Oh man. This movie. I've seen it quite a few times (though definitely not quite as many as I assume others in our class might have) but I feel each time I watch it, it gets better. I first watched it back in high school with an old friend, when our main motivation for watching it was actually because we included it in a story we were writing together. The two characters were watching the movie and, because we hadn't seen it before (or at least I hadn't), we decided to watch it together so we could have more accurate reactions to it. I also watched it a couple times in college, once for a science fiction class, and now for a horror class. Now don't get me wrong, it's creepy and terrifying, but it's also got Sigourney Weaver and cool aesthetic choices.
I just saw a comment the other day talking about Alien in relation to current events, regarding the fact that Ridley is the only one to survive the alien, and she's the only one that didn't want to break quarantine and followed appropriate measures. But maybe that's besides the point- I don't know if currently breaking quarantine and going outside would necessarily result in either a face hugger or being attacked by a xenomorph. (Wear your masks folks, might not be the best time to test it out for improper following of guidelines.)
Truly though, this movie does have an impeccable aesthetic. The setting of the moon in the beginning, where they find the eggs to begin with- you have the creepy, suspenseful music (which the soundtrack for the movie is, as everyone knows, incredible) that correlates to the discovery of the eggs and is revealed to us as the viewer gradually to heighten the suspense. The inclusion of the sheer amount of eggs lends itself to the mystery of the narrative- where did all these eggs come from? Why are they here, unprotected? Is this whole moon inhabited by these aliens, or do they just use the moon as an incubator? Most of these questions go unanswered, as they gather one of the eggs and bring it aboard, only for it to turn into the dreaded alien- which grows at an alarming rate. Though you can't help but question, is the alien truly fully grown? It's only been a matter of days, and though the alien is definitely man sized, I wonder what the actual xenomorph life cycle is like, especially considering that all the other eggs were still unhatched in the chamber.
What follows is survival- a battle in which only Ridley (and the cat) survives. The alien possesses an unnatural intelligence, yet also an adherence to instinct as it slowly makes its way through the ship to kill all of the living inhabitants there. Ash describes the xenomorph as a "perfect organism" that is "unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of mortality" yet, as always, I find myself wondering the true story as to this alien's backstory- or rather, maybe not this specific xenomorph, since we pretty clearly get its origins, but what of its others? Has anyone else ever encountered others of this species, yet just not lived to tell the tale? How long have the eggs been in waiting? I've always been interested in this species, though have not yet done digging on their history, or perhaps seen it in the sequels or related movies, which I haven't yet watched.
Hi Sen, I am totally with you on Alien, it rocks! I remember wanting to go see it when I was a kid and it first came out in the throatier but my parents were "NO!" So, the best I got was an Alien picture book for Christmas. I loved that book as it was all I got to get on Alien for a few years. It was a pretty detailed book with some great color photos from the movie. My favorite was the Alien popping out of the stomach at dinner, yum!
ReplyDeleteAny how, I also wonder about the Alien backstory, although that does become more clear in Prometheus and Alien Covenant. I guess our Alien friend is the result of some failed genetic engineering to either create a weapon or a terraforming tool to populate a planet. I think it is just some egomaniac people from another planet that have nothing better to do then play God and they end up becoming victims of their own tech. I hope they keep the Alien movies coming! There are a bunch of cool Alien books also.
The question of nature or nurture rises so frequently in sundry conversations about constitution and behavior. In the case of Alien, my take is nurture. After centuries, no, millenia, nay, even millions of years and -assic or -aceous periods, the alien is the way it is because each and every morning it woke up, it was deprived of a single cup of coffee.
DeleteI know what I am like without my coffee - fit for a horror film. That deficiency of caffeine flowing through the alien's veins and vessels allowed its internal bile to brew and percolate until finally its blood transformed into green acid capable of melting starship flooring and hulls. In turn, the alien developed a nasty personality and bitter enmity toward coffee-drinking peoples. Aliens suck out every trace of coffee from their human victims much as vampires suck out human blood.