GENDER, TECHNOLOGY AND REPRESENTATION IN THE ALIEN LEGACY
There are four films in the Alien Series (known as the Alien Legacy):
• Alien (1979)
• Aliens (1986)
• Alien 3 (1992)
• Alien Resurrection (1997)
This website will present a critical analysis of the Alien Series, to assess gender, technology and representation within a horror / science-fiction genre. Particular emphasis will be placed on Alien 3 (1992).
The web-site will be broken down into the following areas:
A) INTRODUCTION
In order to analyse and interpret Alien 3 [1992], it is necessary to understand Lt Ellen Ripley's character. Ripley is the female protagonist of the Alien series and is played by Signourney Weaver.
Although, Ripley is not a feminist and does not actively stand for women's rights, her role is reflective of feminist ideology. Throughout the Alien series, we see her character grow, change, develop and mature to meet and tackle each situation placed before her.
The Alien series is very forward looking and challenges both cultural norms and cinematography norms. Lt Ellen Ripley introduced viewers to their first self-reliant and successful science-fiction heroine (or should that be "female hero"?, as heroine tends to imply tear-jerker films). At the time of release of Alien, women in science-fiction films tended to have distinctly secondary roles to the males or relied upon a man or were finally defeated by evil forces. Non-human females were often portrayed as a seductive and evil force to be overcome. This is not the case, in the Alien series.
In all films, Ripley encounters difficult situations which challenge her femininity. She has to fight against the patriarchal ideology of the Company (Weyland Yutani) she works for, different kinds of male figures and of course, against the Alien. Gender is an important theme throughout the series, what is interesting is how gender is represented.
The Alien films have many distinctive references to gender roles, especially to women's status in the world and to motherhood. Ripley's part is rather complex as she continually shifts between a feminine role and a masculine role.
Difference is another key concept in the series, particularly looking at the non-human and monstrous feminine [Creed 2000]. The monstrous feminine in this film, is a "complex representation of the maternal figure as perceived within a patriarchal ideology" [Creed 2000, pg 122] and is essentially challenging society's norms.
Furthermore, as one watches the Alien series, it can be seen that all the films are different in directorial style and tend to be reminiscent of the era in which they were made. For example, Aliens is a classic sci-fi film of its time, being very "Rambo-esque" in attitude and appearance (machismo, big guns and lots of noise), which mirrored Ronald Reagan's presidential era. (ie Patriarchal capitalism versus communism.
The Reagonite agenda was also driven by the ideals of white, patriarchal, masculinity evinced in such cultural icons as Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van-Damme, Sylvestor Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger). In stark contrast to the cinematic trends of the 1980s, there were (and are) relatively few films which feature women or gays acting in defence of inherent American ideologies. In fact there appears to be the opposite trend -films that vilify gays and women operating outside the roles defined for them by hegomic patriarchy (eg Fatal Attraction). The release of Aliens, therefore, coincided with a complex of competing ideologies that find their expression in cultural forms such as the cinema.
Alien:
The first film Alien [1979], sets up the conflict between the female protagonist and the monstrous feminine that operates throughout the Alien series.
Alien, challenges the male / female dichotomy and sexual distinction. Both the men and women are subjected to "rape" by the face-hugger, to serve as wombs for the symbolic mother-destroyer Alien. As the males are penetrated, impregnated and give birth, everyone is feminised and this can be seen as challenging cultural anxieties about the subversion of male power.
At the end of the film, Ripley was the only remaining survivor of the Nostromo ship and she had used cunning, logic and a cool-head to defeat the Alien, although these are typically male personality attributes and characteristics she was not a stand in for the heroic male. She was a good female protagonist.
Since Ripley was the only survivor, this would indicate that she was stronger and more intelligent than the others. Therefore, the patriarchal ideology initially presented in the film is turned upside down and a new kind of hero is born. Her destruction of the Alien, can also be likened to the contemporary feminist goal of saving humanity from the destructive impulses of patriarchy.
