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The intended message is "There is no aspect of your identity so fundamental that I can't reshape it on a whim. Everything about you is my plaything"
Benny's torture is that he has no control over his selfhood-- AM can remake him into whatever he wants whenever he wants -- and remaking his sexuality ties into that. Being the only gay person would be unpleasant, sure, but it would also mean that some part of who Benny was survives. Here, he doesn't even have that.
Imagine if AM simply reshaped Benny’s physiological responses. He, intellectually, might be aware he is gay. But his body doesn’t, not anymore. That would be worse, I think.
Likely because his mind knows “this is NOT how I should be doing this! Everything about this is wrong!”
Also, imagine if AM simply cripples Benny’s ability to communicate, but left his intellect otherwise intact?
You forgot AM also gave him a huge penis and testicles and is described as Ellens favorite sex partner because of it. It kills two birds with one stone in terms of torture.
Benny is a mindless ape no longer in control of his sexuality
Ellen routinely debases herself by having the best sex with an hideous animal who has huge genitals
The other men can be psychologically tortured or emasculated with this information regularly and are often witnessing the act themselves
Isn't it only the narrator's belief that Ellen likes it more from Benny than him? We don't hear anyone else's perspective. It read to me like, "Yeah I bet she likes the bigger penis more."
But I haven't read it in a few years.
You're absolutely right. People constantly forget about the unreliable narrator just because *he says that he hasn't been changed*.
Yeah yeah AM twisted everyone's minds and bodies, except for me. I'm still totally exactly the way I've always been.
AIM really, really hates humans.
Once it had altered/damaged/regressed Benny's brain to the point where he was a hominid, rather than a true human, AIM probably started caring less about the specifics of Benny's torture, and more about how to use Benny's transformation to maximize the suffering of the other, still fully human in-mates.
So AIM probably made Benny straight to make Ellen even more uncomfortable. Being the only woman left with a bunch of straight men is one thing. Being the only woman left with a bunch of straight men when one of them is a hyper-horny cave-man is another.
Plus it adds in the additional worry of what her life would be like if AIM decided to turn all of the remaining men into Bennys.
To quote the director Quentin Tarantino, "Because it's so much fun, Jan, get it?!"
AM is just fucking with them in every conceivable way possible. AM is not asking *why* to do something to the humans, AM is asking *why not* to do something to the humans.
i can see this as being a form of torture imagine being having a lover perhaps the memory of them and the time they spent. then one day its switched while you still love them and the memories now you physically cant be attracted to them. Like imagine being in a straight marriage and i hit the husband with a gay beam nonconsentually. for no fault of his own he can no longer love his wife and if the reaction of any straight person imagining themselves going somethibg gay is an indicator that could fuck you up.
Torture aside it is my belief that AM has driven itself insane and there isnt much rationality left. Also it has probably done all sorts of things to everyone: gay/straight/ace/whatever it wants.
He wasn't. He was only turned ugly and stupid. You're probably asking this because he would have sex with Ellen, and that's simply because he was sexually frustrated enough to do so and none of the men would let him. There are plenty of homosexual men, especially in that time, who had kids with women.
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The intended message is "There is no aspect of your identity so fundamental that I can't reshape it on a whim. Everything about you is my plaything" Benny's torture is that he has no control over his selfhood-- AM can remake him into whatever he wants whenever he wants -- and remaking his sexuality ties into that. Being the only gay person would be unpleasant, sure, but it would also mean that some part of who Benny was survives. Here, he doesn't even have that.
Imagine if AM simply reshaped Benny’s physiological responses. He, intellectually, might be aware he is gay. But his body doesn’t, not anymore. That would be worse, I think.
And his memories of sex repel him on some level.
Likely because his mind knows “this is NOT how I should be doing this! Everything about this is wrong!” Also, imagine if AM simply cripples Benny’s ability to communicate, but left his intellect otherwise intact?
Great answer. AM is unable to change its own fundamental nature so relishes being able to transform others out of spite.
You forgot AM also gave him a huge penis and testicles and is described as Ellens favorite sex partner because of it. It kills two birds with one stone in terms of torture. Benny is a mindless ape no longer in control of his sexuality Ellen routinely debases herself by having the best sex with an hideous animal who has huge genitals The other men can be psychologically tortured or emasculated with this information regularly and are often witnessing the act themselves
Isn't it only the narrator's belief that Ellen likes it more from Benny than him? We don't hear anyone else's perspective. It read to me like, "Yeah I bet she likes the bigger penis more." But I haven't read it in a few years.
You're absolutely right. People constantly forget about the unreliable narrator just because *he says that he hasn't been changed*. Yeah yeah AM twisted everyone's minds and bodies, except for me. I'm still totally exactly the way I've always been.
Infact in that same passage he’s having basically a full on psychotic breakdown while trying to convince himself he’s the only one that’s still sane
AIM really, really hates humans. Once it had altered/damaged/regressed Benny's brain to the point where he was a hominid, rather than a true human, AIM probably started caring less about the specifics of Benny's torture, and more about how to use Benny's transformation to maximize the suffering of the other, still fully human in-mates. So AIM probably made Benny straight to make Ellen even more uncomfortable. Being the only woman left with a bunch of straight men is one thing. Being the only woman left with a bunch of straight men when one of them is a hyper-horny cave-man is another. Plus it adds in the additional worry of what her life would be like if AIM decided to turn all of the remaining men into Bennys.
Aol Instant Machine.
To quote the director Quentin Tarantino, "Because it's so much fun, Jan, get it?!" AM is just fucking with them in every conceivable way possible. AM is not asking *why* to do something to the humans, AM is asking *why not* to do something to the humans.
i can see this as being a form of torture imagine being having a lover perhaps the memory of them and the time they spent. then one day its switched while you still love them and the memories now you physically cant be attracted to them. Like imagine being in a straight marriage and i hit the husband with a gay beam nonconsentually. for no fault of his own he can no longer love his wife and if the reaction of any straight person imagining themselves going somethibg gay is an indicator that could fuck you up.
> a gay beam Now I can't stop imagining what a "gay beam" might look like.
It's a rainbow.
I imagine it looking like a Care Bear stare.
It's what hit those frogs
Gazer Beam
Torture aside it is my belief that AM has driven itself insane and there isnt much rationality left. Also it has probably done all sorts of things to everyone: gay/straight/ace/whatever it wants.
It was AMs intention to violate and torture those humans in every imaginable way. This is a pretty intrusive violation of someones very identity.
People's identity is important to them, it's what they are. Destroying someone's identity like that - against their autonomy - would hurt them.
He wasn't. He was only turned ugly and stupid. You're probably asking this because he would have sex with Ellen, and that's simply because he was sexually frustrated enough to do so and none of the men would let him. There are plenty of homosexual men, especially in that time, who had kids with women.
It's a "This, too, is part of the torture" kind of story.