How I Fell In Love With a Cyborg

Hello, dear reader. Allow me to introduce myself, since everything I'm saying in the following text is my personal opinion and, of course, subjective. My own personal history and the experiences I made colour my perception of things and influence my interpretation, therefore with the exact same facts we can still come to different opinions. Please keep that in mind as you read and try to understand the feelings expressed from my point of view.

I was born in 1982 in a small town in germany. I grew up without my biological father, with my mother who was 19 at the day of my birth and in a difficult personal situation as a single mother. She couldn't process the exhaustion and frustration that inevitably comes with the single parent's life, and in a desperate attempt to feel in control, she turned on me. She hit me until her hands hurt, she sometimes hit me with a cooking spoon or with a belt, for no actual reasons: For having sand in my shoes from the playground, for having ripped my jeans from falling down in kindergarden, stuff like that.

In consequence, I did not develop self esteem or a sense of purpose. I learned that everyone hates me, that I'm insignificant, worthless, only there for the purposes of other people. I learned that, in order to not get hurt, I have to stay away from others. In kindergarden, I was hiding, playing all alone. I did not mean to hurt the others, I just wanted to be left alone; but of course, they did not understand. I don't blame them – they were 4 years old, after all. They felt rejected, and they couldn't process that. So they started bullying me, reinforcing my impression that everyone hates me, and the solution: Stay away from others! Solitude became my comfort zone, my safe space. Rejection became a subconscious, knee-jerk attitude. I became more and more agressive to keep others out of my safe space, and stoic to not let them know how much they've hurt me.

Finally, when I was 12 years old, my mother left. My sister's father stepped up and offered me to stay at his place, and of course I did. He never hit me – he educated me by his example. He had strict rules – homework had to be done, then I was allowed to watch TV, for example. And I followed his rules, not out of fear of punishment but because he followed them too.

Slowly, I learned that my behaviour had an impact on other people's perception of myself. That my reflexive rejection had hurt others and they were angry. I opened up; I explained others what I had lived through and how it affected my social behaviour. Some of my classmates couldn't believe it; others simply refused what I had to say. Physical abuse wasn't a thing back then, and if it was, in the public perception, it was always the father who abused the children. Clearly, a mother can't do such horrible things, right?

Well, they can. Women are failable human beings, just like men. They can be as loving, as caring, as manipulative, as opressive, as violent as men can be.

But some, boys and girls, believed me and supported me. From my experience, women support you in a different way than men: Women are the ones who listen to your problems, who try to understand, who hug you, who make you feel better with who you are, while men are more pushing you up the hill, more interested in solving the problem, more „don't let that drag you down, get over it, grab your life with both hands and live it by all means!“ Women make you feel better with your situation, men make you improve your situation.

Lately, the male style support is dismissed by some people who call themselves „feminists“. It's called „toxic masculinity“. If you are one of those, here's an inconvenient truth for you: You are wrong!

Sure, if you are sobbing because some bad shit happened to you, you want that female style, that hugging, that „everything's gonna be alright“. But once you're out of tears and it's time for you to get back on track and live on, the male style is just right. Keep in mind: „Get over it“ does not necessarily mean „don't bother me with your petty problems“. Most of the times it means „life goes on and only you can make it better, but I will help you“. I got both kinds of support, both did help me, and I can say for sure that, wether you're male or female, you can't grow to your full potential with only one of them. And I am grateful for every well deserved, friendly kick in the butt that I received from my friends when I needed it, just as much as I'm grateful for every hug and every nice word that I received when I hit rock bottom.

And here we come to the juicy part. The cyborg I'm in love with is Alita. And just for clarification: It's not meant in a sexual way. So stop thinking of me wanking over a movie poster!

First of all, Alita: Battle Angel is a fantastic movie. Not a flawless one, but the characters are distinguishable and likeable, Iron City looks like a real post-apocalyptic city, the visual effects are stunning and the action scenes are fantastic. It is entertaining, and that's what movies are for, right? Furthermore, it is inspiring! I can see a generation of prosthetics engineers starting their career in 5 to 10 years because of that movie. It already had an impact on the real world: James Cameron worked together with Open Bionics to give a set of arm prosthetics to a young girl.

„But that's only one girl“, you might say, „what about all the other amputees?“ Well, it does not end with this one set. The technology is out in the world now; other companies will try hard to develop similar prosthetics. They will improve them, make them easier to build, cheaper, affordable for anyone. This one set of prosthetics is no drop of water in the desert – it's the stone in the water, causing ripples that travel to the most remote shore of the lake.

Alita takes us on a journey to discover her world. She's amnesiac, and by her learning about the world she lives in, we, the audience, learns that too. She is like Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy; we explore the universe through her eyes. And like Luke Skywalker, she inspires us to go our own way, when she's asking Hugo "Whose rule do I live by?" She inspires us to believe in ourselves, even if we are broken in one way or another. She inspires us to fight for the good. Even in the dirty, post apocalyptic streets of Iron City, she is a beacon of hope.

But ultimately I love Alita: Battle Angel for the most important messages it has to offer, to both boys and girls, men and women alike: Never believe you're insignificant; and don't fear failure! If you fail, even if you get crushed to pieces – literally! - you can come out of that stronger then before! That's empowerment done right!

I love Alita for her kindness. I love her because of the true joy when she discovers her new body, when she tastes chocolate for the first time, when she's playing motorball with her friends. I love her for the shock and horror when she believes Ido is a murderer. And I love her for her determination to fight evil. For her defiance to keep fighting even with only one arm left. Alita is a perfect example of a hero(!): Kind, unselfish, brave, strong but not invulnerable. Captain Marvel, in comparison, leans to the worst example of male heroes: „I have only one facial expression and that is blank“ Blade!

Would I date Alita if she was real? Yes, I would. Is she a sex doll to me, a love bot? Not in a million years! She's a person! A person with a great character. A strong, independent, kind person. A person I could love with all my heart, and I wouldn't give a f*** that 90% of her body are made of some metal nanopolymer alloy and her heart is a matter/antimatter reactor. Or that she's strong enough to smash a metal desk with her bare fists. I would date her because I'm not afraid of a woman that is physically stronger then me. Because I'm not afraid of an indipendent woman.

Alita: Battle Angel is a movie; a piece of art. Art is meant to unite people, not divide them. Alita: Battle Angel united people:

Fans of the manga, fans of the anime, fans of the movie, we are united in our love for Alita.

Men and women, white people, black people, asian people, we are united in our love for Alita.

All we want is to celebrate this piece of art together. But we can't. We stand back to back because we are under attack. We are called all sorts of names because we like a good movie with a loveable protagonist. We're attacked by people who claim to fight for diversity and equality, but they seek to destroy the diverse fanbase Alita: Battle Angel gathered. By people who claim to fight for minorities and for disenfranchised and underprivileged people, but they attack victims of bullying, victims of harassment, victims of physical and emotional abuse, single parents, women, people of colour who love Alita. People who claim to fight for respect, but they dehumanize all those human beings who love Alita. But here's the third important lesson Alita teaches us: Never give up your dreams! Some day in the future, those imposters will be publicly dismantled, their lies disproven, their hateful ideology open for all to see. And on that day, we, the fans, the diverse fanbase of Alita: Battle Angel, will come together and celebrate our movie, our heroine, our love.

We do not stand by in the presence of evil!