The Alien as “Other”

From Mary Shelley’s genre-sparking Frankenstein to sci-fi TV pioneers like Star Trek: The Original Series, science fiction storytelling has always been interested in exploring and empathizing with the “alien.” Sometimes, that means a creature reanimated from an amalgamation of others’ corpses. Often times, it means visitors from another planet. Whatever the specifics, the concept of the sci-fi alien is a wonderful way to explore our culture’s discomfort with the “other,” whatever that may mean to a specific American cultural moment.

read more: Aliens in America – A History of UFO Storytelling

In Roswell, New Mexico, it’s not hard to figure out which perceived “other” the show is looking to explore. A Roswell-based radio show host fear-mongers over the local airwaves:. “Aliens are coming, and when they do, they’re gonna rape and murder and steal our jobs!” Roswell, New Mexico may not always be subtle in its depiction of anti-immigrant racism, but even that lack of subtlety feels topical in a world that feels like it is getting louder, faster, and less patient in its conversations.

We first get a clue that Roswell, New Mexico means topical business in the opening scenes of the first episode, which see main character Liz Ortecho (Jeanine Mason) stopped at a Border Patrol interior checkpoint on her way home to, you guessed it, Roswell, New Mexico. Not only is Liz returning home partially because funding has been cut on the biomedical research project she was working on (de-funding of scientific research is very 2019) but she immediately assumes, most likely rightly, that she is being stopped for driving while being a person of color.

The exploration of Liz’s identity as both a Latinx American and the child of undocumented immigrants doesn’t stop there. When trying to decide whether to stay in Roswell or leave for another 10 years, Liz can’t help but factor in her father Arturo’s precarious situation, as ICE presence increases along the border. It’s vital representation for an America whose current leader in large part ran on a platform of building a wall to keep certain people, represented here by Liz and her family, out.