Metafiction: Looking for the True History of Mankind

   <  My name is Elwyn Han. This article is about the story of myself and my ancestors. This is being written in December 3rd 2319 in human calendar about three hundred years after the aliens' colonization of the planet Earth. No alien should be allowed to read this for this is a prohibited story for them. The reading of these passages should be restricted to humans or the controlas. You, who are to read and finish this, are not a controla anymore from now on, but a human with true knowledge of your ancestors. You are now burdened with the responsibility to spread this knowledge.

      There are two classes of intellectual beings on Earth. One species rules the other entire species. The ruler is called the "Domina" and the ruled is called the "Controla." The two species look distinct from each other. Dominas are much taller creatures with average height of two and a half meters. They have a very smooth skin with no fur on their bodies. They have strength to hold three male controlas at once with their long arms while their short but strong legs stand their great weight. Controlas are physically much weaker than the dominas. Their average height is only 1.7meters and their physical strength cannot be compared to that of the dominas. However, the controlas have better balanced body with faces of sharp features.

     According to the history of the Earth written by the ancestors of dominas, the controlas have been ruled by the dominas from the earliest beginning. It was allegedly the decision of a deity to give all the powers to the dominas. The dominas hold all political rights. All adult dominas, regardless of race and sex, can vote and run for offices while the controlas have no access to politics at all. Moreover, controlas are prohibited from using computers and any IT devices. They can get information only from the materials provided by the dominas. A controla is allowed to pursue a career but his or her choice was restricted to those jobs that do not require much intelligence and information. Controlas are usually hired for menial works and simple paper works.

     I used to belong to the controlas with great pride in my origin. Although the bizarre looking dominas tell us what to do and interfere in our lives, I believe that we are fundamentally better. We have much more various emotions than the dominas do. With the above thought, I started to doubt about whether we were always ruled by the dominas. First of all, they have another planet they call the "home planet." They might have come from the planet some thousand years ago to Earth and just pretend to have ruled us forever. Moreover, I could not understand how the controlas had evolved to possess such intellectual ability if they never experienced to build their own civilizations.

     Therefore, I started to do some research.

     When I thought of myself as a controla, I worked as a secretary of a professor in a university. Of course, my boss was a domina. Fortunately for me, he was a pro-controla figure who had an interest in civil rights movement for the controlas. His main field of study was history and since he was kind to me, I could read his books freely in his room when there was no one around. After I decided to burrow into secrets, I spent more time reading his books. The research process, however, was much more difficult than I expected. If I had not firmly believed that the controlas used to be independent beings, I would have had given up several times already. It seemed that the dominas did their job of eliminating our history quite fastidiously.

     One day, I found a book named, "The History of Information Control by Humans." I was attracted to this book for I was curious what "Humans" are. While I was reading it, I found an article that reads as follows.

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Report XVI-2020

In 2020, Kim Jeongil, the national leader of North Korea, passed away. The North Korean government was put into a chaos with the absence of  their spiritual leader. No one seemed able to anticipate what would happen to the only left isolated country in the world. After 3 days, China rose up claiming its right to take control of North Korea. China wanted to use its closest relationship with North Korea based on their shared ideology. 


However, just at the moment when China was about to gobble up North Korea, South Korean citizens along with their president, got furious. "We need war" was the national consensus. Not a single person protested when the government came up with a war-fundraising project. The war seemed imminent. It seemed that only a few days were left before a massive war.

On the boundary of the war to declare its start, an unidentified object from the universe arrived at Beijing, China threatening the entire planet to be under the control of aliens. Both the Chinese and Korean governments fell into a state of chaos. They had prepared so many troops for the war and due to the arrival of aliens, the world is urging them to cooperate.

Another striking reality was revealed by the CIA task force in Beijing. The national leader of China, Hu Jintao was the spy that the aliens had planted prior to their attack. Hu Jintao had succeeded in creating a belligerent atmosphere on the entire globe since the war between China and Korea led to the conflicts all over the world. 

With the appearance of the extraterrestrial beings, the citizens all over the world were confounded.

     The report ended with the last sentence, leaving a huge impression. My conjecture was proven right. We the controlas were not always inferior beings. We had our own civilizations called countries. We had our own armies and own governments. This could be a direct counter evidence against the domina government's claim that controlas were predestined to be ruled.

     However, as a controla, I did not have access to any means to reveal this astonishing fact to the mass. I would have never used media for no controla were there in the industry and the dominas would arrest me if I were to reveal the fact. Therefore, I decided to continue the research. The report taught me that I am an independent being but it can never be the whole story of my ancestors. After I complete the story, I would think of the means to turn the story backward.

