Too often what defines a heroine. Is her ability to kick men in the balls. Its almost a cliche now. What i liked about Ripley was she wasn't necessarily physically strong. But she was smart and resourceful. It was her ability to out smart the Aliens that really made her stand out in my mind.
shareExactly... Plus, she's not even really the Main Character til more than halfway thru the film. Scott did a tremendous job at keeping the Crew equal (In terms of how the viewer sees them.) We know who's who, what jobs they have etc but she slowly becomes the obvious TRUE Leader of the Crew. She's level headed, strong, brave and smart. My personal favorite Heroine
shareScience fiction has lots of good role models for girls (or anyone really) who don't depend on crazy sex appeal, ridiculous super powers or inexplicable fight skills. Sammantha Carter, Dana Scully, Romana, Sarah Connor, Susan Ivanova (my own favorite) the list goes on. Of course Ripley was among the first of these but they're not all made from the same mold but they are all as you describe, brave, intelligent, level-headed and resourceful.
I can only conclude I'm paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate.
Plus, she's not even really the Main Character til more than halfway thru the film.
As opposed to Ripley as a male heroine, I suppose?
Requiescat in pace, Krystle Papile. I'll always miss you. Justice was finally served.
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I think I agree, she's the best fictional heroine of all time, out of the movies I've seen. As was already said well in the posts above she's not some elitist character who is amazing at everything or has super powers or is extraordinarily (and ridiculously) gifted, she seems like a genuinely real person who has to rise up and overcome adversity. Another great heroine (set in this case) is the duo from Thelma and Louise, another of Ridley Scott's movies. I guess the guy just knows how to bring great, relatable female heroines to the big screen.
shareHere my summary of Thelma and Louise: All men are Rapist, Lets go a crime spree and kill ourselves. The End. I would rather watch Exodus: Gods and Kings.
shareI agree. That's what some writers miss.
shareYeah, she's an example of what a strong woman is. She doesn't complain about "patriarchy" keeping her down, she doesn't lose her *beep* and shout at crew members because they made a silly "sexist" joke, she doesn't spend all day whining about safe spaces and micro-aggressions, she simply gets on with her job and makes herself a useful part of the team.
So basically she's the exact opposite of the modern feminist. She's a real person who just gets on with things, and is tough enough to not get hurt and offended by little words or jokes.
She's such a background character in the former half of the movie that you'd never expect her to be the hero that rises up and defeats the Xenomorph in the end. Hell, last night when I re-watched it, it even clicked how much it tends to focus on Kane (he's the first one we see awake, and we follow him when he first finds the eggs), and boom, he's the first victim of the movie with a violent death.
shareI think it's also a testament to how the role is written and performed that Ripley easily could have been played by a male actor and it would have had absolutely zero baring on the story. Ripley isn't presented as a "female character;" she's just a character, and that matters.
What does God need with a starship?
She got lucky and didn't die sooner. What if she had decided to go get Jones instead of sending Brett? I believe she volunteered to go in the air vents before Dallas decided he would. Ash very nearly killed her before Parker showed up and knocked Ash out of it. And if she made it downstairs to help Parker and Lambert, really what chance would she have had in that situation? Yes, at the end, I will agree she was brave one on one with the alien, but she could have died many times before. I never thought of her as a strong heroine, just someone who got lucky.
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