Aliens:
In the second film - Aliens [1986], Lt Ellen Ripley stands for the redeemed American who has been given a second chance, to live, work and survive within a patriarchal society founded the Company. Thereby, maintaining a political bias of good versus bad, right versus wrong and the "us and them" concept.
Ripley's second chance was achieved by (finally) agreeing to return to LV-426, to act as a consultant on a rescue mission with the Marines for the Company. Ripley's appearance in Aliens is tougher than in Alien. Her hair is shorter, she smokes, she is lonely, has no family and she has no friends. She has to work as a forklift driver (pneumatic loader), as the Company had removed her commercial flight officer status.
Ripley's ability to use the loader is very important - it has a symbolic position seen most clearly at the end of the film. By climbing into the loader, she becomes a giant female cyborg with enormous power to battle with the Alien Queen. It could be argued that the battle is a fight between two androgynous creatures. They are both mothers, yet both have masculine features and symbols.
The loader provides Ripley with self-confidence, strong steps and strength, whereas the Alien has the phallus symbol. The phallus symbol appears as a form of secondary jaw or possible tongue which comes out of the Alien's mouth and attacks Ripley. This is somewhat reminiscent of the manner in which Ash (Android), tried to kill Ripley with a rolled up magazine in Alien (symbolic oral rape).
The battle with and triumph over the Alien Queen, is at the pinnacle of Ripley's masculinity in Aliens. Yet it was founded upon the mother / protector role she had been developing ever since she found the girl Newt, on the planet LV-426 and informally adopted as a surrogate daughter.
The film closes with a suggestion that Ellen Ripley, Dwayne Hicks (a colonial Marine - who appeared to be very attracted to Ripley) and Newt, had formed an impromptu family unit, leaving the audience with a sense of happiness and well-being.
Alien 3:
Alien 3 [1992] is different again. The film is rather introspective and emphasises collaboration and suffering, with numerous references to religion. When the EEV crash lands on Fiorina (Fury) 161, the "happy ending" of Aliens is eradicated (by the death of Hicks and Newt - even the android Bishop is smashed beyond repair) and the viewer is left with an image of a very different hero: the mother / protector becomes a mother / destroyer.
By sacrificing herself and the unborn Alien Queen, Ripley effectively rejects the patriarchal systems she defends in Aliens. This rejection, transforms Ripley from a victim of the Alien and the Company with its consistent desire to have the ultimate killing machine for its bio-weapons division (again these are signs of capitalist tendencies and the need for profit and personal advantage/gain), to the ultimate foe. One can view Ripley's death as a victory and has a number of religious overtones and is particularly reminiscent of images of Joan of Arc's death burning amongst the flames. .
Alien Resurrection:
The final chapter in the series is Alien Resurrection [1997]. 200 years after Ripley's ultimate sacrifice, the Company successfully clones her and the unborn Alien Queen inside her (after seven previous attempts), from a sample of blood. During the cloning process Ripley herself has become an Alien and is therefore a dark and monstrous post-human superwoman [Gallardo and Smith 2004].
Gallardo and Smith argue that Ripley's cloned selves and the New Alien represent a threat to patriarchal society and order, as they have been created from a mixed female (ie the Alien Queen and Ripley). Ie A new race has been produced from only women and therefore, men are no longer required for reproduction.
In the closing stages of the film, Ripley kills (aborts) her offspring by using her Alien acid blood to corrode the glass and the resultant depressurisation sucks her baby into outer-space. It is at this moment, that Ripley becomes a complex post-human female [Gallardo & Smith].
ALIEN 3 - THE BITCH IS BACK
"The bitch is back" was the tag line of the trailer for Alien 3 , the third film in the Alien series, directed by David Fincher and released in 1992. The tag line was linked to a close-up of Ripley and the Alien "pressing its drooling lips against Ripley's quivering cheek" (Amy Taubin, Sight and Sound, July 1992, pg 13), as shown in Figure One below.
This is an image of desire and death.
Figure One: Poster for Alien 3 (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 1992)
The key question is "who is the bitch?"
