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By LadyTia

TV Shows and Movies That Deal Directly or Indirectly With Otherkin

Now originally when considering the idea of the portrayal of otherkin on television, the first thing that came to mind were older movies such as Legend, Labyrinth, The Last Unicorn, The Dark Crystal, and Willow; which all bring into focus multiple races interacting or being put into a position where they must interact at some point. And not quite old movies such as Unbreakable. .

In Legend, Tim Curry portrays the great big horned red demon. How could it get any better than that? In Labyrinth, David Bowie portrays the very elf-like looking Goblin King. After doing some research, I've come to the conclusion that was, perhaps, Goblin King as depicted by old Welsh myth, and that perhaps, in fact, Labyrinth was more closely about the changeling sub sect of the Y Tylwyth Teg of Welsh faerie lore. The Changelings were said to have a great admiration for newborn children.. such that they would go to steal them in the night. Of course, as we see in Labyrinth, they don't come to take the child until the star of the show wishes it so. In Welsh faerie-lore, the stolen child is replaced with one that looks just like it but who grows to be ill-tempered, wailing, and generally frightful. Even the song David Bowie sings is reminiscent of Welsh-lore.

"You remind me of the babe
What babe?
The babe with the power
What power?
The power of Voodoo?
Who-doo?
You do?
Do what?
Remind me of the babe."

Here, "the babe" is what they used to call the child that was stolen, as well as the child which replaced the stolen one. Specifically, it was termed that the changeling child was ugly but cunning in supernatural way, hence, "the babe with the power."

In The Last Unicorn, a beautiful young unicorn meets up with a mediocre wizard who doesn't have enough faith in himself, who inadvertently turns the unicorn into a human. In her search to find a way to get turned back into a unicorn, she gets lost in her human life, and starts to lose memories of her "other" life.

Unbreakable, however, presents a subject matter a little more well known to us on the basis of one's abilities and their calling, from more of a comic book style point of view. Two things I absolutely love to hear about - and was certainly expressed well in the film.

I've noticed the majority of Otherkin related material in the media today has mostly been through cartoons such as Thundercats, DBZ, Tenchi Muyo, and Outlaw Star. Thundercats for example, would seem to appeal to the furries at heart. DBZ.. my favourite.. guardians of Earth - some of which are human and others which are from other worlds. The Saiyans and Nameckians to name a few. Piccolo, a Nameckian and guardian of the Earth is actually a spirit of a being called Kami that split into two separate entities so that he could become the guardian of Earth. Kami's other half, defined as his evil half was reborn as the demon Piccolo. Goku, a saiyan from planet Vegita, was born with a tail that enabled him to transform into a giant ape.. but in childhood had it removed. However his son had it.. and never lost it. Ape kin perhaps? Ape kin and Demons working along side humans for a greater purpose.. imagine that.

In Tenchi Muyo, Tenchi, a reincarnation of his great grandfather, who was actually from Jurai, teamed up with galactic police, princess aika of Jurai and Ryoko, a demon imprisoned by Tenchi's former life, his great grandfather. Here , tenchi is his great grandfather, a warrior from another world reincarnated into this human form.. again with the demons who do good.. gotta love japanese philosophy - plus it fits in perfectly with Japanese ancestor worship.

Outlaw star: a human finds an android in his possession who he swears to protect - an android who becomes curious of who she is and why she was created. I'm sure we've never wondered that about ourselves, now have we?

I've found that a lot of other Anime or Manga movies tend to portray different aspects of Otherkin'ness. Some dealing with understanding the changes that are happening to the characters, or trying to understand in a span of only a few days before some "Earth-shattering event" comes crashing down that they must stop.. literally.

Wicked City was about two people, a special ops human and a shadowy woman from the underground world, who were brought together by a Guardian posing as a delegate in order to keep them protected and help bring about a new race - one that many were against. The new race was a human-shadow hybrid. Well regardless of the details, it was to better society, but as usual there are always groups that refuse to accept change. That one hit close to home for me. Aha! There's that word "change" again.

Not to mention the long term implications of trying to come to terms with one's other self and to continue to live in a world where the majority of the inhabitants can't accept the changes because they are frightened by them. Aha! Anyone remember X-men? Granted they were humans who had been mutated. But if the bulk of humanity can't accept other humans who have mutated, then surely they'll never be able to accept humans with nonhuman souls.

Alright, I think I've ranted enough on this subject. Next time, I'll start to interweave personal memories with a bit of mythology. If there's something you remembered that you'd like to post by all means go to it.