Line #15 Literature/WhatIsThisThingCalledLove


1	%%https://drive.google.com/open?id=15WDPFcsU1nZh0sZhSHLjUblB5InkfH6H
2
3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/playboyslime.png]]
4	%% [[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
5
6	This story was first published in ''Magazine/AmazingStories'' (March 1961 issue), by Creator/IsaacAsimov, under the title "Playboy and the Slime God".
7
8	Investigator Botax and Captain Garm are [[FantasticAnthropologist alien researchers]] who are trying to understand [[HumansThroughAlienEyes humans and bisexual reproduction]]. Unfortunately, they're hindered by getting their ideas from ScienceFiction stories. Botax attempts to [[InvokedTrope invoke several tropes]] in their attempt to make the male/female pair "cooperate". It goes very poorly.
9
10	"What Is This Thing Called Love?" has been republished several times; ''Dodici Volte Domani'' (1964), ''Great Science Fiction From Amazing'' (1965), ''Science Fiction Oddities'' (1966), ''Urania'' (issue #455, February 1967), ''Literature/NightfallAndOtherStories'' (1969), ''Liebe 2002'' (1971), ''Sex in the 21st Century'' (1979), ''Le Livre d'Or de la Science Fiction: Isaac Asimov'' (1980), ''Flying Saucers'' (1982), ''Amazing Stories: 60 Years of the Best Science Fiction'' (1985), ''Literature/TheCompleteStories, Volume 1'' (1990), ''Alef, #22'' (November 1990), ''Literature/IsaacAsimovPresentsTheGreatScienceFictionStoriesVolume231961 (1991)'', ''The Wizards of Odd: Comic Tales of Fantasy'' (1996), ''[=UFOs=]: The Greatest Stories'' (1996), and ''Girls for the Slime God'' (1997).
11	----
12	!!"What Is This Thing Called Love?" contains examples of:
13	* AlienAbduction: The [[FantasticAnthropologist alien researcher]] kidnaps two people from a train station to demonstrate [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove how humans engage in reproduction]].
14	* AliensMadeThemDoIt: The story is a {{parody}} of this trope - the aliens would ''like'' to make them do it, but are completely clueless about how to.
15	* BioluminescenceIsCool: The alien protagonists communicate using light, causing difficulty in understanding human biology including speech (which one of them describes as "a sort of complicated coughing").
16	* BizarreAlienReproduction: The [[HumansThroughAlienEyes alien protagonists]] are an asexually reproducing species. One [[FantasticAnthropologist alien researcher]] is trying to convince his boss that Earth animals have bisexual reproduction, although neither one really understand the difference between mating and courtship, and the subjects they kidnap are too embarrassed to explain anything.
17	* TheCassandra: Botax is unable to convince Garm that humans reproduce sexually.
18	* {{Deconstruction}}: The story was written as a counterpoint to a Magazine/{{Playboy}} article "Girls of the Slime God" by William Knowles, which presented a tongue-in-cheek picture of science fiction as [[MarsNeedsWomen lurid tales about aliens and sex]]. Asimov took a (somewhat) more serious approach to the question of how aliens might take an interest in human sexuality.
19	* FantasticAnthropologist: The alien protagonists are [[AlienAbduction abducting humans]] in order to [[HumansThroughAlienEyes better understand us]].
20	* GenreSavvy: Investigator Botax, an [[FantasticAnthropologist alien anthropologist]], has studied our literature in an attempt to [[HumansThroughAlienEyes understand humanity]]. During their demonstration to Captain Garm, they read excerpts from several erotic stories, especially "[[{{Magazine/Playboy}} Recreationlad]]".
21	* HookedUpAfterwards: Once the aliens have returned them to Earth, the two abducted humans start discussing their weird experience, and [[OneThingLedToAnother one thing leads to another]]...
22	* HumansAreSpecial: One [[FantasticAnthropologist alien researcher]] is trying to convince his boss that Earth animals have bisexual reproduction and this is a problem due to the way that recombination hastens evolutionary biology compared to asexual reproduction.
23	* HumansThroughAlienEyes: Our primary viewpoint character is slimy bug-eyed monsters, part of an [[FantasticAnthropologist advanced scouting mission]]. They find humans [[HumansAreSpecial strange]] for many reasons, especially our sexual dimorphism and bisexual reproduction. They abduct a pair of humans to demonstrate these qualities to their superior, who finds their claims too disgusting to be believable.
24	* LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision: The alien researcher has spent months [[FantasticAnthropologist studying humanity]] from a spy cell on Earth. It learned English (and about our sexual lives) from capturing public broadcasts. They don't normally use sound to communicate, so English is difficult to mimic, but it is reasonably close.
25	* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The original title, "Playboy and the Slime God", refers to ''{{Magazine/Playboy}}'' magazine and one of their articles, "Girls for the Slime God". It presents a {{parody}} of what one would expect from erotic science-fiction.
26	* SexyDiscretionShot: Parodied when an [[FantasticAnthropologist alien researcher]], who has been [[GenreSavvy studying human literature]], is frustrated by the fact that stories always fade out after TheBigDamnKiss when describing human procreation. The researcher is aware there is more, it's the fact that there is never more described that frustrates them. It is also misled by the unrealistically described... hmmm... courting rituals.
27	* ShoutOut: One of the more popular periodicals that Botax uses to research human mating rituals is called "[[{{Magazine/Playboy}} Recreationlad]]".
28	* StarfishLanguage: The alien protagonists communicate by changing their color. A TranslationConvention is in effect for the audience, but to communicate with [[HumansThroughAlienEyes the human test subjects]], one alien demonstrates their [[AliensSpeakingEnglish ability to make "modulated sound waves"]].
29	* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Our alien protagonists reproduce asexually. The [[FantasticAnthropologist researcher stationed on Earth]] has [[AlienAbduction abducted two humans]] to demonstrate sexual reproduction and human mating rituals to their boss. They are focused on trying to demonstrate lust and sex rather than "love".

Context Literature / WhatIsThisThingCalledLove