What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

There is an [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality|invisible value]] placed on the existence of non-human characters in fiction, compared to the value of the life of a human. Killing/destroying one may or may not be the same thing as [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|killing a human]]. The difference between [[Not Even Human]] on one end of the scale and [[Not Quite Human]] on the other can be a very fine one, and where a series chooses to draw that line can vary as wildly as the writers' imaginations.

Intelligence and emotions, and whether the character in question is actually alive in the conventional sense, are usually what dictate the morality of the situation. But more often than not, it's based upon how human-like the character is (an issue further explored in [http://www.fanboy.com/2010/01/are-humans-biased-to-thinking-that-only-humanoids-are-intelligent.html this blog post]). The sliding scale usually goes something like this:

 

** Special exceptions may apply in the case of great historical and cultural treasures, usually because someone who values them may opt for a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] rather than allow them to be destroyed.

* Robots and Artificial Intelligence stories examine this quite a lot in their plots, possibly because of the writings of [[Isaac Asimov]]. Good robots and other [[Mechanical Lifeforms]] are considered people most of the time. Killing one is generally the karmic equivalent of killing a human the same way—except that it is easier to show them getting hurt (think of poor Bishop in ''[[Alien (franchise)|Aliens]]''), which gets awkward. [[Mecha-Mooks]] and bad robots almost always have a very low value in this regard, even if they demonstrate [[Ridiculously-Human Robots|obvious personalities, emotions]], and [[Creative Sterility|humanlike intelligence]]. Regardless, robots are the most frequent victims of the "[[How Did You Know? I Didn't.|How Did You Know That Mook]] [[Not Even Human|Wasn't Human]]?" "[[How Did You Know? I Didn't.|I Didn't!]]" trope. It's [[Just a Machine]], after all. It probably helps that when a robot dies [[We Can Rebuild Him]] more easily than [[Came Back Wrong|bring back a human]] (which is a souce of superiority as well: human life is more complicated, probably because robots are ''always'' written as not having [[Our Souls Are Different|souls]] even if they are sentient), making them more expendable.

** Expect that last detail to [[Van Helsing Hate Crimes|make things awkward]] in fiction where there are [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampires|good vampires]], or vampires who aren't evil, [[Carnivore Confusion|just hungry]], operating in the same world.

*** It should also be mentioned that a typical way for a Vampire to die (turning to dust/ash) also means that it's a lot easier to ''show'' a Vampire dying or being killed onscreen. Considering that the original way of killng a vampire was far more complicated and involved (i.e.: you had to turn it to ash [[Kill It with Fire|the hard way]]), it should probably be the other way around: that Vampires started dying that way ''because'' it was safer to show on TV.

** There is also the fact that when a character ceases to be human, they no longer matter. And the fact that it is totally wrong to treat humans like cattle but fine for any other species.

* Not that they appear much as characters in fiction, but [[That Poor Plant|plants, protists, fungi, bacteria, and so on and so forth]] do not count ''at all'' on this scale.

*** Just for the sake of pointing it out, people who've interpreted certain reactions plants have to external stimuli as signs of plant sentience might be the closest there's ever been to a literal example of the trope [[Epileptic Trees]].

*** If a [[Soapbox Sadie]] is present, though, you can get a major talking-to for this, but it's never really taken seriously, like the character, and is often played for comedy. However, [[Avatar|burning down a forest]] is often a [[Moral Event Horizon]], but that's a different level altogether.

* [[Monster of the Week|Monsters Of The Week]], [[Robeast|Giant Monsters]] and [[Big Creepy-Crawlies]] are generally treated as huge pests and exterminated as such without much controversy, typically in self defense. There are some exceptions. If you are a monster, the more you resemble a more conventional specimen of the creature you are based upon, the fewer people you directly harm, and (most importantly) the more personality you have, the better your chances are for surviving. Some human or other will recognize that you are merely misunderstood and may try to help you. Of course, if you eat ''that'' human, you're pretty much boned.

* If the [[Big Bad]] is revealed to be [[Not Even Human|non-human]] as a [[Tomato Surprise]] or [[One-Winged Angel|assuming his monstrous true form]], it usually makes it OK to kill them if it wasn't before.

* As far as other fantastic races, it often seems that the morality of killing the race depends on how much they resemble humans either culturally or physically. [[Five Races|Dwarves, elves, gnomes and halflings]] all look relatively human, and so killing them is bad, but the bestial-looking [[Exclusively Evil|orcs, goblins and trolls]] are evil and should be killed. Other races who obviously are not human, but possess cultural traits such as music or clothing styles that the human audience can easily recognize or identify with, are also given preferential treatment over whatever evil races exist.

* And then there is an uncomfortable border line occupied by characters who ''are'' human—but since they aren't "normal", they aren't considered as such. Good [[Cyborg]]s, if the brain is still intact, are almost always considered human, except by the persecutors who harass them. Bad Cyborgs are treated on the same scale as [[Mecha-Mooks]]. Other "partially disembodied" entities, whether they [[Brain In a Jar|once were humans]] or [[Wetware CPU|were made like that]] run the entire spectrum from being accepted as variant humans to "kill them just to end their supposedly nightmarish existence and go drink some [[Brain Bleach]]". The same can be said for [[Transhuman]] characters.

 

 

In general, the more thought that is put into the script, the more value nonhuman life will have. This trope is often used as a metaphor for the [[Real Life]] issues of animal and human rights. See also [[That Poor Plant]], [[Of the People]], [[Zombie Advocate]] and [[Van Helsing Hate Crimes]]. The flipside of sorts is [[What Measure Is a Non Super]]. Related tropes are [[Uncanny Valley]], [[They Would Cut You Up]], and [[Emergency Transformation]]. Contrast with [[Androids Are People, Too]].

For cases in which this treatment applies to characters who ''are'' human, see [[What Measure Is a Mook?]], [[Moral Myopia]], [[Immortal Life Is Cheap]], and [[A Million Is a Statistic]].

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Animal Tropes]]

[[Category:Double Standard]]

[[Category:Fantastic Sapient Species Tropes]]

[[Category:Philosophy Tropes]]

[[Category:What Measure Is an Index?]]