     After long hours of contemplation, I concluded that I need the help of my boss to proceed. It took me several weeks to find out a single piece of evidence of human civilization and it must take some years to complete the story of colonization. I hoped to spur my research with the aid of a history professor. When I brought the issue to him, he was first surprised to hear that I found out my knowledge from his book and was willing to help me but for purely academic cause.

      Fortunately, the report was giving us the direction of our research. The evil scheme to colonize the Earth began with the plantation of a spy into the country called China and the wicked spy succeeded in forming a conflicting atmosphere between countries before the actual attack from the home planet. I set the focus of my search on the spy's deeds during his mission. The professor authorized me to use the internet and I was able to read any books and articles with the new source of information. I spent most of my work time as well as private time for the research. I was deeply into it.

     The spy seemed to be a very sly one. I could not believe he was from another planet. He quickly grasped the environments surrounding China and found out that he could use North Korea to make some noise. By using secret agents located in North Korea, he poisoned the North Korean leader to death and declared the death was a natural one. He made glaringly ambitious remarks about taking over North Korea in an intention to provoke South Korean citizens as well as its allies such as the United States. He remained in the form of a human being even after the arrival of the "home planet" forces. When the situation urged the entire world to cooperate in order to defend itself from the aliens' threat, Hu Jintao, the leader of 1/5 of the whole Earth's population opposed to any sort of cooperation with other countries and constantly created conflicts.

     Due to the fundamental superiority of aliens in their technology and the failure of cooperation in the side of defenders, the aliens took over the planet within two months. They abolished all the political and social system of the mankind. They first got rid of all the countries and united all of them into one entity under the control of Hu Jintao. Humans were hired to perform administrative works at first but as time passed the aliens replaced them as they understood the planet better.

     As the report was written in 2020 and I am writing this article in 2319, almost 300 years have passed since the reign of dominas. Now, our species lost the our name "human", and is now collectively called the "Controla." Still, I wondered how the aliens could eliminate all the records of human civilization that existed more than several thousand years.

     One day, I was heading to my office as usual and some unfamiliar dominas approached me and forcefully dragged me to some interrogation building I had never been. Before the interrogation, they told me that they all knew about what I gathered and found out. One striking fact came to me; they had a chip planted to every individual controlas. With the chip, the dominas could keep track of all controlas' thoughts. At the time I was arrested, I must have been one of the most thinking controlas since other controlas do works that do not involve much thinking. The dominas checked me out and realized that I was committing a serious crime in their point of view. They arrested me and sentenced me to death.

     Now, I have all the answers to the colonization of this planet. I might not be the first one to gather the answers since the dominas could always have killed my precedents with the chips. However, I feel obliged to leave these truths for the sake of our species, "human." If you now finished reading this, try to think as little as possible about this matter. If you are too much into this, dominas will someday come to you and get you. Remember this as you would not forget about this. Live your life as normal as you did before. However, you are still responsible for spreading this knowledge to many people. That way only our mankind can revive into the honor we used to possess. >


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Chain Writing 10/10 result

     In 2020, Kim Jeongil, the national leader of North Korea, suddenly passed away. The North Korean government was put into a chaos in the absence of  leader and no one seemed able to anticipate what would happen to the only left isolated country in the world. After 3 days, China rose up claiming its right to take control over North Korea for it was in the closest relationship and it helped North Korea to sustain from falling down.

     However, just at the moment when China was about to gobble up North Korea for its own, South Korean citizens along with their president, got furious. "We need war" was the national consensus. Not a single person protested when the government came up with a war-fundraising project. Suddenly, the speculation of a war was imminent. It seemed that only a few days were left before a massive war. 

     However, on the boundary of the war to declare its start, an unidentified object from the universe arrived at Manhattan, New York, threatening all people all over the world and binding all citizens of whatever countries to be real cosmopolitans and force them to cooperate. 

     Both the Korean and Chinese governments fell into a state of chaos. They have prepared so many troops for the war and due to the arrival of aliens, the world is urging them to cooperate. 'If we attack first when they decide to agree upon a temporary truce, we would be able to win the war and conquer their land' was the primary thoughts of executive officials from both countries. 'What was gonna happen?', the citizens were in fear. Then, a groundbreaking news was revealed; the Prime minister of China, Hu Zintao, was actually a disguised creature that the aliens had sent. Foolish Chinses put him at the position in which he could almost freely control all the Chinese troops. The war now seemed inevitable - it was just that there was a little shift in the aim of war; to achieve North Korean territory to kill the alien master. 

