Oldal 118 [118]
actually take on the role of myth, although perhaps they do so ina
primitive way. Their essence is simplification. The undifferentiated
dualism of black and white, good-evil, light-dark reigns. But this
determines the thinking of the masses, which is one-dimensional.
They think mostly in terms of the dualism of the same and other.
The alien is the alien who is the enemy, which either kills us or
we kill. Look no farther than the Alien series. Death travels with
us. And indeed, starting with the early works of art, the depiction
of the idea of memento mori has been given a central role. All of
this is very deeply embedded in the universal essence of thinking,
to put it simply: this approach conveys something that, however
primitive, is closely and completely related to the issues that occupy
the world. It would be hard to deny that these days this includes
the concept of the other and alien (enemy).
Returning to the quote: “When he opened his eyes the Other's
armor was running down its legs in rivulets as pale blue blood
hissed and steamed around the black dragonglass dagger in its
throat. It reached down with two bone-white hands to pull out the
knife, but where its fingers touched the obsidian they smoked. Sam
rolled onto his side, eyes wide as the Other shrank and puddled,
dissolving away. In twenty heartbeats its flesh was gone, swirling
away in a fine white mist. Beneath were bones like milkglass, pale
and shiny, and they were melting too. Finally only the dragonglass
dagger remained, wreathed in steam as if it were alive and sweat¬
ing.” (George R. R. Martin: A Storm of Swords.) The other here is an
alien and an enemy who wants to occupy what was not originally his
and does not belong to him. He wants to change the lives of those
who are different from him by destroying their world. In Game of
Thrones, this is symbolized by a Wall that separates the same and
the other. The Wall (capitalized thus) is an indestructible structure,
seven hundred feet high and over one hundred leagues long, yet
still unable to fully protect those behind it. Whoever lives beyond
the wall is the other. The other, the alien, hates the one behind the
wall, and vice versa. One seeks to protect, the other seeks to destroy
the wall and destroy all that exists behind the wall, because that