(no subject)
For those of you who expressed interest in the papers I am writing for my science fiction class here is the first. This one is a observtional piece on the reverse of biological roles in the movie Alien. It isn't meant to be an indepth paper so it may seem unfinished. I do think this paper could ave much more indepth work done on it.
The theme of biological reversal can be seen throughout the movie Alien. Biological reversal is the switching of male and female biological and emotional roles such as pregnancy and nurturing. In the movie it is more clearly seen in the female characters such as Ripley, Mother and the alien though men also show this especially the science officer Ash. It is suggested in other resources particularly Darkhorse Comics and Fox Interactive video games that the aliens are female living much the way a bee does where all members of the hive are female. I am going to use this analysis to assume the alien in the movie was indeed female as well.
The most obvious exchange of roles are those related to birthing. The alien as a larval form, the spider-like facehugger, shows many male qualities. The first is that it penetrates Kane orally with an extension of its body. Sometime during this penetration the genetic/fetal material is injected into Kane’s body to allow the next phase of the alien to be produced. Impregnation is biologically a male role but here the female is the impregnating agent. Another biological aspect of this chain of events can be implied by the form of the facehugger. It is spider-like and exhibits a natural occurrence among many spiders. This is the death of the male after his sperm is injected into the female. The facehugger also dies after injecting its reproductive medium into Kane but the alien is presumably female not male as in the spider. It is very rare for a male animal in nature to carry a fetus but Kane incubates the alien with in his body in a short gestation period before “giving birth”. The birthing of the alien shares many of the aspects of female pregnancy such as intense hunger, pain and bleeding but the body is male.
Further the female alien in its adult form continues use penetration but now to kill instead of reproduce. The phallic secondary mouth is used to kill a number of the crew members. The mouth is shown prior to the attack rising out of the external mouth and drooling just before the attack. This can be correlated to the phallic erection and the pre-ejaculate that occurs before human sexual intercourse. The violent attack of the secondary mouth punctures the human male, since only men are shown being terminated in this manner, skin leaving an open, bloody hole several inches deep. In art, such imagery is associated with the deflowering of a virgin. The same claim could be made for these scenes as it would be the first time the male had been penetrated by a female thereby taking his virginity. The alien also illustrates a similar attack on Lambert, the female crew member who perishes. In this scene Lambert is against the wall with the alien before her. The slender tail that terminates in a hook or claw is shown slipping, presumably unnoticed, between her legs and up to make a killing blow. The tail is used to impale victims which is presumably the fate of Lambert since she is next seen dead in the same place. The positioning of the tail between her legs as well as the shape of the tail is again suggestive of sexual intrusion but in this case a female penetrating another female.
The emotional roles of male and female are also opposite of what is traditional viewed as male and female states. The switching of roles is most clearly illustrated in how Ash and Ripley view the alien. Even with Ash’s detachment from the crew he protects and nurtures the alien. From the moment it appears attached to Kane as the facehugger he attempts to shelter it from the others. He is the one who facilitates the alien getting on board by allowing the exploration team onboard. He also appears to be stalling Ripley’s attempts to remove it from the ship by pretending to know less about it then he truly does. His desire to guard the alien from the others becomes so intense that he attempts to murder Ripley when she shows intention to exterminate it. The role Ash portrays in the movie is traditionally seen as the mother role instead of the father.
Ripley on the other hand shows the masculine and perhaps fatherly role in respect to the alien. The first time in the film that the gender role reversal becomes apparent for Ripley is her refusal to allow the exploration team in to care for Kane. As a woman the expected role would be to care for and alleviate the injury to her fellow crew members who can be seen as family. Ripley remains controlled and chooses to protect the ship by denying them access even if it means Kane must suffer. A very subtle indication of the roles changing is cursing, traditionally associated with men more then women. Of the five times the word “fuck” is used in the movie four of them are by Ripley. This destroys the ideas of the modest woman. Of all the crew that remains once the alien is in its adult form Ripley is most intent on killing the creature. Additionally at the end of the movie when Ripley is sitting suited in the shuttle the role of mother as destroyer is clear. Ripley is singing a lullaby and the only possible audience is the alien which she is injuring and preparing to eject from the airlock.
The final observation of role changes is in Mother, the central ship computer. Mother is centralized in a white, cold, sterile room where the head of the crew may speak with her. This is a contrast to the soft, warm, home we naturally associate with the word mother. Additionally, her contact is limited and closed off to a limited few which is a contradiction of our traditional views of the open mother who is always available to talk to. The Mother is also portrayed as emotionless in two cases. She is emotionless toward the crew ignoring Ripley’s cries to stop the detonation sequence. Also her treatment of the crew as expendable compared to an outsider is conflicting with the normal views of a mother.
Alien shows many uses of gender role reversal. The movie portrays the male as the nurturer who gives birth to new life while the female is the analytical destroyer. The dichotomy is seen throughout the film in both obvious and subtle terms. This leads to the female being masculine and the male being feminine in terms of behavior and biological duties.
Bibliography:
Alien. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Bolaji Badejo, Helen Horton. 20th Century Fox; 1979
Stradley, Randy, Norwood, Phill and Story, Karl. Alien Vs. Predator. Issues 1-5 Darkhorse Comics, 1989-1990
Foster, Alan Dean. Alien. New York: Warner Books Edition, 1979
I have two more to go. One on the use of altered reality in science fiction and one on rogue governements and the development of the anti-hero. Off to write as I have 3 papers to write still.