On the face of it, this question is very simplistic and depending upon your own point of view "bitch" can refer to both Lt Ellen Ripley and the Alien. They are the mirror image and alter ego of each other. However, with further critical analysis, this question is not simplistic but is very sophisticated and the terminology sets the tone and style for the film Alien 3 (which is completely different from its predecessors).
"Bitch" is usually a sexist and derogatory term used to describe women. Such pejorative terms usually draw parallels between women and animals and/or nature rather than their male counterparts. It is a form of alienation and therefore significant to the film's portrayal of the representation of gender, difference and m / other within the film. Therefore, I would argue that the tag line "The Bitch is Back" was used to deliberately depict a parallel between the Alien and Ripley.
Throughout the Alien Legacy (20 th Century Fox's name for the series of films), the past, present and future of the Alien and Ripley have been intertwined. In Alien 3 , their differences and similarities are further aligned, as Ripley has become the future of the Alien species (she is nurturing the Alien Queen). Despite her best efforts, Ripley was unable to save her own flesh from "contamination by the abject alien other - the monstrous fecund mother." [Creed 1987] .
Other parallels exist, Ripley and the Alien are the only survivors of the crash onto Fury 161. Their combined presence brings disaster to the planet, they are the only forms on the planet to reproduce and they are both fighting to save their species and themselves. Therefore they are both "bitches" in their respective ways. Furthermore, since Fury 161 is a maximum security prison for rapists and murderers, Ripley is unwelcome and viewed as a human "alien", a single white female forced to cohabit with a group of hostile and desperate men. She is as unwelcome as the Alien itself.
A reversal of roles is also witnessed in Alien 3 . In Aliens, the Alien Queen is a mother / destroyer and Ripley takes a mother / protector role (refer to Figure Two). The Alien can be described as "bitch" because she used violence to protect herself and her offspring, whereas Ripley cared, nurtured and protected the girl Newt who she viewed as a surrogate daughter. Even Ripley referred to the Alien Queen as "bitch" when the Alien tried to capture and kill Newt (who was hiding underneath the metal flooring of the Sulaco Ship). Ripley's surrogate mother / protector role came into play when she transformed herself into a "cyborg" (after becoming one with the pneumatic loader - Figure Three) to defend and protect Newt.
Figure Two: Poster for Aliens - Showing Lt Ellen Ripley's Mother / Protector Role with Newt (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 1986)
Figure Three: Lt Ellen Ripley as a Cyborg (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 1986)
In Alien 3 , the Alien won't destroy Ripley, as it knows Ripley is its species future (ie nurturing the unborn Alien Queen). The Alien is now the protector of Ripley yet it continues to kill the prisoners - whom it views as a threat to both itself and the unborn Alien Queen. Ripley's role reversal and transformation to mother /destroyer is complete when she sacrifices herself to destroy the xenomorph growing inside her. (ie Ripley is essentially the Mother of the unborn Alien Queen infant). She has become the bitch!
Ripley kills herself by throwing herself backwards into the furnace. A close up shot reveals an expression of both peace and ecstasy on her face as she plummets into the furnace. In the commercial release, the Alien Queen bursts out of her chest and Ripley brings her arms forward and embraces the Alien infant, ensuring that it will die alongside its surrogate mother. These images are representative of a holy sacrifice. The medieval surrounding and Ripley's appearance (shaven head and her facial expressions) take on new values as they can be likened to Joan of Arc's death surrounded by flames.
By sacrificing herself and the unborn Alien Queen, Ripley is also effectively rejecting the patriarchal systems she defends in Aliens. This is particularly relevant as her death is witnessed by the Company's scientists and the human version of Bishop (the Android seen in Aliens), who was there to be a "friendly face". This rejection, transforms Ripley from a victim of the Alien and the Company with its consistent desire to have the ultimate killing machine for its bio-weapons division (signs of capitalist tendencies and the need for profit and personal advantage/gain), to the ultimate foe.
