Audio Asylum Thread Printer

Get a view of an entire thread on one page

FAQ / News / Events

Films/DVD Asylum

Gotta disagree with you there. Much thought went into Alien

64.105.137.206

Jazz Inmate

In Reply to: RE: What? Pinnacle of horror sci-fi, perhaps. 2001 and Solaris are the pinnacle of the genre. Alien is posted by tinear on March 17, 2011 at 13:31:41

Alien explores "the other" on multiple levels, including gender, race and species--not just extraterrestrial. It features some of the strongest symbolic imagery of any movie ever produced, derived more from reproductive and sex organ anatomic imagery than anything else. It also hammered the theme of a corporate entity, e.g., mother or nostradamus, that was programmed to force unfavorable interactions with "the other". This could be interpreted on multiple levels throughout the film. One of the images even involved the robot Ash cramming a pornographic magazine and ship manual down Ripley's throat. I'd think that kind of symbolism of authoritarian and paternal force would be right up your alley.
The alien that emerges from the egg is arachnoid. The alien that emerges from the man is phallic. The multiple mouths of the alien suggest labia. The large alien structure bearing thousands of eggs that the ship's party investigates looks from a distance like fallopian tubes. The imagery of Dallas encountering mucosal secretions in a tunnel just before the alien literally "embraces" him is highly suggestive. I could go on but others do it far better than I could.
Alien was the subject of a fascinating dissertation written by a PhD candidate of professor Hayden White who taught my History of Consciousness class at UCSC and Stanford. Anyway, there was a lot of thought put into Alien. The subsequent films in the franchise were crap.
-------------

We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi

Edits: 03/17/11 03/17/11

Follow Ups:

I agree. - Dave Mester 15:28:09 03/18/11 (0)
It's very well written, with psychological depth. Veronica Cartwright gave an excellent performance.

Subsequent films were very different, and not nearly as good. They just slipped into the horror/action genre.
Much thought went into "Star Wars." It's still dreck. And a guy writing a PHd hardly - tinear 12:43:18 03/18/11 (1)
is evidence of quality. Comic books, graffiti in rest rooms have been the subject of multiple theses.
- The thought that went into Star Wars stayed on the surface - Jazz Inmate 17:09:55 03/18/11 (0)
  Star wars was a typical tale of empires and rebels. There was no symbolism you could sink your teeth into, and the producer admitted he ripped off the plot from Kurosawa.
  
  Alien was more original at least regarding the points I made previously about imagery and symbolism. Even the gimmicks used to generate suspense were thoughtful. When you expect to see an enormous reptillian monster, you see a soft furry cat. The way the film throws these constant mindblowing curveballs at the audience is fairly brilliant. I won't say ingenius because it falls short of a masterpiece but not by a whole lot.
  
  If it wasn't your cup of tea, so be it. By the way, the PhD candidate was a "she" not a "he" which is not surprising. The hero of Alien turns out to be...a woman. Which appealed to a lot of feminists at the time. You could throw a dart blindfolded and hit a feminist at UCSC...at least in the days I went there.
  -------------
  
  We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
Dude, when was the last time you got laid? (nt) - Doug Flynn 00:13:32 03/18/11 (1)
.
- yesterday, duuuude. It was like gnarley NT - Jazz Inmate 00:24:40 03/18/11 (0)
  -------------
  
  We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
Even if you ignore the multi-level "other" business - Mike K 18:34:34 03/17/11 (2)
"Alien" qualifies as one of the best sci-fi pics ever AND one of the
best horror pics ever. How many films work extremely well in two
differing genres?

As far as it's sequels are concerned, I thought "Aliens" was a superb
film, although it could not be considered as either horror or sci-fi
(well, a little bit sci-fi). I've always thought of it as an
absolutely superb action-adventure flick, or maybe even a "western in
space". The story line was great, the acting was great, there were
multiple points when you thought the story was over only to have a new
wrinkle in the story appear - in many ways I like it more than the
original. But 3 and 4 were truly crap. I only got around to seeing
the last one about a year ago.

I've had an idea for an Alien 5 for several years, but I don't think I
could sell it ... sigh ...

MK
- Especially when you consider it was made in the '70s on a relatively low budget - Jazz Inmate 00:36:26 03/18/11 (1)
  Did you write a screenplay or just have a concept for A5?
  -------------
  
  We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
  - Just a concept * - Mike K 09:28:40 03/18/11 (0)

Post a Followup:

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?

Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
	Remember my Moniker & Password (What's this?) Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:

Message:	(Posts are subject to Content Rules)

Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:	Automagically notify you when someone responds.

To view your new posting or follow-up, click on the RELOAD or REFRESH button on your browser.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: