Narcissism on Earth

 Week 9 Response:

The film "Brother From Another Planet" follows an alien who finds himself in New York City. The alien, otherwise known as "the brother," presents outwardly as a black man, but he cannot speak and he possesses special psychic powers, such as his ability to hear the voices of immigrants throughout history when he touches the wall and fixing a broken video game by waving his hand over it. Throughout the film, the brother navigates through Harlem, working through the complexities of human life while simultaneously being hunted by his own kind from his far away planet. 

"Brother From Another Planet" introduces many afrofuturist themes such as extraterrestrialism, technology, consciousness, slavery, and community. Something that stood out to me about the film was how although the brother cannot speak or communicate normally with humans, he seems to be much more present and empathetic. All of the human characters he interacts with are self-centered in their own way, and the brother seems to realize that even if he had a voice, the humans probably wouldn't listen in a very profound way.