THE QUESTION OF DIFFERENCE
The science fiction and horror genre is usually dated from the publication of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Written at the time when the impact of the industrial revolution, coupled with great leaps forward in scientific experimentation and discovery, was gripping popular imagination. Frankenstein set up the basic parameters of the thematic content of the genre, central to which were the projected influence of the products of science on humanity and the erosion of human essentialism as a consequence of the creative powers simulated by science. As a result, the genre became fixated about questions of identity against a rising tide of technologies that erased many forms of uniquity (eg the way in which photography largely erased the individuality of portraiture). Consequently, in cinema, we see films that deal with artificial intelligence, cloning, robotics, and memory implants etc. One of the main implications of this process is the increasing marginalisation of women in terms of their essential function within a patriarchal social order - the ability to give birth. Once women are no-longer required to perpetuate the species what value would they have in a patriarchal society? This is perhaps the real horror at the heart of the Frankenstein myth.
Penley [pg 92 of the Reader] reinforces the link between technology and gendered subjectivity at both substantive and epistemological levels:
". science fiction as a genre . is more hyperbolically concerned than ever with the question of difference, typically posed as that of the difference between human and non-human. Although science fiction has traditionally been concerned with this question, new pressures from feminism, the politics of race and sexual orientation, and the dramatic changes in the structure of the family and the workforce seem to have intensified the symptomatic wish to pose and re-pose such an investigation. Other challenges to being able to "tell the difference" come not only from post-structuralist criticism, with its highly constructed and unstable subject, but also from advances in genetic engineering, bioengineering and cybernetics."
Penley's references to cybernetics, bio-engineering and genetic engineering links nicely with analyses of films containing androids, technology and alien species to address topics such as motherhood and reproductive technology. In many Sci-Fi films, it is technology (not biology) that reproduces gender, thus challenging conceptions of humanity. Furthermore, Mary Ann Doane [2000], identifies another aspect of the technoscience and gender interrelationships in the genre. She notes the opposition between the liberatory potential of the Haraway's cyborg metaphor and the tendency for it to be used in such a manner that it would reinforce gendered, racialised stereotypes.
The Alien Legacy both follows the above contentions (ie who needs women when the men are giving birth to the Aliens and gender stereotyping), yet ultimately the series challenges the threat to and marginalisation of women by actually eradicating the need for men in reproduction, as seen in Alien Resurrection.
Therefore, the Alien Legacy as a whole reaffirms Penley's contention [Penley et al 2000] that science fiction is concerned with the issue of difference. However, I would assert that it does not just focus upon the differences between human and non-human but it also looks at the question of gender and identity, motherhood and family units. Furthermore, the series questions patriarchal systems and to a certain extent capitalism (why should the Company profit from an uncontrollable Alien species, whose main neuro-linguistic programming is to use, abuse and kill other organisms), refer to the Appendix for further information.
From a structuralist position, the binary oppositions within the genre exist in subordination to the master oppositions of the dystopian (anti-human values) and the utopian (pro-human values). That is to say that all science fiction is concerned with whether technology will improve or worsen the human condition. This gives rise to three typologies: 1) Texts where science provides a "bad" future, where what we identify as essential human values are crushed, eg Bladerunner. 2) Texts where science provides a "bad" future but cannot overcome a residue of essential human values, eg Aliens. 3) Texts where science provides a "good" future where human values remain unaffected or are even enhanced, eg The Abyss.
Within these three typologies each text contains a range of binary oppositions that work to produce meanings for the audience that position them, so that they will place the text in terms of one of the three typologies.
Master Opposition
Dystopian Utopian
However, it should be asked exactly whose utopia is being reflected: the utopia of a consistently male dominated production or of an equally demanding feminist perception. This argument is demonstrated in the work of feminist sci-fi writers such as Donna Haraway and Jenny Wolmark, whose aspirations for a utopian society (in which women are in dominant ideological control) is virtually a reverse dystopian. "From a feminist point of view, novels which describe women-only communities should be considered utopias" [Wolmark 1994, pg 89]
Specific Textual Oppositions
Table One: List of Binary Oppositions
Diegesis: The World of The Film
Alien 3 is set in the future when space travel is commonplace and the farthest star systems have become used as sources of raw materials for an undisclosed number of corporations based on Earth, or alternatively form penal colonies.
