Rhea Seehorn breaks down why 'The Left Hand of Darkness' is so important to 'Pluribus'
Every science fiction lover jumped up and pointed at the screen, Leonardo DiCaprio style, when a certain book popped up in the Pluribus Season 1 finale.
That book is none other than Ursula K. Le Guin's classic novel The Left Hand of Darkness, which is Carol Sturka's (Rhea Seehorn) poolside read during her globe-trotting adventures with Zosia (Karolina Wydra).
Published in 1969, The Left Hand of Darkness introduces the frigid alien planet of Gethen, whose inhabitants are ambisexual. Every month, they undergo a period known as kemmer, during which they develop sexual characteristics. The Gethenians' unique gender and sexuality has created a world vastly different from our own, impacting everything from war (there is none) to child-rearing (everyone chips in). The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel, the second to do so after Frank Herbert's Dune.
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Given The Left Hand of Darkness' pedigree in genre fiction, it makes sense that Carol, a fantasy writer herself, would be reading it. (Although I'm sure Carol would be the first to say her Winds of Wycaro books don't even come close to Le Guin.) According to Seehorn, choosing The Left Hand of Darkness for the finale came about through joint discussions with finale writers Alison Tatlock and Gordon Smith.
"We talked about who Carol might read in general, especially for leisure. Not that Le Guin's books are easy, passive reading, but they definitely seem like books and a voice and a literary level that Carol would admire," Seehorn told Mashable in a video interview.
Other options for Carol's pool reading included Aldous Huxley's Brave New World for a more dystopian bent. "In the end, we really liked her reading a female author," Seehorn said.
The resonance of The Left Hand of Darkness goes beyond Carol just liking Le Guin, though.
"[The Left Hand of Darkness] holds a mirror to and has some parallels with what the audience is watching happening in this world," Seehorn explained.
In the novel, there is only one human on Gethen: Genly Ai. He's an envoy from the intergalactic coalition of planets known as the Ekumen, and he's hoping to get Gethen to join up. As his time on Gethen progresses, he gains a deeper understanding of the planet's culture, which Le Guin renders in anthropological detail.
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An isolated human in a sea of aliens? Who in Pluribus could relate with that? Sure, Carol isn't the only human left on Earth who is immune to the alien hive mind, but given the show's intense focus on her and her loneliness, she occupies a similar space to the lone Genly. The two act as audience surrogates as they struggle to understand such an alien culture, even if they have help from one dedicated member of said culture (Zosia in Carol's case; Gethenian prime minister Estraven in Genly's). The difference is, while Genly is an interloper on a world that isn't his own, Carol must reckon with an alien force that has overtaken her own world and is actively rewriting Earth's social structures.
There's an even bigger rift between Genly and Carol, though. While Carol wants to put an end to the Joining, Genly is all about joining — getting Gethen to join the Ekumen, that is. That's not quite the same as forcibly inducting the world's population into a hive mind, but there is a similar sense of trying to bring someone into a greater collective who might not want to be a part of it. With that in mind, whose side does Carol gravitate more toward while reading The Left Hand of Darkness? Genly, the one human? Or the Gethenians who may have trepidations about joining a larger alien group?
More importantly, though, Carol Sturka book club when?
Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
