Films: 1970s
(1979) Alien
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Alien
Director: Ridley Scott
Release: 1979
A crew of seven, aboard a commercial ship transporting mining equipment and ore to Earth, detours to respond to a distress call on a small moon, LV-426. They find a derelict spaceship and the corpse of its alien pilot, who appears to have suffered explosive trauma to the chest. They then discover a large number of eggs.
One hatches and a hideous, spider-like creature erupts from it, attaching itself to the face of the crewmember Kane (John Hurt). The parasite is soon replaced by a large predator, which alternately murders and imprisons the crew until the last survivor makes a last-ditch ploy for freedom and the creature's destruction.
The aliens - both the spider and the large monster it spawns - are enigmatic but fascinating creatures. The large alien appears roughly humanoid, but with an oblong, silvery head, long tail, razor-sharp claws and teeth, and acid for blood. The aliens' origins or motivations are unknown. Their sentience is unconfirmed, as well, though their intelligence is hinted at, making them even creepier.
Crewmember Ash (Ian Holm) calls the alien "a perfect organism," saying that he admires its "purity," and lack of morals. It desires only to continue its species at any cost. One can't reason with it, and there's almost no way to stop it.
The film succeeds in tapping into fears about the frailty of human dominance, and the threat of extinction. The alien represents the threat of nature, which dwarfs human strength, so that prey must rely on intelligence to survive.
Evidenced by global maps in the era of European exploration, in which the uncharted waters were marked "here be monsters," humans are terrified of what unknown places have in store, frightened by their own limitations and lack of knowledge. The race sits on its tiny rock of a planet, utterly vulnerable, with little idea of what lies beyond.
As Roy Scheider's Chief Martin Brody said in "Jaws," the island is only an island if you look at it from the water. Similarly, the planet is only isolated if you look at it from space. The message? Stay home, kids. You don't know what's out there.
The Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which owns the commercial vessel and employs the crew, however, undercuts the isolationism of such theory.
While the aliens themselves are the obvious antagonists, all the violence that occurs can be traced to "the company." Ash embodies Weyland-Yutani as villain; an ill-programmed (if not actually evil) android acting on orders to bring the alien back to the company's weapon's division, even at the expense of the crew.
He allows Kane - complete with parasite attached to his face - into the ship against the orders of Lieutenant Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), violating quarantine and risking the rest of the crew. He then works to ensure the aliens' survival until his death.
In this way, the film also fulfills the tried-and-true subtext of classic monster movies: Humanity is the monster. This is coupled with a nicely woven cautionary tale about the threat of technology, a la Stanley Kubrick's "2001," as both Ash and the ship's computer become obstacles to human survival.
Rape and impregnation are also important themes, setting the tone for the rest of the series.
The spider impregnates Kane by force, using him as an expendable incubator. Then, in a twisted parody of birth, the creature bursts from the torso, killing the host (mother).
In a scene added back into the director's cut, Ripley comes upon two crewmembers cocooned into the walls of the ship by the alien, and one of them - the captain, Tom Skerritt's Dallas - begs for death. What is the fate worse than death? To be not the dominating, colonizing, imperial species, but to be a womanish victim, imprisoned by one's own body, serving as a means to an end for the male predator.
Ripley wins an honored place in the "girls with guns" hall of fame for refusing to become a victim. Her victory can be construed as a female victory over maleness; especially in the way Ripley's character wins in stereotypically female brains-over-brawn fashion in the end.
Ripley's strong, gun-toting heroine follows characters like Princess Leia in 1977's "Star Wars" and precedes Sarah Connor in 1984's "The Terminator." Although, as with the Star Wars films and The Terminator franchise, "Alien" delivers a muddled message regarding women.
Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), the other female crewmember, is the only character who breaks down and panics. She advocates for passively abandoning ship and drawing straws to leave one crewmember behind, rather than actively going after the alien.
Also, as Ash prepares to murder Ripley, the mise-en-scene contains erotic photos of women on a console above her, emphasizing the rape-like victimization signified by the potential death of a female leader at the hands of a male. That said, Ripley's character is a far cry from the sexploitation found in many contemporary films in the genre.
"Alien" stands the test of time.
It remains a classic not only because of the franchise it spawned, but because it coalesced into a spare, suspenseful, gritty, well-acted and visually ingenious piece of work. It plucks at the darkest and most fundamental fears, tripping inherent insecurities and leaving the audience wide open for the kind of violation the titular monster represents.
Erika Nelson
Cinescare Correspondent
[Erika Nelson writes about science fiction and the larger issues contained therein. Read Erika Nelson's science-fiction blog, Confessions of an Aspiring Science Fiction Scholar.]
Alien, 1979
The aliens are strongly gendered male, indicated by the oblong, phallic head of the large alien.