     The president of Korea decided to form an alliance with all the countries which were not friendly with China. He sent messages of supposition to Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Mongol, and so on. He was now all ready to propose war. Another unbelievable things happened. Aliens landed at Seoul in great number. Koreans were confounded by the unexpected appearance of aliens. 

Response to "Exit Through the Gift Shop"

     I found this movie interesting as 96% of the reviewers did in the Rotten Tomatoes. The reason that so many people could have enjoyed this may be the passion a man named Thierry Guetta had shown in the film. He is introduced as a French citizen who immigrated to US years ago and made quite a living by running a clothing store. He does not seem so intelligent or sophisticated but rather looks comical with his strong French accent. Still, he loves his life of merchandising clothes and recording with his video camera. His characteristic obsession with filming every single moment whether significant or not was originated from sudden loss of his mother. Sense of great loss struck him so harshly and thus motivated him to stick to every minute and second that will never come back again. The motivation became an obsession and obsession gave birth to the lifelong passion of "Mr. Brainwash."

"I came up with the idea that the whole movement of art is all about brainwash.
So I use M.B.W and I am Mr. Brainwash." - Thierry Guetta

     The rise of Mr. Brainwash as a street artist is fabulously rapid and therefore quite implausible. It can be proved from his family and acquaintances that he constantly filmed everything he saw and he met numerous street artists anywhere there is a wall to decorate. He started from his cousin, the "Space Invader" and then moved to Shepard Fairey who had become famous for Obama's "hope" poster. Determined to make the first documentary featuring the street art, Thierry Guetta ardently looks for "Banksy", the single most influential street artist whose artworks are everywhere and well appreciated by worldwide reviewers. 
     However, even after accepting the fact that Thierry had witnessed many scenes when other artists embellish streets, many people still do not feel certain about the authenticity of Mr. Brainwash. The Wall Street Journal article "Mr. Brainwash: For Real?" by Candace Jackson and Lauren A. E. Schuker raises the same question as that the other bewildered watchers did.
     There are several reasons why Thierry is doubted about his artworks. First and foremost, his appearance in the movie does not seem to be that of an artist. The film never shows him while he creates his art works. Spraying pigments to already drawn paintings and clumsily attaching his poster to walls are the only things that he does and the film shows us about his production of arts. 

     Second, Thierry's rise as a street artist is extraordinarily fast. According to Banksy, for most street artists, it takes several years to formulate their own style and even then only distinguished a few succeed in establishing fame and influence over the art world. In Thierry's case, he never hesitated in expanding his art. He started with the idea that the whole art is about brainwashing and produced paintings of people in their sunglasses. After Banksy suggested him to be a street artist himself, he became so prolific that he could think of holding an art show in a giant warehouse in Los Angeles. His progress is just unlikely. Neither Fairey nor Banksy gives us explicit reason to the situation because either they do not know either, or the whole thing is concocted. 
     Movies dealing with real events or phenomena oftentimes have to bear the attacks from the people who doubt the truth of the material. For example, an American documentary that deals with fake identities online, "Catfish" was in controversy whether the romantic relationship between the main character Nev Schulman and Megan Faccio made-up identity by Angela actually existed. Likewise, a Korean documentary "The true-taste show" that revealed the deceit of TV programs in introducing  restaurants that allegedly serve good foods was also hotly debated whether the documentary was real. The contents of this kind of films are sometimes so shocking and trenchant that the audiences cannot easily accept them as truth. 
     "The Exit Through the Gift Shop" also illustrates some story. Not only is the Thierry's story fascinating but also lives of other street artists are interesting enough to attract our attention. Although most of their art performances are illegal, their spirit of resistance and arts in which their spirit is realized are just too fascinating to be disregarded as mere acts of defiance. Some people suspect that Mr. Brainwash is another ego of Banksy that borrows Thierry's outlook. According to the Wall Street Journal article, Mr. Brainwash said "Maybe I am Banksy." and in another interview, he said in a sense that he is the final incarnation of Banksy's art soul. 
     We will probably never know whether Mr. Brainwash actually creates his works. The enigma of M.B.W, however, does not interfere the enjoyment we feel when appreciating creative art works by the street artists but adds more fascination and sort of energy to the film. Moreover, even if Thierry might not be Mr. Brainwash, he still is an artist of a different kind who first seriously considered making a documentary about street arts and did. In my opinion, for the better enjoyment of the film and critique, the movie critics should focus on the free spirits of street artists captured thanks to Thierry which would rather be very hard to record in video not on the veracity of the material.