"Alien" - 02/09/03 - 02/15/03

[Morticia]

This is a thread to discuss the technical and/or thematic merits of "Alien".

The purpose being to foster intelligent discussion of films without resorting to "It's a piece of crap." or "It's the greatest film ever." (And so that we all can gain a bit of a film education from everyone.)

We'll discuss a new film each week. Either slade or I will post the film in this forum in advance, and lock the topic until the first day of discussion.

Thanks everyone. We are open to any ideas about running this forum.

****SPOILER WARNING**** of course this entire thread is going to be full of spoilers.

[machine ghost]

Alien is one of my all time favourite films, my older brother took me to see it for my 13th birthday and I haven't been normal since. I bought a Starlog magazine shortly after seeing it that had an article entitled "Dissecting Alien" written by a Psychologist, this guy saw things in the movie that I don't think the average person caught. He saw the whole movie as a misogynist rape story:
All of the male characters show little or no respect to the female characters. Ripley seems to suffer the most from the male egos on board the ship, the maintenance workers turn on the steam vent while she questions them to interfere with her job. Ash overrides her orders that Kane, Lambert and Dallas remain isolated when Kane is "infected". He also pointed out something along the lines that even the idea of Kane being infected was a warping of the female role of "giving birth".
Then there is the Alien himself that is a walking phallic symbol (its' cranium is definitely penis shaped) and when it kills it 'unsheaths' its' teeth and 'penetrates' the victim.
Next there is the very unusual scene where Ash attempts to murder Ripley after she questions Mother - I never caught this until after reading this article and rewatching the movie; Ash picks up a 'girlie' magazine, wraps it up into a tube quite violently in front of his crotch then tries cramming it down her throat! Very unique way to kill someone. Ash is then taken out of action when his head ahem.. comes off ... so to speak.
Then there is the scene where Parker is taken out and the Alien turns on Lambert, Ripley listens to the whole thing over the intercom and we see the Alien's tail sneak up between Lambert's legs then it cuts to Ripley and sounds of sreaming, panting and sex like noises.
When Ripley faces the 'Rapist' in the escape pod she strips down to her panties and when she is most vulnerable the Alien makes his prescense known to her and instead of climbing out of the ventilation and murdering her it actually stays put and terrorises her by showing off his 'equipment'.
This is just scratching the surface of the article but I think he made some pretty well founded points. Whatta you guys think?

[orf]

I never saw Alien as a rapist film, but that really does work well. Good view on the film.
I'm a literalist myself when it comes to movies; I can easily decipher good analogies or find hidden meanings in some movies, but with movies like Alien, I see it how it is; a damn good sci-fi/horror classic. When I first saw it when I was 8 (my first R-rated film!), it scared the living shit out of me. The whole sense of claustrophobia brought about by the Nostromo and helplessness of the characters is just terrifying (especially for an 8 year old). Until last year, I always avoided watching the movie. When I turned 14 last may, I finally faced my fear and bought it. I watched it, and I LOVED it. It still upheld its scariness, even after 5 years.
My favorite part of Alien is the whole technical side. For its time, Alien's whole set design and visual effects (subtle or not at times) is absolutely stunning. From the layout of the Nostromo that seems claustrophobic and complex with its many levels and cargo bays, to the absolutely gorgeous art and design by H.R. Giger, the movie excels even modern sci-fi films. The alien spaceship scenes are definitely some of my favorite exploration scenes in any movie I've ever seen. The matte painting for the hatchery area is still even amazing for me. Everytime I see it, I totally forget it's a matte paintint and I see it as it's a real set. Whether it's just a well-made matte painting or it's Giger's amazing pseudo-organic and streamlined design, who knows.
Anyhow, a little more about my love of Giger's work. The alien is, without a doubt, the ultimate movie monster. Though because of costume limits of the time, the costume itself of the alien is a bit cheesy (as shown in the final scene with the alien lurching after Ripley in the shuttle), the neck-up is simply gorgeous. And because that's only what you see all but one scene with the alien (making the alien seem much more mysterious and dangerous), it really warrants itself as one HELL of a, to put it simply, beautiful creature. The alien designs in Aliens and Alien3 were definitely not as good as the alien in Alien, but they still look gorgeous. Giger is an absolute genius.

[JimboQ]

There are a lot of psycho-sexual overtones in the movie as mentioned above. One in particular that hasn't been mentioned, but brought up in the AMC documentary.The attack on John Hurt's character. And in the worst way. The creature attaching itself (genitals) to his face; it was mentioned in the documentary that it could be considered "male-homosexual rape". Odd, but interesting comparison. I wonder if that documentary is gonna be in the new Alien Box.

[NotaNumber]

Alien is made from the stuff nightmares are made of.... full of primal symbolism and imagery.

The horror is a refined rapier attack to the subconcious mind unlike the sledge-hammer blow to the gut of Aliens

[NotaNumber]

The original design of the egg had only two flaps and resembled female genitalia. Scott looked at it and said (more less) "This is going to be shown in a lot of Catholic countries, we won't be able to get away with it" and had the design changed.

The Face hugger started out as a very phallic 'Jack-in-the-Box' springing out of the egg.

[Dolby CP-200]

Over the years the slow controversy about great sounding Dolby Stereo films from the mid 1970’s though to the 1980’s and thou many of the Star Wars films have captivated the attention of my ears, Alien was one that was griping slow moving, but always maintaining a high presence in the soundtrack and the Jerry Goldsmith, score.

I first heard about this back in 1979, when it was playing at the local Gurmount cinema in Westover Road, screen #2 I believe at the time, and thinking about it to today those lucky older buggers who where listening to the fantastic Dolby film mix and getting the crap sacred out of them, WOW, I should have sneaked into to see it, hehehehe!

I did only see it once in the cinema, but this was in the later years, around 1989 the print was only a Dolby Stereo A type and thou the sound was a bit dated for the technology in the cinema, where the Dolby CP-55 was doing the best it could to reproduce the sound, it was a bit in the mid range thou. I guess the cinema didn’t have any sub bass for bass extension, the monaural-surrounds sounded great with dark scenes and ambient stillness waiting in the shadows of a large slimy beast lurking around with a die hard first for blood!

Now owning several versions of the film on laserdisc and DVD, I have to say the first edition of Alien on DVD is the best looking and sounding version that you our likely to get, forget the directors cut, that version is a waste of time for film viewing, thou the new audio commentaries are well worth the listen.

Alien first edition DVD rating

Alien directors cut edition rating

[iluvalex]

I honestly have never viewed Alien in any kind of subliminal sexual odyssey. To me it's always been on a gut level through basic primordial means. Raw animal/insect instinct. If you look at the animal and insect world, it is extremely violent, disgusting in many ways and would be an absolute horror in a human scale. The Alien is that. Survival.

And on a totally different note, I'm not sure if it's on the extra's or AMC special or what, but Giger talked about how this creature that has no eyes becomes that much more menancing. Simple but effective.