Homo Sapiens Rectiens – or “you hairless apes are assholes”

I just had a letter in the FT, about John Carpenter’s “Starman”. It made me realise there is a film season to be done about sci-fi films and novels about how “we” appear to intrstellar visitors.

Novelistically you could go for War of the Worlds, where (as HG Wells says the Martians are merely doing to the humans what the Brits have been doing elsewhere) and also Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters, where the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) encourages Liz Shaw (Caroline John) to look at it from the perspective of the Silurians, to whom humans were interlopers – mice and rats who’d taken over their homes). Then on to lashings and lashings of Octavia Butler, obvs.

In the 1950s there was a spate of “we’ve come to warn you to knock it off with the nukes” films (e.g. The Day the Earth Stood Still), alongside the more standard invasion/it’s a cook book stuff).

For me, the film season would have to include ET (1982), Starman (1984)), the latter which is a kind of re-write. Then it would include James Cameron’s The Abyss (1989), where the aliens have come to warn us. Finally there’d be The Arrival (1996 or so) where – SPOILERS – they’ve come mere to accelerate the warming that humans are already causing. I suppose you’d also include Arrival (with Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner).

Other suggestions?

Humans eh? (Yes, I know, #NotAllHumans, blah blah capitolocene etc).