Sphere Blog Post 2: Subtle Condescension

Plot twist! The alien entity that had been conjuring sea monsters to attack the scientists is not what it seems. When Harry went into the sphere, he gained the power to make his thoughts - including fears of giant squid - come to life. Beth and Norman knock him out, but then Beth herself goes into the sphere and gets the power. Norman is forced to do so later to protect himself from Beth. Eventually they blow up the underwater spaceship, escape to the surface, are picked up by the Navy, and then intentionally lose their powers for the sake of mankind.

Harry is the only important African-American character in the book. Crichton characterizes Harry as a cold, calculating man who has a superior attitude towards others. Norman, the psychologist character, explains Harry’s behavior in the following way. As a child, Harry was a mathematical prodigy who was learning math equations while the other kids were learning how to play basketball (27). As an adult, he feels the need to compensate for his background by presenting himself as “Mr. Arrogant Know-It-All Black Man” (26).

Let’s say that Harry was a real person. In that case, Norman’s psychoanalysis may be correct. However, Crichton’s use of Harry’s back story promotes the stereotype that black people societally value sports more than school/learning.

Beth is the only important female character in Sphere. She works out and acts tough - she is described as Amazonian. However, Norman psychoanalyzes that Beth feels oppressed by the patriarchy and lusts for the power that she feels is denied to her because she is a woman. This psychoanalysis implies that when Beth gets the power from the sphere and acts manipulatively and irrationally towards Norman, it is due to her underlying anti-patriarchy views. Again, if Beth was a real person Norman’s psychoanalysis might be correct, but the characterization of Beth as a man-hater who acts aggressively and irrationally because of her feminism condemns the real people who have the viewpoint of feeling oppressed by the patriarchy.

I am a white male myself who has never felt outcast or oppressed by my society. It is natural for someone such as myself to want to understand the struggle of women or African-Americans and empathize with them. The honest way to attempt this understanding of a person is to talk to them, to ask them about their experiences, how they feel. The dishonest way is to take your own biases and stereotypes - such as the stereotype that African Americans don’t value education, or a bias against feminists - and draw conclusions based on your own limited perspective. That’s exactly what Michael Crichton did. Through the guise of a psychologist character, Crichton made characters that are themselves stereotypes and pseudo-psychoanalyzed them. Attempting to understand a person or group of people through fabrication is inevitably condescending.