Racial Coding in Science Fiction Film

In chapter 3 of Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film, Adilifu Nama writes about the coding of racial stereotypes within science fiction films. Black representation in media has historically been distorted and presented as “radically different”, beginning with minstrel shows in the 1820s. While today Black representation is not as often overtly racist, caricatures of Blackness as predatory, primitive, and sexual have been camouflaged in science fiction. Alien difference is often communicated to the viewers through reconstructions of human racial difference, creating further alienation of marginalized groups and reinforcing Whiteness as what is right and most human of all. Science fiction film can be a canvas on which American racial anxieties and political issues are projected. One example Nama focuses on is Enemy Mine (1985). In the film, a human pilot is portrayed by a White actor and an alien character is played by a Black one. The human is dressed in white while the alien is dressed in black, and his skin is dark brown and reptilian. Throughout the film, both characters comment on how ugly the other is to them. While meant to be a humorous gag, this is interesting because it invites the viewer to observe as a racial “other”, a position that is not possible on Earth. However, it mostly reinforces the coding of the alien character as “comically unattractive” and racially othered. The character of the Brother in Brother From Another Planet (1984) is interesting because the Brother lands in Harlem and looks very human. He could easily blend in with the Black humans he interacts with in the film. Other alienating characteristics are needed to convey his otherness, such as his muteness, psychic powers, three-toed feet, and missing foot. To me this seems an interesting subversion of the racial stereotypes and coding that were and still are prevalent in the SF genre.