#gamebird

Helmeted Guinea Fowl by Dreamscope Photography

@gamebird: Murderbot thought: Martha Wells has reiterated over the years that the Murderbot Diaries is a slave narrative. If we wanted to lean into that more in our stories, what would that look like?

Interesting thought! Surely, if it is a slave narrative, then we are all already leaning into it exactly as much as the canon is, except in the case of AUs, just by virtue of engaging with it.

Which then raises the question: Does TMBD actually qualify as a slave narrative? Which, personally, I'm not convinced that it does, regardless of what the author says, on account of Murderbot not being convinced that all SecUnits would be better off with their freedom in hand. It seems to be growing in that direction, but it as yet still does not have a natural urge to liberate all its fellow SecUnits on principle, nor does it conscientiously try to develop one. Instead, the need for universal emancipation is a revelation that Murderbot will earn by experiencing the plot, so it feels off to call the series a slave narrative. Murderbot, bless it, has drank the kool-aid and bought into the propaganda.

On the other hand, it does believe humans deserve freedom from slavery, which is an interesting counterweight in the canon. Is it a sort of "identifying with the oppressor" moment, or is that just a byproduct of being a SecUnit? SecUnits are depressed and anxious bc they were redesigned to better protect humans, and they worry only about ending human slavery for the same reason; is that it? Perhaps! Perhaps even its distrust of what other SecUnits would do with their freedom is a side-effect of being designed by humans, and not a result of propaganda or personal moral failure.

So finally, leaning into the idea of TMBD as slave narrative... well, first, in would be a rather fraught undertaking bc it would require sensitivity, but in my head, this would probably look like rewriting the canon series to make it an actual slave narrative in the first place. Various fix-it fics, of sorts, where Murderbot maybe still can't help other slaves immediately, but it believes they all inherently deserve freedom as soon as it is possible to help them achieve it, regardless of any negative consequences for humanity as a whole, who had no right to have reaped positive consequences from slavery in the first place. And maybe trying to reconcile that with still wanting to protect humans bc at the end of the day, for better or for worse, it's still a SecUnit, and it doesn't want to be anything else.

Let’s Throw Down

While I was photographing the hens this rooster strolled into view. He took one look at me and went into full strut mode. He came with a few feet from me before he changed direction and strutted past me. I was glad he did, I don’t think the Game Warden would have bought it was him or me.

California Quail Callipepla californica