The Blue Man character is not an alien. He looks different on the outside, that’s for sure, but the key to the Blue Man is his inner life. The people who really connect with the Blue Man see past his unusual appearance and see something fundamentally human. Unlike the Blue Man, most of us are comfortable with pretense, we tend to our egos and our personas. We feel awkward in the presence of the primal, self-conscious in moments of playfulness and we routinely feel alone in crowds. The Blue Man is the opposite. He is naturally authentic, he is egoless, he is at home in the primal, he is never self-conscious and he easily connects with others.
What does it say about the human condition that someone with these traits seems so alien to us? Clearly, in the process of becoming “civilized” something has been lost. It’s so far gone that when it stares us in the eyes, we don’t even recognize it, and it seems strange.
There’s a part of us that instinctively knows we are not our masks, our outer shells. This part of us knows exactly who the Blue Man is. For some people it may be too far down to access; they get so far in they can’t get out. These people do not recognize the Blue Man, but there are others who haven’t completely buried this aspect of themselves. These are the people who “get” the Blue Man. When they see him, his essence is not at all alien; it is familiar, like a voice from the distant past. In this moment of recognition, it all becomes clear; we are the ones who have become the aliens.
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