Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

Hans B. Kahl

ENG 225 – Introduction to Film

Professor Alex Vuilleumier

March 23, 2015

Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

In 1979, Ridley Scott brought together the film genres of horror and science fiction in his

Academy Award winning "Alien". Now recognized as one of the greatest science fiction films of

all time. The film was controversial for its unsettling design, depiction of future roles for women

and, at one point, the only film of its kind to be considered for an X-rating (AFI, 2015).

Within “Alien” are very subtly depicted Freudian themes of psycho-sexuality, mother-

child dynamics, and, for the time, an unusually strong female leading character. Such social

interrogatories are often explored through the genres of science fiction. Serious scientists

dismiss science fiction films because of the elements that are embraced: exoplanetary mining,

interstellar travel, and the yet unrealized ability for mankind to live among the stars. Many of

these films, however, through fictional devices, take on non-scientific issues. The controversial

use of self-directed machines (androids), thinking computers (Mother), advanced forms of

government/ corporate autonomy (The Company), and conspiratorial disdain for ordinary life in

preference to new exobiology. “Alien” shares many of its dramatic themes with older films,

such as 1951's “The Thing from Another World”, 1968's “2001: A Space Odyssey”, and 1958's

“The Fly”.

At the time of its release, movies were a myriad of one-word titles intended to titillate

and cajole audiences into lining up for the next "Jaws" or "Westworld" blockbuster. But "Alien"

is far more than "Jaws" in space; the "monster" has a cunning intellect and a hunter's sense of
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

timing for its "kills". Moreover, it is not a "Westworld" variant with androids that can't be

reasoned with or must be destroyed before they willingly violate the company's programming.

"A genre is a type, or category, and genre films are usually easily recognizable as part of a

certain genre. This is because they tend to use familiar story formulas, character types,

settings, and iconography (visual imagery with symbolic implications), all of which lead viewers

to have certain expectations about what the movie will be like before actually watching it."

(Goodykoontz & Jacobs, sec 4, 2014).

The director's immersive and innovative setting for the story is not the starkly beautiful,

empty vastness of space or debris swept planetoids but of close-in, unsettling compartments.

The audience views a cramped, crowded and confusing collection of industrial machinery. The

opening scenes "set the stage", moving from the majestic sweep of external, star spotted

blackness into the grimy, claustrophobic confines of an empty bridge. The tug, more formally

known as the Commercial Towing Vessel “Nostromo”, an M-Class star freighter, is being guided

by the on-board artificial intelligence unit "Mother". The ship sleeps soundlessly, as it moves

through the abyss of space, pulling an ore refinery behind it; seemingly on autopilot.

Derek Vanlint, the film's cinematographer and DP, or Director of Photography, uses the

elements of framing, low-key lighting, and in-camera special effect techniques to begin the

action. Bright, unintelligible reflections off of an unoccupied space helmet's glassy faceplate.

The lighting adds to the mystery; the audience has no frame of reference other than the

helmet. The helmet is currently devoid of a human occupant, layering the scene with suspense.
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

"Where is the crew?" one might ask. Is the star freighter a "Flying Dutchman", abandoned and

derelict? As the faceplate flashes with coded syntax eerily displayed, it fills the bridge with light

and just as suddenly, goes dark.

Instead of a well earned homecoming and rescue from the dull, monotonous duty of

maintaining, piloting and commanding the Nostromo, Captain Dallas, and his crew are

inexplicably woken from their hypersleep chambers. A "distress" call, emanating from the

moon of a nearby gas giant, insists on being investigated.

“The science fiction genre (or SF) are considered films dealing with realistically reasoned

speculation about future events or scientific theories, often set in outer space or alternative

realities or dealing with time travel. Examples of the SF genre include titles like Metropolis,... The

Day the Earth Stood Still, ... Forbidden Planet, ... 2001: A Space Odyssey,... Star Wars, Alien, ...

The Matrix, Moon, ...and Prometheus.”

 (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, sec 4.1, 2014).

Learning answers to mysteries without the cost of consequence, the audience is safely

ensconced in their theater seats, some undoubtedly enjoying popcorn. The same cannot be

said of the sometimes unfortunate characters in the film being watched. Space is a dark, cold,

and terrifying place. The studio marketing for “Alien” stated, quite unnervingly, “in Space, no

one can hear you scream.” (Scott, 1979). This statement is both metaphoric and based on

scientific fact. We know humans require air not only to breathe, but also to move our vocal

cords. In the desolate void, a terrifying scream cannot easily be heard by anyone.
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

In the far-flung reaches of interstellar space, the characters inhabiting the Nostromo

are, by definition, beyond the reach of rescue or intervention should they come upon a threat

to their survival. They must use what is available on their ship to investigate, assess and report

to “The Company” what they have discovered. This fact is not lost upon any of the crew, with

the ship's Chief Engineer Parker stating “Christ. We're a commercial ship not some rescue

team. This kind of duty's not in our contract.” to which the Science Officer Ash, (played by the

magnificent and then little known Ian Holm), replies “You better read your contract.

