movie review_ alien

The film Aien was produced and debuted in 1979 as a Fantasy Mystery film, however the film also prompts discussion around the rise of female-led films (Sigourney Weaver as lead) and the impact of Hans Reudi Giger’s designs; and work on the unique design of the xenomorph.

When we first start the film, we are greeted by this huge star ship. In design it was simple, as each part of the ship gave off the feeling that this was a worker’s industrial ship. And all the crew members were basically workers themselves, as they wore basic clothing and ate the most basic things; even owning a pet cat as an extra. As we are introduced to the cast of the film we may expect to see a male lead as with most films of the time. But then we are introduced to a female character that before Alien’s conception would be rarely seen as a role for a female actress. The role of Ellen Ripley was originally casted for a male lead but then it was restructured slightly for a female role. Sigourney Weaver was cast in this role (fig.1).

The impact of the casting of a female as the lead character in Alien in 1979, can be seen in the rise of female-led films in subsequent years such as Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone (1984).

 Caroline Colvin (Colvin, 2017) states in her article ‘Is Alien still a feminist film?’ that:

 ‘Weaver’s portrayal of protagonist Ellen Ripley is crediting with kickstarting her career and fuelling the machine of women-led films.’

Fig 1: Sigourney Weaver

                                                                                   [fig:1]

It can be argued that Alien is a feminist movie, as demonstrated in the role that Ellen Ripley played throughout the movie. As we look at her character, there appears to be a ‘misplaced maternal instinct’ (Zanin, 2017) which is played out at a crucial point when she is about to destroy the ship and everything in it, but she makes her priority the safety of the cat!  The reason for this ‘misplaced maternal’ instinct could be for several reasons. An obvious reason was how the crew were basically slaughtered by the alien, but the priority was the cat (the remnants of the crew).

 Another factor for the reason why Ellen Ripley really stood out in this movie is the use of ‘bland’ (e.g. overalls which were plain and non-feminine) clothing. At first it would seem like an irrelevant aspect to discuss. But by looking at movies that had female roles before Alien will you see that the females that were leads in films tended to be were sexualised e.g. Barbarella (1968). Therefore, some films after Alien endeavoured to allow aspects of females’ personalities to shine through more than the way the female actors looked.

Now we go onto to discuss the design of the Alien ‘Xenomorph’. The antagonist of the film the Alien” Xenomorph” was an interesting concept developed by Hans Ruedi Giger (5 February 1940 – 12 May 2014). The xenomorph without the design concepts of Giger may not have had the impact of making it a true horror film.  As we go towards the end of the movie we see the full figure of the alien which has just been destroyed by the spaceship engine. The alien is a plot device in advancing the movie forward in terms of the aspects of horror, from the face hugger to the chest buster, then to the alien that we know later in the film.

Giger’s art style can be described under the description of transhumanism ( the belief or theory that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations, especially by means of science and technology), as when you look at his artwork you can see a amalgamation of machine and person for example when  looking at his work (e.g. Necronom IV) other than alien, it looks quite phallic.

                                                                                           [fig:2]

When comparing it to its movie counterparts, the redesign for Alien makes the unique horror aspects - that Giger put into the art of the alien -  a major contribution to the movie being a best seller.

                                                                                    [fig:3]

In conclusion, Alien as a horror film pushed forward the aspects of how far we can imagine horror and the impact of having a female lead in times when male leads dominated this type of role. 

References

Colvin, C. (2017) ‘Is Alien still a feminist film?’ in Medium.com 24 March 2017 (online) available at:

https://medium.com/@petitangebrun/is-alien-still-a-feminist-film-8f9e93271d7dces  (accessed 23 November 2018)

Zanin, A (2017) ‘ The rise of the Matriarch’ in ‘Alien and Philosophy: I Infest, Therefore I Am’ 26 May 2017, available (online) at Wiley.com:

Image refrancing:

Xenopedia. (2018). Ellen Ripley. [online] Available at: http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Ellen_Ripley?file=Ellen_Ripley.png [Accessed 23 Nov. 2018].[fig:1]

Hitthefloor.com. (2018). [online] Available at: http://www.hitthefloor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ALIEN.jpg [Accessed 23 Nov. 2018].[fig:3]

Taschen.com. (2018). HR Giger. wwwHRGigercom (Limited Edition) - TASCHEN Books. [online] Available at: https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/01006/facts.hr_giger_wwwhrgigercom.htm [Accessed 23 Nov. 2018].[fig.2]