Monday, July 21, 2014
Aliens in Roswell
The show Roswell was very interesting to me even though it was my first time watching it. I don't like to sound racist but it kind of made me feel as though the show was putting an interesting twist on the way illegal immigrants are viewed or as they are often called illegal aliens. The characters were from a different place but struggled to not stand out, they tried to act as normal as the other kids but yet they were different and alienated (even if by choice). Much like illegal immigrants they stayed to themselves to conceal their differences and fear of being treated unfairly because of the differences.
What was interesting to me is the relationship between the sheriff and the aliens. After the incident where one of the aliens Max saves a girl the sheriff becomes very suspicious and sort of obsessive. The show doesn't really show much of a relationship or trust issue with any other adults except him. The Sheriff's suspicions rise when there was a shooting and one of the teens who people witnessed being shot was risen from near death with no wounds at all. Being that this show was one of the first teen dramas to air after the Columbine shooting I don't see any out of the ordinary monitoring that you would suspect should happen. I could see how someone could tie the connection with the kids being different and socially outcast, as were the Columbine shooters. The argument that I am making here is that the monitoring to me was very understated because the teens were suspected of doing something and it was not just the Sheriff monitoring them for their differences.
Roswell does a decent job of showing the teens relationship with the aliens. Liz the one who was saved has known Max the one who saves her for years but the way the story goes never really made any contact. I like how the show has the character show interest in the alien who is so different even after knowing that was the case. There was even a point where he told her this can never work because we are different. I think the show does a good job of showing that differences don't mean that you can not intermingle with others and can even be friends or more.
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I completely agree with your "illegal immigrant" interpretation of the show, and it's not racist at all for you to interpret this! I think the interpretation stems from our current "situation" with the illegal immigration obsession from the news media (which the majority of the white population believes the majority of illegal immigrants come from Mexico, even though there are immigrants who come from all around the world and illegally take residents in the U.S.A, but I digress...). Going to my previous point, I interpreted the Sherif as being the stereotypical white man who is policing all "aliens" (a.k.a. non-white) who seem out of place from the 'American Dream'. This ties in with bullying since a lot of immigrants (both legally and illegally) are viciously bullied because of their race. I used to get bullied and teased for being illegal when...you know...I was born near Manhattan. Awkward. Furthermore, the bullying from the Columbine shooting also shows the sensitivity of the show. When I was a teenager, I felt as thought I was always being monitored by adults, like they were waiting for me to make a wrong move. That sort of anxiety and distrust is seen between the Sherif and Liz & Co.
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