'Transmissions received in non-commercial lanes must be investigated. Failure to do so results

in forfeiture of all shares." Parker and Brett, his auxiliary engineer and seemingly inseparable

sidekick accede to their shared fate. They must come along despite their reservations about the

rescue mission's outcome.

The conflict over crew members deserving half or full shares is quickly dismissed by the

Captain's decision to detach the space tug from the ore refinery and descend to the planetoid

LV-426. The descent to the surface barely avoids disaster; the star freighter's engines overheat,

causing a loss of power and a near crash landing. The crew finds itself grounded, while outside

the ship a howling, inhospitable environment of swirling dust and 300 mile-per-hour winds

awaits. The derelict vessel they are to investigate is nearby but not visible, due to the storm and

darkness. The captain, Dallas, and two other members of the crew, Executive Officer Kane and

Ship's Navigator Lambert, set off towards the downed ship, on foot in environmental suits. They

are bulky and claustrophobic with limited visibility, further narrowing the options for safety by

the explorers.
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

The first element of psycho-sexuality is portrayed by the appearance of the marooned

derelict. Its horseshoe shape is reminiscent of legs to either side of a cavernous womb-like

portal, apparently designed for astronauts many times their human size. Barbara Creed in her

article 'Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine' made interesting theories on the use by Scott of

the 'primal scene' of "first contact" (1993). She provides three important representations of

women: monsters, victims, and mothers. In the film, all three are depicted, revealed slowly and

with much suspense.

First, the explorers appear childlike in comparison to the enormous pilot of the vessel. It

is long dead, mummified in a reclining, sofa-like cockpit. The calcified body shows mysterious

wounds, seemingly explosive in origin, erupted from many openings in its chest and torso. The

"monstrous birthing" alluded to very early in the story. As the crew explores the huge ship,

Kane locates a “nursery” bathed in an eery laser-like "field" encapsulating a much warmer

environment of near-tropical temperatures. Kane, perhaps manipulated by a curious sense of

daring or the allure of the unseen treasures below, descends. He breaks the laser light barrier,

the cable above carrying him beyond the dimly lit field into the cavernous hold of the ship.

Notably absent from the sequence is any use of a suspense-building score or, indeed,

any sound other than the labored breathing of Kane. It is interesting to note that the only

recognizable "star" actor of the cast of "Alien" is the actor portraying Kane, John Hurt. As in the

use of Janet Leigh with Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho", the audience is falsely assured that the

storyline of the film revolves around a main character. The "heroine" (or in this case male) is
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

later killed, violently, the scene shocking the viewer into a realization that even heroically

depicted characters are subject to the carnage to come. No one is safe.

Kane, oblivious to his danger, investigates the strange, leathery ovoid shapes lined in

rows on the floor of the hold. Suddenly, reacting to the proximity of Kane's helmeted face, the

ovum opens, like a deadly orchid. Inside is crouched a menacing set of pulsing flesh. A hiss of

air punctuates the violent springing of the ovum's contents onto the hapless Kane.

A disconcerting change of scene jars the audience back into the howling darkness, lit

only by the huge floodlights of the Nostromo. Kane is carried by Dallas and Lambert, their

exodus from the marooned craft unexplained. Dallas demands that the party of explorers be

readmitted to the safety of the Nostromo. When the ship's First Officer, Ellen Ripley (played by

the then unknown actress, Sigourney Weaver) , denies the requests, due to established

quarantine rules, Ash inexplicably opens the outer hatch. The children have returned to their

“Mother”.

Now in the brightly lit, sterile whiteness of the medical bay, the unconscious Kane is

examined. He has a creature, seemingly fused to his helmet, the protective faceplate dissolved

and useless. When the helmet is cut away, the extent of the creature's fusion to Kane is

revealed. A literally described "face hugger", its finger-like appendages are inexorably wrapped

around Kane's face and head. Additionally, a tail is tightly coiled around his throat, preventing

any removal by force as it squeezes to remain in place. An attempt by the crew to remove the
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

creature from Kane with a cutting laser results in the subsequent wound spraying a highly

corrosive, molecular acid, eating its way through several of the ship's floors and deck materials.

The film's story then concentrates on a frustrating dilemma; what to do with their

Executive Officer? Any further attempts to remove the creature would result in either the death

of Kane or the destruction of their ship. Captain Dallas decides to leave Kane apart from the

rest of the crew: alone in the medical bay, his fate to be determined after returning to the ore

refinery and the Nostromo's original purpose. The Freudian overtones of submissive

insemination and helplessness in the face (no pun intended) of the raw survival instincts shown

by the intruder give reversed sexual roles. Kane is depicted as a rape victim, laid out in the

morgue-like austerity of the medical bay.

With the next planetary sunrise, there is a change in Kane's condition. The creature has

left; Kane's mottled face no longer covered by the face hugger. There is no sign of the creature's

presence. Upon further, nerve-jangling suspense, the creature's body flops from an overhead

position onto Ripley. Apparently dead, the creature is no longer perceived as a threat. Ash, as

science officer, claims the gray, lifeless form for further study.

