the higher aspects of humanity falling into the lower. There’s nothing wrong with being at that lower sexual level, but it is not the place where you can achieve inspirational Chivalric love.
Vestal Virgins were often not virgins in our modern sense of the term. But the old-fashioned definition meant “ready to receive life”. For instance, in pre-Christian systems, after the Mother/Matter/Earth has given birth to the Light/Christ/Sun on the Winter Solstice it is six weeks before she is ready to be impregnated again. At that point, she has once again become “virginal” and the cycle can begin again.
The Christian Virgin Mary and the Egyptian mother goddess Isis both inspire herioc devotion and chivalric actions
The Norse Myth of the Valkyrie Brunhilde and quasi-mortal Siegfried tells of Chivalric Love that unfortunately turns really dark. The setup is that Brunhilde is being punished for disobeying her father, the god Wodin. He puts her to sleep on a rock but she begs him to surround it with a ring of fire so that only the most brave of knights can get to her. Seemingly a good idea. Siegfried breaks through the ring of fire, kisses her, and she awakens to the valiant knight. They swear eternal love but betrayal ensues when he is entrapped by a greedy woman and her brother. It all comes to tears – and flames -- in the end. Another case of Chivalric Love gone south.
Examples in History and Current Events
The Troubadour movement in Provencal France around the 11th century was supported by royalty, especially Eleanor of Aquitaine, who commissioned much of the poetry, art, and music. Chivalry flourished as knights were encouraged to improve and prove themselves for the love of a lady they could never possess, often a queen or the Virgin Mary.
People who go into battle in service to family, a beloved, a regent.
Napoleon and Josephine.
In a case of reverse transformative love you have King Edward VIII of England who abdicated the throne in 1936 to be with his lover, the American divorcee Wallis Simpson, scandalizing the royal family and the country. The movie The King’s Speech tells how George VI, his younger brother, struggles to fill his place on the throne.
Kids with crushes who try to impress their chosen one. Sometimes it’s a teacher, like in the 1950s TV series Leave it to Beaver. Also see Summer of ‘42 and My Life as a Dog.
All artists with Muses. [Refer to “Love of Art”, Chapter 6 in this book.]
Examples in Media
Xanadu – it’s so bad it’s good fun. Olivia Newton John is one of the nine Muses come to life off a Venice California boardwalk mural. Gene Kelly dances, Olivia sings, and everybody roller-skates. Really...?
In The Lord of the Rings Eowyn of Rohan holds an admiring aspirational love for Aragorn, the true King. Trying to prove herself worthy of his love, as well as saving the kingdoms, she braves mortal danger on the battlefield and kills the Witch-King...all for a love which she never does obtain.
Joan of Arc.
In The Fifth Element, Leeloo is the perfect woman and Korben Dallas [Bruce Willis] tries to become worthy of her. But she informs him she’s there to protect him...what’s a guy to do? Clean up his act and become the man she needs. It is a fun film with lots of mythic elements in
play.
Queen Elizabeth I leads her knights into battle in the film Elizabeth: The Golden Years. There’s a very inspiring scene as she rides out in shining armor on a white horse to address her troops. You see that every man there has Chivalric adoration for the Queen.
In Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code everyone seems to respect and admire Sophie Neveu, yet no one has sex with her. Others are there to serve her and it is not until the end of the story that her elevated sense of destiny is revealed to be real...she is a direct descendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The Priory de Zion swears fealty to her in an example of Aspirational Chivalric Love.
Braveheart, Ladyhawk, and The Four Feathers offer relationships of Chivalric Love.
The TV series Spartacus Season 1, Ep 7 begins with the words, “...the man you could become”, a prefect Chivalric Love line.
Examples in Music
“Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong” by Joe Cocker.
”I’ll Make a Man out of You” – Mulan film
In "Long Black Veil" the man was doing the wrong thing -- having an affair with his best friend’s wife -- until he did the right thing by taking the rap for a crime he did not commit rather than expose her.
Troubadour songs of Provence
"On the street where you live."
Show Me the Love! Page 12
