Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott

Figure 1. Film Poster

Alien is a science fiction horror film made in 1979 by Ridley Scott, the film is about a group of scientists who find alien life which later preys on them aboard the ship, many critics would agree it was ahead of its time in many ways. H.R Gigers work on the alien world is genius, the environment in the film is built to get a reaction from its viewer especially the male, and the film was able to do this successfully. Alien is driven by feminist ideology and psychosexual theory. (Gordon, 2012), in the film the female character is shown no respect shes treated like an unimportant member of the team, but she later goes on to survive at the end, although the film is driven by feminist ideology the female character isnt disrespected by the makers of the film, she is portrayed as a normal female character. Whether or not the film is driven by feminist ideologies is debateable but there is no doubt the film has psychosexual influences, the films villain is an alien whos head is shaped like a male sexual organ, while watching the film the male viewers arent aware of this but are subconsciously are more freaked out by this creature.

Figure 2. Nostromo interior

Most of the film is spent inside a spaceship called the Nostromo and this is where the characters are in constant fear of being killed by an alien, its poorly lit and very claustrophobic there is very little space for activity on ship, some may even compare it to a womb When Ripley jettisons herself from the Nostromo airlock in the movies harrowing fourth act, the accompanying sense of catharsis and escape is akin to a new-borns emergence from the womb (Gordon, 2012), the film is able to create fear and a lot of suspense due to the fact that most things in the film are physically there, unlike modern films which are saturated which CG effects, there is a certain authenticity about characters being physically built in comparison to 3D modelled characters, this factor brings the film life.

The world in alien is fully realised and has a singular artistic vision which holds up even to this very day because there is no other film like it, the audio gives the viewer a better experience as it sounds like youre in the midst of everything as its going on, Alien introduced a new kind of science fiction horror. The threat still comes from the unknown, but the environment and method of attack were different this enriches film experience. (Franco, 2010) Ridley Scott took aspects from the typical scary film and made his own implementations on it; the film starts out as a horror film and the science fiction aspects are introduced later as the film goes on. The interior of the ship is very reflective of a traditional science fiction film while the alien planet is so alien that the audience cant help to categorise it as anything other than

horror.

Figure 3. Alien planet

Giger suffered from night terror, which meant hed fear and dread the first few hours of sleep and painting was his therapy, those paintings later went on to inspire his design on alien, apart from his real life experience artist like Ernst Fuchs and Salvador Dali inspired his work. The film had an overall positive reaction from the public and the critics It is, in fact, an audience reaction picture par excellence. (Malcolm, 2009) The film gets the reaction its needs from its audience because of the setting and cinematography used to capture what the audience see, Alien is a film which is was significant in the scif-fi genre and inspired many film to come.

Bibliography Illustration Figure 1: http://ryuhawk.hubpages.com/hub/Alien-1979-Analysis Figure 2: http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/313130/in_praise_of_the_scifi_corrid or.html Figure 3: http://deadlymovies.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/prometheustrailer-confirms-alien-prequel/

Quotes Gordon, N. (2012) Alien is driven by feminist ideology and psychosexual theory. In: sabotagetimes [online] http://www.sabotagetimes.com/tv-film/alien-a-freudian-nightmare/ (Accessed on 27/10/2012) Gordon, N. (2012) When Ripley jettisons herself from the Nostromo airlock in the movies harrowing fourth act, the accompanying sense of catharsis and escape is akin to a new-borns emergence from the womb In: sabotagetimes [online] http://www.sabotagetimes.com/tvfilm/alien-a-freudian-nightmare/ (Accessed on 26/10/2012) Franco, H. (2010) Alien introduced a new kind of science fiction horror. The threat still comes from the unknown, but the environment and method of attack were different this enriches film experience In: [online] http://ryuhawk.hubpages.com/hub/Alien-1979-Analysis (Accessed on 26/10/2012) Malcolm, D. (2009) it is, in fact, an audience reaction picture par excellence. In: [online] http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/oct/13/derek-malcolm-alienreview (Accessed on 26/10/2012)