ALL SCI-FI

Bud Brewster · Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 3:50 pm Post subject: Unnatural (1952 West Germany)

________

* The poster is very appealing. I'd like to see other works of art by the person who created it.

Also released as "Alraune".

Obscure West German film whose basic premise implies that if a human is conceived by artificial insemination they would have no soul (!).

Erich von Stroheim plays the scientist who conducts an experiment in artificial insemination. Hildegarde Neff is the "unnatural" woman he creates. The concept seems illogical unless you accept the film's premise that the soul is "created" by the two mating partners at the same instant the egg is fertilized.

Directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt.

Regardless of how one feels about the concept of souls, (whether they exist, how they're created, etc.), it's actually not that hard to believe that some people have souls and others do not.

Religious views aside (if that's possible, given the subject matter) I sometimes wonder if the truly evil people in this world differ from the more humane folks for just this reason.

After all, if souls do exist, they form a kind of symbiosis with the physical body. Religions claim that the body dies, but the soul keeps going and going like that unstoppable bionic Lepus.

If souls do exist and we're just a teeny bit wrong about who made them (God), along with the idea that everybody has one (like a guarantee from the manufacturer), then maybe some folks do have souls and some folks don't.

It would certainly explain a lot about the world we live in, eh?
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

scotpens

Wiki has some interesting info on the original 1911 novel, the medieval legend that inspired it, the various film versions and the story's influence on other media.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alraune

In the novel, Alraune's mother is a prostitute whom the scientist artificially impregnates with the seed of an executed murderer. (No, I don't know how he obtained it -- and I don't think I want to. Rolling Eyes

)

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2024 12:14 pm Post subject:

______________________________________________

"Right on, brother!" Cool

(Hey, look! A Ray Charles emoji!")
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

WadeVC · Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2024 8:48 am Post subject: Re: Unnatural (1952 West Germany)

Bud Brewster · Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2024 2:35 pm Post subject:

______________________________________________

A fascinating question, Brother Wade!

If test tube babies are given a soul by God — then, by god, He must condone the conception! Shocked

But if God does NOT condone it, and He therefore does not bequeath the individual with a soul . . . does that mean such a person would be free to sin their ass off and never worry about going to hell? Twisted Evil

After all, animals have no souls — so if a buck deer kills a hunter, it didn't break the sixth command (Thou shalt not kill), it just did unto the man what the man wanted to do unto IT!

Following that crazy line of thinking, Satan would have no interest in test tube baby/people, because they can't sell their souls to the devil, simply because they ain't go one to sell! Shocked

Folks, if that ain't nutty enough for you, how 'bout this?

Siamese twins are caused by two embryos that are joined together during fertilization. But suppose one embryo gets a sperm from Daddy, while they other one is artificially inseminated?

Would one twin have a soul . . . while the other one be "soulless"?

Imagine a horror movie with that premise.

On second thought . . . try NOT to think about. Sad

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

WadeVC · Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2024 2:57 am Post subject:

WadeVC · Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2024 3:21 am Post subject:

Bud Brewster · Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2024 1:08 pm Post subject:

______________________________________________

A globe-hopping explorer traveled to a remote Tibetan monastery and was granted an audience with the Dalai Lama. He asked the wise old man a question that had troubled him his whole life.

"Your Holiness . . . I must know! Do souls exist — and if so, are they possessed by all things created?"

The Dalai Lama lama smiled and said, "Yes, my son, souls do exist."

With desperate eagerness, the man said, "But what about the second part of my question?"

The old man leaned closer and spoke in a low, intense voice.

"The answer, my son, is that . . . shoes have souls. But socks
. . . do not."
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)