While in cryo-sleep on the journey back to Earth, a fire on the space-ship Sulaco forces the main computer to eject the cryo-capsules in an Emergency Escape Vehicle. Ellen Ripley is the only survivor when the EEV crash lands on Fiorina (Fury) 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet's maximum security prison. The prison is reminiscent of an old fashioned medieval fortress, a place left behind by the communications, technological and industrialisation of later centuries. There are no high-tech weapons or technology. The prisoners are members of a religious cult, "Some kind of apocalyptic, millenarian, Christian-fundamentalist .", as the ex-prisoner and current medical officer Clemens puts it. They have made a vow of celibacy, wear monk-style habits and sport shaven heads.
Apart from Ripley, there are no women on Fury 161. The prisoner's common-sense and ideology does not include (and is strongly against) women. For the men, a woman represents Eve, who took the apple from the serpent and tried to lead Adam into temptation. The prisoners now feel like Adam and are continuously led into temptation (eg attempted rape scene). Therefore, a strong religious theme dominates the story line. Even, the prison's gigantic furnace is akin to a visible reminder of the Christian vision of hell.
Alien 3 is set in the past, yet its timeline is actually in the future, this is the end of civilisation and the world. The Apocalypse is heralded by the arrival of Ripley and the Alien.
The prisoners hate Ripley's difference and everything she stands for. Dillon (the black religious leader) informs her that they have a lot of faith and they tolerate the intolerable. They hate the fact that she (and the Alien) had disturbed the prisoner's peace and harmony and that she was leading them into temptation. Yet, the murderers and rapists seek guidance and direction from Ripley and ultimately leadership as they need her to take charge to overcome the "new evil Eve" - the Alien.
Difference: Human / Non- Human
Science fiction films have become the genre of post modernity and its representation of futuristic worlds, inhabited by cyborgs, aliens and monsters. They highlight the constructed otherness of identity and through the focus on difference, sci-fi challenges the known and accepted categories of identity.
Women's ability to give birth has provided the horror film with an important source of many of its most horrific images. The parthenogenetic mother, intra-uterine iconography and evocations of the uncanny and images of alien births. In horror films, the womb is viewed as horrifying and within patriarchal discourses, it has been used to represent women's bodies as marked, impure and a part of the natural / animal world. In fact, the abject nature of the womb and the birthing process caused the early Church to recoil in horror at the idea that men should be born from women. The horror film exploits the principals of the abject womb by depicting humans (both male and female) giving birth to the monstrous. This is most clearly seen in the Alien series and is used to develop the notion of difference, or otherness.
The Alien series does not address conflict with a symbolic father figure; rather it looks at conflict with a maternal figure of monstrous proportions. It is the body of the archaic mother, rather than the father, that is the site of desire and revulsion. The archaic mother is represented in all her negative force. The films visually emphasise dark, slimy passages and mouths oozing saliva and acid for blood. They attract our attention by focussing on exploding chests/stomachs and devouring wombs.
The Alien creature takes on several forms that have both male and female reproductive qualities. The Alien series, like all traditional Frankenstein narratives is about monstrous rebirth, here both men and women give birth in an excruciating and fatal manner. Yet the Alien films problematise the Frankensteinian narrative's gendered and racial politics. The Frankensteinian myth, re-envisaged in film is a story of masculine self-birthing (parthenogenesis). This self-birthing tends to be monstrous and anti-natural or it is glorified through the power of the scientist as a God and technical wonder.
Bundtzen, argued that:
"Aliens is likely generate an Aliens III in which culture again is pitted against nature, figured as female and maternal, a womb-tomb that threatens to engulf everyone in the limitations of our bodies, our creatureliness, our biological functions". [Bundtzen 2000, pg 108]
Although Aliens, did spawn Alien 3 , it was different to the other films. The Alien moved differently, was born from a dog (in the commercial version) or an ox (from the Director's cut). Therefore, it threatened nature as a whole, rather than just humanity - as in previous films.
