Human life has always been one of the fundamental assets of world perception through the prism of art and creativeness. However, when it comes to depicting humans, creators cannot omit all the flaws human nature is replete with, trying to find ways to fix them. Thus, while the presence of hybrid bodies in literature and cinematography claims to be evil for many people, the very motives of the creator remain mysterious even for the creator himself. For instance, when the Inventor of Edward Scissorhands was not the create a beast that would struggle in the human world. To begin with, he saw the opportunity to humanize everything he loved in his life, as Edward represented the human version of the assembly line that was more than just living to the Inventor (Burton). As a result, he wanted to create a vision of the world where people were a little closer to his deepest hopes. Still, the outcome of his experiment resulted in the creation of a beast that finds himself lost in a society that does not accept someone who is not fitting in with the established norms.
Such an example contributes to the assumption that while everyone is afraid of beasts, it is the hybrid body itself who is terrified by humans and their social norms. Thus, the very genesis of a hybrid body is a story that eventually leads to its death and desperation. The death itself is not always physical, it is the mental process of rejection or accommodation to the surrounding world, as the beast’s metamorphosis and integration into the human life paradigm is also a certain form of death for the hybrid body.
At first, it may seem that the creator intends to make the beast as close to the human race as possible, giving the body features of a fellow human while making it stronger and better than any other being. For example, in The Island of Dr. Mureau, it was the Doctor’s biggest desire to create a beast that would be fully human, living according to the moral laws of people on Earth (Frankenheimer). However, at heart, all of the inventors were hoping that their creations would be the best versions of human beings while remaining beasts inside. As a result, the hybrid bodies created are implicitly programmed to be destroyed under the influence of society regardless of their initial intentions. Trying to fit in society makes beasts willing to adjust to the environment they live in to remain some of the most powerful creatures of the human race. As a result, the adjustment itself makes it hard for the beasts to draw a line between their authenticity and the reality of life among people, leaving them with nothing but the urge to blend in.
However, sometimes, the desire to become human is so strong that the attempt’s outcome makes the beast itself go far beyond the conventional perception of human life. For example, when the hybrid bodies in the first two stories were not able to reach the desired level and empathy and compassion in order not to feel lonely in society, some hybrid bodies are given such strong cognitive abilities that their levels of empathy become too advanced to be human.
Over the last years, the vision of a hybrid body has developed far beyond combining the aspects of a non-human creature, as it is now focused on the cognitive abilities of the artificial body that should be taught how to feel. For instance, the artificial intelligence body in Her, although aware of human emotions and having the ability to feel, was able to perform these feelings at a rate no human being could ever reach (Jonze). As a result, while being having perfectly integrated into society at the very beginning, the hybrid body was destined to dissolve due to its inability to remain on one cognitive level with the rest of human beings. Thus, it would be safe to say that, to some extent, it symbolized the body’s death.
One of the ways a hybrid body could die is the act of physical destruction, either in the process of a natural death or a battle with humans. However, the very notion of physical destruction somehow serves as evidence claiming failure to blend in with society. As a result, everything related to the death of hybrid bodies is then associated with their interaction with the world of humans that becomes one of the inevitable causes of the beast’s death.
Taking everything into consideration, it might be concluded that every single story of a hybrid body whirl around a highly individual motivation of the body’s genesis. As a result, the fact of the body’s death is an outcome of the intentions that were to be achieved throughout its existence. Every single death of a hybrid body, whether it concerns physical destruction or mental rejection to remain a beast, is a choice affected by human beings who are meant to be weaker and insignificant.
Works Cited
Burton, Tim, director. Edward Scissorhands. Twentieth Century Fox, 1990.
Frankenheimer, John, director. The Island of Dr. Mureau. New Line Cinema, 1996.
Jonze, Spike, director. Her. Warner Brothers Pictures, 2013.