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Alien Film review

Hannah Milliner

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 Alien constantly created suspense throughout the film by using various devices one of which

 was picked up in this quote “ "Alien" uses a tricky device to keep the alien fresh throughout the movie: It evolves the nature and appearance of the creature, so we never know quite

what it looks like or what it can do.” (Ebert, 2003) This meant that the audience wasconstantly left on edge because the appearance of the alien kept changing it could appear at

any time in any place. The film also had some devices which made the film a little more

predictable like the sound of a heartbeat which became louder the closer a character got theirdeath. However this could be a device that is supposed to make the audience feel vulnerable

and on edge, with allows them to some extent to empathize with the characters. Which ishelped even more by creating a sense of normality within certain scenes, for example when

the crew are eating meals around the table (Fig.1), because it is something we do ourselves it

 becomes a little more believable so the audience is able to relate to the film a little more, which therefore makes the suspenseful moments that little bit more powerful. Which is

completely opposite to the film Space Odyssey.

Fig.1 Alien (1979)

This film has a strong female lead which is quite different to the usual template for Sci- Fiand Horror, usually the female lead is a helpless damsel in distress, like Ann Darrow from King Kong 1933. As the following quote picks up Ripley is a head strong character who

surprisingly survives longer than her male peers. “  She is Resourceful, intelligent, and yet, asseveral scholars note, still remains a feminine spectacle in the closing sequence as she

undresses preparing for hyper sleep. She even survives actions that would mean the end forlesser characters, male or female, in SF and particularly horror, such as when she goesback to rescue Jones, the ship cat.”  (Reid, 2009) The fact that she undresses has caused

some controversy because this could wipe away the strong reputation that she has created for

herself throughout the films and becomes presented as a typical female role. However thisscene can also be visual representation of her finally being allowed to bring her guard down

and no longer afraid of being in danger. It is also false hope for the audience as they think thecharacter is safe but in fact is still in potential danger from the boarding alien.

Just like 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Hal the humans in this film are somewhat reliant on

computers, ‘Mother’ being the ships computer that is simply a tool and but has no emotionor free will to the extent that Hal was given, however there is a cyborg that allows the human

characters to be killed in order to preserve the alien in hope to use it as a weapon. This quoteseems to describe the relationship between the characters and the ship rather well “The first and most elemental of relationships between characters and their ships is that of mother-

child. A mother gives life to her young, sustains them, nurtures them, and acts as an

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anchor, and safe haven for her children”  (Donald, 1993) This quote is basically saying thatthe characters rely on the computer to keep them alive while they are in hyper sleep within

pods(Fig.2) which could be a representation of an embryo, this is also applicable to Hal buthe has the capability to turn off the life supporting systems. Computers, robots and Cyborgsare still used in similar ways in modern film, and seems to be a common element in any Sci-

Fi or futuristic based film. More often or not their behaviours become predictable andstereotypical.

Fig.2 (Alien, 1979)

Donald. R (1993) Volume 3 The Material World in American Popular Film 

http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sSPILzc9rkcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA207&dq=%22alien+197

9%22+design&ots=Z6p2v2x7xO&sig=lqJ-

1ZlH4wPgWMwMM3i7UcclASM#v=onepage&q=alien&f=false 

Ebert. R (2003) Alien

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-alien-1979 

(Accessed on 24/10/13)

Reid. R (2009) Women in Science Fiction and fantasy 

http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/30237821/womeninsciencefiction.pdf?AWSAc

cessKeyId=AKIAIR6FSIMDFXPEERSA&Expires=1382649723&Signature=l0GIfw3hmlBWIKA%2BAfO3K7

SimJI%3D&response-content-disposition=inline#page=196 

(Accessed on 24/10/13)

Images

Fig.1 Alien (1979) [film still]

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http://www.paisleynotplaid.com/2012_09_01_archive.html 

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Fig.2 Alien (1971) [Film Still]

http://mindofthemoviedame.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_01_archive.html 

(Accessed on 24/10/13)