abake
Rex Tremendae Majestatis
So Alien is one of my all-time favourite movies -not just as a geek, but because I genuinely think it's a masterpiece of cinema-, so I decided to start a thread about the franchise and just throw out random thoughts on the movie and the franchise...
I think the enduring appeal of Alien goes beyond H.R. Giger's amazing designs for the titular creature and the Space Jockey, and it also goes beyond Weaver's now iconic role of Ripley. What kept me going back over and over to the movie (and still does) long after the scares are gone and the creature had become familiar, is how everything in it comes together perfectly.
A lot of people (and not a few critics) criticised the story and characters for being flimsy, dismissing it as a "haunted house in space" and just a bunch of nice visuals with little story or depth. I find that amazingly short-sighted. The characters are amazingly well fleshed out, with simple dialogues and actions giving an amazing depth of character to each. Just look at the scene where Parker wipes off the chair after telling Ash to get off "his" chair. That alone tells you much more about the dynamics of the crew and Parker himself than half an hour of backstory. And every character has those little moments in the movie that make them believable (and likeable) without having to resort to lengthy exposure or long-winded dialogue. There is no long, slow, dramatic build up to Ripley's "I'll go" and then Dallas' "No, I'll go" to try to emphasise their heroism, it just happens and flows naturally. Just like Brett's "enough of this kitty crap"; it's just something a person naturally would say and it's presented that way, without trying to magnify it or spoon-feed it to the audience.
The overall story, which was (and still is to a certain extent) derided as simple to the point of inexistent, has a lot of subtext that makes it rich and compelling. The bad "company" that exploits its workers for its own dastardly designs is the most obvious one, as is the feminist angle of the hero being a woman and the 60's-70's free love ideal (Parker's comments to Lambert about what he'd rather be eating), but there's also the social and class divide within the ship, with the lower level, blue collar "citizens" getting paid less and spending more time in the lower decks where the rest of the white collar "citizens" don't go. Not to mention the male rape/violent pregnancy theme and overall sexual imagery of Giger's designs.
Which brings me to another point: none of that, none of the subtext was there in O'Bannon's script. Not Ash the robot, not the soulless company, not the feminine hero (yeah yeah, O'Bannon wrote that all characters were unisex -that doesn't mean crap-), not the two-tiered class system in the ship. Nothing. Nada. As a matter of fact, the script is pretty crappy. So thank god for Giler and Hill, and Scott... not to mention all the ad-libbing by the cast.
So yeah, I think what makes Alien so fascinating is that it transcends the "haunted house in space" and, coupled with an amazing production design and amazing direction, lets us be a part of the Nostromo crew, with all their inner dilemmas, as they face the most terrifying creature we could possibly imagine.
If y'all want to share your thoughts on this and the rest of the franchise, let's all have a go at it.
When I fell inspired I'll share my thoughts on why I think that Aliens also is a masterpiece.
I think the enduring appeal of Alien goes beyond H.R. Giger's amazing designs for the titular creature and the Space Jockey, and it also goes beyond Weaver's now iconic role of Ripley. What kept me going back over and over to the movie (and still does) long after the scares are gone and the creature had become familiar, is how everything in it comes together perfectly.
A lot of people (and not a few critics) criticised the story and characters for being flimsy, dismissing it as a "haunted house in space" and just a bunch of nice visuals with little story or depth. I find that amazingly short-sighted. The characters are amazingly well fleshed out, with simple dialogues and actions giving an amazing depth of character to each. Just look at the scene where Parker wipes off the chair after telling Ash to get off "his" chair. That alone tells you much more about the dynamics of the crew and Parker himself than half an hour of backstory. And every character has those little moments in the movie that make them believable (and likeable) without having to resort to lengthy exposure or long-winded dialogue. There is no long, slow, dramatic build up to Ripley's "I'll go" and then Dallas' "No, I'll go" to try to emphasise their heroism, it just happens and flows naturally. Just like Brett's "enough of this kitty crap"; it's just something a person naturally would say and it's presented that way, without trying to magnify it or spoon-feed it to the audience.
The overall story, which was (and still is to a certain extent) derided as simple to the point of inexistent, has a lot of subtext that makes it rich and compelling. The bad "company" that exploits its workers for its own dastardly designs is the most obvious one, as is the feminist angle of the hero being a woman and the 60's-70's free love ideal (Parker's comments to Lambert about what he'd rather be eating), but there's also the social and class divide within the ship, with the lower level, blue collar "citizens" getting paid less and spending more time in the lower decks where the rest of the white collar "citizens" don't go. Not to mention the male rape/violent pregnancy theme and overall sexual imagery of Giger's designs.
Which brings me to another point: none of that, none of the subtext was there in O'Bannon's script. Not Ash the robot, not the soulless company, not the feminine hero (yeah yeah, O'Bannon wrote that all characters were unisex -that doesn't mean crap-), not the two-tiered class system in the ship. Nothing. Nada. As a matter of fact, the script is pretty crappy. So thank god for Giler and Hill, and Scott... not to mention all the ad-libbing by the cast.
So yeah, I think what makes Alien so fascinating is that it transcends the "haunted house in space" and, coupled with an amazing production design and amazing direction, lets us be a part of the Nostromo crew, with all their inner dilemmas, as they face the most terrifying creature we could possibly imagine.
If y'all want to share your thoughts on this and the rest of the franchise, let's all have a go at it.
When I fell inspired I'll share my thoughts on why I think that Aliens also is a masterpiece.
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