Aliens “R” Us: Searching for the Posthuman Teenager

Abstract

“I am Liz Parker, and five days ago I died; after that things got really weird.” Within the relational geography of the United States, Roswell, New Mexico, continues to function as a key fantasy site as the meeting place between the human and inhuman, so much so that a teen television series was named after it: Roswell (1999–2002). For three seasons, most of the series’ action took place within its isolated, hot, and desolate embrace—more specifically in three locations: West Roswell High School, the Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) Center (part archive for unexplainable incidents, part entertainment center), and the Crash Down Café, the out-of-school meeting and working place for the cast of characters. All other locations seemed to be within a one- or two-day drive. Only seldom do we find the characters on the “outside” for an entire episode—for example, when they were in New York (209,“Max in the City”) and Las Vegas (215,“Viva Las Vegas”). However, despite what appear to be confined and well-defined institutions, one senses that its characters are operating in another space and time, always moving, searching, and driving—nomadic. We seldom see the inside of a classroom, but certainly plenty of hallways, corridors, nooks and crannies, and isolated desert scenery.