The theme of biological reversal can be seen throughout the movie Alien. Biological reversal is the switching of male and female biological and emotional roles such as pregnancy and nurturing. In the movie it is more clearly seen in the female characters such as Ripley, Mother and the alien though men also show this especially the science officer Ash. It is suggested in other resources particularly Darkhorse Comics and Fox Interactive video games that the aliens are female living much the way a bee does where all members of the hive are female. I am going to use this analysis to assume the alien in the movie was indeed female as well.
The most obvious exchange of roles are those related to birthing. The alien as a larval form, the spider-like facehugger, shows many male qualities. The first is that it penetrates Kane orally with an extension of its body. Sometime during this penetration the genetic/fetal material is injected into Kane’s body to allow the next phase of the alien to be produced. Impregnation is biologically a male role but here the female is the impregnating agent. Another biological aspect of this chain of events can be implied by the form of the facehugger. It is spider-like and exhibits a natural occurrence among many spiders. This is the death of the male after his sperm is injected into the female. The facehugger also dies after injecting its reproductive medium into Kane but the alien is presumably female not male as in the spider. It is very rare for a male animal in nature to carry a fetus but Kane incubates the alien with in his body in a short gestation period before “giving birth”. The birthing of the alien shares many of the aspects of female pregnancy such as intense hunger, pain and bleeding but the body is male.
Further the female alien in its adult form continues use penetration but now to kill instead of reproduce. The phallic secondary mouth is used to kill a number of the crew members. The mouth is shown prior to the attack rising out of the external mouth and drooling just before the attack. This can be correlated to the phallic erection and the pre-ejaculate that occurs before human sexual intercourse. The violent attack of the secondary mouth punctures the human male, since only men are shown being terminated in this manner, skin leaving an open, bloody hole several inches deep. In art, such imagery is associated with the deflowering of a virgin. The same claim could be made for these scenes as it would be the first time the male had been penetrated by a female thereby taking his virginity. The alien also illustrates a similar attack on Lambert, the female crew member who perishes. In this scene Lambert is against the wall with the alien before her. The slender tail that terminates in a hook or claw is shown slipping, presumably unnoticed, between her legs and up to make a killing blow. The tail is used to impale victims which is presumably the fate of Lambert since she is next seen dead in the same place. The positioning of the tail between her legs as well as the shape of the tail is again suggestive of sexual intrusion but in this case a female penetrating another female.
The emotional roles of male and female are also opposite of what is traditional viewed as male and female states. The switching of roles is most clearly illustrated in how Ash and Ripley view the alien. Even with Ash’s detachment from the crew he protects and nurtures the alien. From the moment it appears attached to Kane as the facehugger he attempts to shelter it from the others. He is the one who facilitates the alien getting on board by allowing the exploration team onboard. He also appears to be stalling Ripley’s attempts to remove it from the ship by pretending to know less about it then he truly does. His desire to guard the alien from the others becomes so intense that he attempts to murder Ripley when she shows intention to exterminate it. The role Ash portrays in the movie is traditionally seen as the mother role instead of the father.
Ripley on the other hand shows the masculine and perhaps fatherly role in respect to the alien. The first time in the film that the gender role reversal becomes apparent for Ripley is her refusal to allow the exploration team in to care for Kane. As a woman the expected role would be to care for and alleviate the injury to her fellow crew members who can be seen as family. Ripley remains controlled and chooses to protect the ship by denying them access even if it means Kane must suffer. A very subtle indication of the roles changing is cursing, traditionally associated with men more then women. Of the five times the word “fuck” is used in the movie four of them are by Ripley. This destroys the ideas of the modest woman. Of all the crew that remains once the alien is in its adult form Ripley is most intent on killing the creature. Additionally at the end of the movie when Ripley is sitting suited in the shuttle the role of mother as destroyer is clear. Ripley is singing a lullaby and the only possible audience is the alien which she is injuring and preparing to eject from the airlock.
The final observation of role changes is in Mother, the central ship computer. Mother is centralized in a white, cold, sterile room where the head of the crew may speak with her. This is a contrast to the soft, warm, home we naturally associate with the word mother. Additionally, her contact is limited and closed off to a limited few which is a contradiction of our traditional views of the open mother who is always available to talk to. The Mother is also portrayed as emotionless in two cases. She is emotionless toward the crew ignoring Ripley’s cries to stop the detonation sequence. Also her treatment of the crew as expendable compared to an outsider is conflicting with the normal views of a mother.
Alien shows many uses of gender role reversal. The movie portrays the male as the nurturer who gives birth to new life while the female is the analytical destroyer. The dichotomy is seen throughout the film in both obvious and subtle terms. This leads to the female being masculine and the male being feminine in terms of behavior and biological duties.
Bibliography:
Alien. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Bolaji Badejo, Helen Horton. 20th Century Fox; 1979
Stradley, Randy, Norwood, Phill and Story, Karl. Alien Vs. Predator. Issues 1-5 Darkhorse Comics, 1989-1990
Foster, Alan Dean. Alien. New York: Warner Books Edition, 1979
I have two more to go. One on the use of altered reality in science fiction and one on rogue governements and the development of the anti-hero. Off to write as I have 3 papers to write still.