Difference: Gender and Identity - Man / Woman
In Alien 3 , the male prisoners are referred to as "double Y chromosomes". As this is a biological impossibility (males are made up from X-Y chromosomes), the deliberate error could have a symbolic meaning which suggests that the prisoners have extra-masculine features. Another possibility is the prisoner's indifference to women, based upon their hatred of perceived difference. The combined effects of religion, patriarchal systems and misogynistic tendencies are used to alienate and subordinate women's position within society. Thus, women's difference and otherness is viewed as inferior, frightening or amazing and therefore, a source of fascination, horror and awe.
In all the Alien films, we have witnessed a change in the representation of gender and difference towards a more masculine heroine. The development of the Alien Legacy towards masculinity reaches its pinnacle in Alien 3 :-
In Alien, the crew was quite heterogeneous. In Aliens, the female soldiers had a fairly masculine image and saw Ripley as feminine referring to her as snow-white. What is interesting is that Ripley does not try to get approval from the women but from the male officers - showing her ability with the pneumatic loader. Interestingly her position as an active and strong woman is accepted amongst Sergeant Apone and Corporal Hicks. This acceptance did not occur in Alien, her crew members obeyed the male officers not her. In fact her authority is questioned and then defied when Ash lets Kane be brought back onboard the Nostromo with the face-hugger attached to his face. Ripley is alone with no-one supporting her. Ash always opposed Ripley's ideas and suggestions, leaving her out of any decision making processes, appealing to the Captain Dallas. Ash and Dallas are male figures who use their power and it is not important to listen to a woman who wants to use her common sense in decision making. Eventually Kane and Dallas die, leaving Ripley to take command, however, the Android Ash and mother (the Nostromo's computer) do not appreciate her status. Ash tries to dominate a woman who has a superior rank to him, suggesting cultural ideology that the male is stronger.
In Alien, Ripley tired to take the command in the scene where she refused to open the airlock hatch, she tried to be reasonable and talk. In Aliens, during the first encounter with the Aliens, the rookie lieutenant panics and again Ripley tries to take over the command, driving the vehicle and rescuing the soldiers. This time she just acts and succeeds. However, her feminine side emerges when she panics when she drives the vehicle and Corporal Hicks is needed to calm her down, informing her that the transaxle is broken and to ease down. Women can take over the control but a man is needed to take care of the technology. However, the suggested lack of knowledge of technology is symbolically challenged when Hicks teaches Ripley to use the M41A pulse rifle.
It could be argued that there are two forms of masculinity in action films:
1) Masculinity as a given power and
2) masculinity which develops during a film. In Aliens, Ripley symbolically develops a more masculine character with the knowledge of the rifle and its capability.
In Alien 3 , there are no "women". When Ripley has shaved her head and steps into the mess hall, she has the most masculine of all her appearances, yet she was viewed for the first time as a true woman. Dillon calls Ripley a lady, yet in Aliens, Vasquez called her a man - an interesting change in how society views her. In this film, Ripley is shown to be very cold, unemotional and strong but she also needs personal fulfilment which she gains from Clemens. Although Ripley's character changes towards a more masculine form, she never loses her femininity and this is clear from the first exchange of words between Dillon and Ripley. (Figure Four shows the changing "face" of Ripley.)
|
|
|
a) ALIEN |
b) ALIENS |
c) ALIEN 3 |
Figure Four: The Changing Face Of Lt Ellen Ripley
Motherhood
As discussed previously, one of the main concepts covered in the Alien series is the representation of difference, the monstrous feminine and motherhood, as perceived within a patriarchal ideology [Creed 2000].
