SF Online Interview with Hagio (Part IV-2)

(Continued)

Hagio:

Talking about strange space aliens, what was it, the one with the Earth occupied by several different kinds of space aliens. That humanoid one, what was it called…

Mizutama:

Sorry, it doesn't ring a bell.

Sakai:

Occupied?

Hagio:

There are plots and subplots, but you've got rock-shaped aliens, who make enormous efforts to move just one centimeter. In addition, Simak also features strange space aliens. But I actually don't like Simak's view of space aliens very much.

Sakai:

What don't you like?

Hagio:

Isn't it somewhat grotesque?

Sakai:

When it comes to space aliens you get two kinds. With one, the external shape may be human-like or not, but they think like humans. But there are people who depict aliens as something completely different from humans. Which kind do you like?

Hagio:

I like them both. But when Heinlein depicts a bad space alien, he tends to make it really grotesque, and I don't like it very much. There are cases where I would like to complain to the protagonist [author?] to think more about biology. When it comes to that, eh, that author who did "Ender's Game…"

Mizutama:

Isn't that Orson Scott Card?

Hagio:

I like his view of space aliens. So I am sorry, but I don't like the view of space aliens in "The Mote in God's Eye" by Niven and Pournelle, either. I don't know what to say, but once you create a character in life form, it's wrong not to have any sympathy toward it. The authors make them into massacre machines. Tezuka would never have done it that way, I think.

(Continues)