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So timeless partially because the alien is so matter of fact

posted 8 years ago by Picnic10
5 replies | jump to latest

The alien doesn't go running after people. It doesn't need to - its appearance scares anyone who sees it in to staying to rooted the spot, as if any potential victim can do nothing but give off the body language of saying 'You're the boss'. OK, the alien runs after people in part 3 but that isn't really treat as a primary part of the horror .They're deliberately baiting it anyway.

Right from the outset, Ripley is not the most glamourous, not the most typically feminine, of women. In a way, her relative sexlessness arguably saves her. The alien will be able to sense it on her. Ripley is, to all intents, alien herself from the start. Alien to the previous 70s film history of promiscuous, party loving teen girls. So what happens when she finds love with Clemens in Alien 3? She's now become more feminine so he dies and she dies.

It's as if the aliens are only interested in her for her androgynous fertility. They don't want her to ever become more 'human'. And this is how you end up with the ludicrously icky conclusion of her clone having alien sex in Resurrection.

[–] Kruleworld 8 years ago

I don't agree any of your points. the alien doesn't care if the humans are male or female, as they are only potential hosts (or lunch) and it doesn't matter which sex they are. it doesn't have any experience with humans (ie which sex is more passive), relying only on instinct. As alien as the Alien is to us, we are just as alien to it.

Ripley's survival is a combination of luck and good sense, not to be at the wrong place with the Alien.
(She helps parker reset while Brett goes to capture the cat,- brett dies
she volunteers to go into the air shaft, but Dallas overrides her, - dallas dies
she sends Parker and Lambert to get the oxygen while she preps the shuttle, - parker and lambert die)

"He's dusted, busted and disgusted, but he's ok"

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Picnic10 8 years ago

I never said it mattered which sex they are. But a relative androgony, lack of discernible emotion, could help your chance against the alien. In movie rules anyway. Hence Winona Ryder, hardly the most enthused of characters, survives. Whereas a load of pumped up marines and a planet full of sex and murder lusted prisoners end up mostly dead.

Clemens starts off relatively emotionless but, as he opens up to Ripley emotionally and physically, he becomes more likely to die.

These rules primarily apply to the notable characters. The relatively 'faceless' ones are unknown quantities anyway so they're fodder for the film.

[–] dgfan 8 years ago

The alien doesn't go running after people. It doesn't need to - its appearance scares anyone who sees it in to staying to rooted the spot, as if any potential victim can do nothing but give off the body language of saying 'You're the boss'. OK, the alien runs after people in part 3 but that isn't really treat as a primary part of the horror .They're deliberately baiting it anyway.

That was one of the things that made the original Alien scary. It had this deliberate and even sadistic nature that none of the other ones have had.

I've never been one to buy into this whole cult of Ripley where she's this unstoppable superhero. She survived simply by chance, not being in the wrong place at the wrong time. When she came across Parker and Lambert's bodies right after they got killed she went into complete panic mode and was clearly scared out of her wits until the Alien got blown out the door.

[–] SCY385-1 8 years ago

degas: I agree. The Alien in the first movie is far more terrifying because of it's malevolent nature. It was patient, methodical, and above all else effective. I believe it would sit and wait for the crew to come to it. Not once in this film did the Alien "chase" it's victims in any way. Even when it was in the shuttle it did not pursue Ripley. It would seize on the opportunity to capture or kill as it was presented. It also seemed to know how to maneuver around the ship undetected and unseen by the crew. The damned thing was smart and that made it dangerous. As far as Ripley is concerned she was very, very lucky indeed. It was totally the luck of the draw that she didn't go into the Alien ship. It was lucky for her that she DIDN'T go into the air ducts and suffer Dallas' fate. The one scene that truly shows how lucky Ripley really was the scene where she, Parker and Lambert are separated getting ready to take off on the shuttle. She's looking for a cat. She had "kill me" written all over her. As a matter of fact I'm pretty sure that's what audiences were thinking. But through luck, the grace of God, whatever you want to call it Parker and Lambert wound up dead instead of Ripley. Now she did go into panic mode after that. That's when she began the detonation of the ship which I have always thought was a mistake she made due to her panicked state. I think that what impressed people about that whole surviving thing was that it was a woman who was the "last man standing". This was unusual 40 years ago and it was a big deal. Ripley became a feminist icon at that point. As for Ripley becoming a hero, well I don't think that really took off until the sequel Aliens. She was a feminist symbol because of Alien, but after Aliens she was a total bad ass. The character did some things that not a lot of people would have done. She went back to LV-426. A lot of people would not have done that. Ripley went into a nest of hostile aliens to save a little girl who should have already been dead. She battled mama Alien to save Newt's life one more time. I prefer Alien over Aliens for a number of reasons. That being said there is no denying that James Cameron took Ripley to Goddess level with Aliens. She wasn't unstoppable, but she was determined and strong. People responded to that.