The battles with the Aliens are interesting if we consider them in terms of motherhood. When Newt is captured by an Alien and taken back to the nest, Ripley is compelled to find and rescue Newt. This situation must be reminiscent of Ripley's loss of her own daughter (refer to Aliens - Director's Cut) and serves to reinforce both her attachment to the sole survivor on the colony world LV-426 and her determination to carry out her promise to find her if they became separated. Bundtzen argues that Ripley's position of surrogate mother is a " ... conscious, chosen, cultural motherhood . " [Bundtzen 2000]. I disagree, if Ripley's motherhood was forced by society and the present circumstances then she would not have risked her life to save Newt from the imminent 'face-hugger'. In the final battle scene with mama Alien, Ripley's motherly instincts remain and she defends her daughter by transforming herself into a cyborg (as mentioned previously). When the Alien mama is destroyed, Newt accepts Ripley as her mother and refers to her as "mommy", rather than Ripley.
In Alien 3 , Newt is killed when the EEV crash lands on Fury 161. To check for the possibility of an Alien, Ripley asks medical officer Clemens to perform an autopsy on Newt's body. During the procedure and later during the cremation of Newt and Hicks' bodies, Ripley is clearly distressed and obviously misses her 'nuclear-family'. This may be a reason why she becomes so cold and unemotional in this film.
CONCLUSIONS
Although, Ripley is not a feminist and does not actively stand for women's rights, her role is reflective of feminist ideology. Throughout the Alien series, we see her character grow, change, develop and mature to meet and tackle each situation placed before her.
The Alien series is very forward looking and challenges both cultural norms and cinematography norms. Lt Ellen Ripley introduced viewers to their first self-reliant and successful science-fiction heroine (or should that be "female hero"?, as heroine tends to imply tear-jerker films). At the time of release of Alien, women in science-fiction films tended to have distinctly secondary roles to the males or relied upon a man or were finally defeated by evil forces. Non-human females were often portrayed as a seductive and evil force to be overcome. This is not the case, in the Alien series.
In all films, Ripley encounters difficult situations which challenge her femininity. She has to fight against the patriarchal ideology of the Company (Weyland Yutani) she works for, different kind of male figures and of course, against the Alien. Gender is an important theme throughout the series, what is interesting is how gender is represented. The Alien films have many distinctive references to gender roles, especially to women's status in the world and to motherhood. Ripley's part is rather complex as she continually shifts between a feminine role and a masculine role. Difference is another key concept in the series, particularly looking at the non-human and monstrous feminine [Creed 2000]. The monstrous feminine in this film, is a "complex representation of the maternal figure as perceived within a patriarchal ideology" [Creed 2000, pg 122] and is essentially challenging society's norms.
It can be seen that the Alien series, challenges the male / female dichotomy and sexual distinction. It is also interesting to note that Ripley's survival seems to hinge upon her association with a sacrificial black male character, particularly in Alien, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection.
Furthermore, the Alien Legacy as a whole reaffirms Penley's contention that science fiction is concerned with the issue of difference [Penley et al 2000]. However, I would assert that it does not just focus upon the differences between human and non-human but it also looks at the question of gender and identity, motherhood and family units.
Penley's [2000] references to cybernetics, bio-engineering and genetic engineering links nicely with analyses of films containing androids, technology and alien species to address topics such as motherhood and reproductive technology. In many Sci-Fi films, it is technology (not biology) that reproduces gender, thus challenging conceptions of humanity. Furthermore, Mary Ann Doane [2000], identifies another aspect of the technoscience and gender interrelationships in the genre. She notes the opposition between the liberatory potential of the Haraway's cyborg metaphor and the tendency for it to be used in such a manner that it would reinforce gendered, racialised stereotypes.
Therefore, the Alien Legacy follows the above contentions (ie who needs women when the men are giving birth to the Aliens and gender stereotyping), yet ultimately the series challenges the threat to and marginalisation of women by actually eradicating the need for men in reproduction, as seen in Alien Resurrection.
The film Alien 3 is rather introspective and emphasises collaboration and suffering, with numerous references to religion. When the EEV crash lands on Fiorina (Fury) 161, the "happy ending" of Aliens is eradicated (by the death of Hicks and Newt - even the android Bishop is smashed beyond repair) and the viewer is left with an image of a very different hero: the mother / protector becomes a mother / destroyer.
In answer to the original question is "who is the bitch?" It has been shown that this is not a simple question to answer. Throughout the Alien series, the relationship between the Alien and Ellen Ripley has become increasing complex. In Alien 3 , the differences and similarities are further aligned and the audience observes a reversal of roles (ie the Alien becomes the protector of Ripley rather than her destroyer). Therefore, depending upon your own point of view, "bitch" can refer to either Lt Ellen Ripley or the Alien, as they are the mirror image and alter ego of each other.
Finally, it can also be argued that the tag line "The Bitch is Back" was used to deliberately depict a parallel between the Alien and Ripley. This is because the word "bitch" is a pejorative term to describe women and usually draws parallels between women and animals and / or nature. It is a form of alienation and therefore significant to the film's portrayal of the representation of gender, difference and m/other within the film.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES AND WEB-SITE LINKS
This document briefly discusses the contents of the bibliographic resources and web-site links, contained within the Alien vs Ripley page of the MA in Humanities group IT web-site project.
A total of seven Alien films were watched during the critical analysis of the Alien Legacy. Four of which were the original theatrical releases and the other three were the Director's Cut (Special Edition) versions of the films. This provided an interesting contrast between the films and highlighted some differences which changed (and indeed improved) the context of the films.
Furthermore, a significant amount of background research was conducted to set the films in context with relevant key texts and available discourses. The references provided in the web-site, were critical to the analysis of the films but were by no means the only journal papers and books read for this project.
Bibliographic Resources
As discussed above, a number of academic journals, text books and literature (science-fiction and horror) was read for this project. These documents covered a range of discourses, including:
• Contemporary Feminist Theories (including Cyborg Theories)
• Cultural and Media Studies
• Film Studies
• Gender Studies
• Literature and Literary Theory
• Science, Engineering and Technology (SET)
• Women's Studies
This is clearly a multidisciplinary project and therefore, encompasses the whole ethos of the MA in Humanities degree course offered by the Faculty of Arts (in the University of Leicester ).
Web-Site Links
The Alien Legacy web-site link was included for completeness as it covers all four films.
The site is entered at the main home page, which is subsequently broken down into the four films. A dedicated page is presented for each film and contains a reasonable synopsis of each movie.
By clicking on links and pictures, it is possible to obtain additional background information on the characters and view images of the transformation stages of the Aliens. ie From the egg stage, through to the attachment of the "face-hugger" and the actual birth of the Alien itself.
From the general layout, style and content of this web-site, 20 th Century Fox and the web-designer have clearly targeted a general interest (adult) audience. Although this is not an intellectually or technically challenging web-site, it would appear to be a reasonable source of information.
REFERENCES USED IN THE WEB-PAGE:
Bundtzen LK (2000): Monstrous Mothers: Medusa, Grendel and now Alien, In Kirkup et al: The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader, Open University/Routledge, London , UK., pg 101 - 109
Creed B (1987): "The Abject Womb" and "The Womb In Horror Films", extracts from Chapter 4, Women as Monstrous Womb: The Brood , in the Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Routledge, London pp 49-58
Creed B (2000): Alien and the Monstrous Feminine, In Kirkup et al: The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader, Open University/Routledge, London , UK .
FILMS:
Alien (1979): Director - Ridley Scott, Twentieth Century Fox and Brandywine Productions Ltd
Aliens (1986): Director - James Cameron, Twentieth Century Fox and Brandywine Productions Ltd
Alien 3 (1992): Director - David Fincher, Twentieth Century Fox and Brandywine Productions Ltd
Alien Resurrection (1997): Director - Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Twentieth Century Fox and Brandywine Productions Ltd
WEB-SITE:
Alien Legacy - Twentieth Century Fox Web-Address:
http://www.foxhome.com/alienlegacy/html
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