With the engines on the Nostromo repaired, Dallas pilots the tug and her crew back into

orbit, docking with the refinery. As the crew prepares for the long hypersleep and journey back

to Earth, they prepare a meal to commemorate the return of the revived Executive Officer

Kane. As he and the rest of the crew are eating, he is overcome with a sudden attack of spasms,

cramping and screaming in agony. The rest of the crew watch in horror as a "chest burster"
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

form of the creature erupts from Kane's now lifeless body. The emergence of the Alien from

Kane after wolfishly devouring a big meal is a further allegory to what Freud described as a

child's version of the birth process. The illusion that the "baby" grows in their mother's

"tummy" and is subsequently born from it (Creed, 1993, p. 13).

The depiction of Kane's "last supper" is one of the most jarring and iconic in the history

of horror films. The gruesome imagery of Kane's writhing torso, the sound of his rib bones

cracking apart and a torrent of blood, flesh, and other bodily fluids spraying onto horrified crew

members, is indelibly etched upon the viewer's memory. Incredibly, only Scott and Hurt knew

of the upcoming carnage before the scene was shot on film. The cast's reactions were

improvised but are entirely natural, stemming from the horrifyingly realistic effects taking place

at the table.

The prior scene of the sterile, clean medical bay was juxtaposed with the grimy,

industrial reality of their daily crew spaces. The sequence is brightly lit; the supper table and the

crews' uniforms are white to provide maximum contrast with Kane's blood. As a result, the

interplay of the otherwise dimly lit set is absent of color prior to the "arrival" of the Alien. The

escaped "chest burster" must now be perceived as a contamination and a deadly threat.

This scene is an another attempt to appropriate and reverse the procreative function of

the mother, to represent a man giving birth. The Alien is referred to later in the film by Ash as

'Kane's Son'. According to Creed, it is often depicted in horror films that, unlike women, when
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

men create life they give birth to monsters (a la "Frankenstein") and the result almost always

becomes an unleashing of evil (Creed, 1993, p. 16).

The director’s use of measured suspense gives Alien a fresh nuance and look. Scott,

instead of having the creature leap out at the audience in the initial contact as a fully realized

"monster" he builds upon the viewers fears and "evolves" the "alien" through a series of

horrific encounters. No one, not even the film's cast could know what to expect next.

Take the sound design and the careful juxtaposition of agonizing, dominating silence

and jarring bursts of an audible terror. The Nostromo’s crew moves about the quiet ship in

virtual silence; the dialog is limited at first. Diegetic noise (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, Glossary,

2014) and the non-diegetic score by Jerry Goldsmith feels nearly nonexistent before the alien

arrives on board, and the lack of even inconsequential sounds seems to emphasize the ship’s

initial state of humdrum normalcy (Eggert, 2012).

After the loss of nearly all the crew, Ripley has activated the ship’s auto-destruct

sequence, and the ambient noises becomes unbearable. Scott’s handheld camera captures

every bead of sweat, piece of grit, and droplet of alien slime in the frame. During the film’s

climatic and frenetic ending, when Ripley decides to cancel the destruct sequence, Mother is no

longer portrayed as a nurturing intelligence, she becomes the Angel of Death; implacable and

unfeeling. Ripley's only option becomes one of survival. Scott, shooting Weaver in close-up, the

emergency lighting, dim in contrast to the flashing alarm strobes, light bouncing off of her face
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

as she runs from corner to corner, her back literally against the wall, knowing the alien might be

waiting for her around the next corridor.

Alien's director, Ridley Scott, now a noted master of visuals, set design and immersive

environments (Blade Runner, Gladiator, and Kingdom of Heaven just to name a few) first came

to fame with his television commercials, but he was relatively unknown in 1979. He was aided

in creature design with H.R. Giger’s alien notions through the film's writer, Dan O'Bannon prior

connections in film designs. The use of penetrative psychosexual dread (with the alien in its

"adult" form) and ambiguous sexual roles portrayed by Kane and Lambert (the alien raising its

"tail spear" causing Lambert's cringing submission prior to her death) and Ripley's pseudo strip

tease, donning her protective space suit, meeting the alien's gaze and her victory, spearing the

Alien stowaway, and jettisoning it from her lifeboat after the Nostromo's destruction.

Scott’s use of suspenseful and deliberately slow pacing heightened the audience's fear

of the unknown. He built the film's tempo carefully by using measured steps until it conclusion

reached wrenching, nearly unbearable proportions. By staving off the alien’s arrival as long as

possible, our curiosity and growing fear gradually drove us mad with anticipation. When the

monster was finally revealed, it was shown only with hints that defied precise description. In its

destruction, the resulting shadowy manifestations reserve the alien an eternal place in our

nightmares.
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

REFLECTIONS:

It has been often asked by critics and filmgoers alike "What can be gained through

analyzing film? " The answer is as obvious as when the malevolent Queen in Snow White asked

the mirror "Who is the fairest of them all... “

In order not to sound trite or overreaching, I always reflect upon the Myths of the

Ancient World to help find the answers that perplexed the philosophers and common men the

same thousands of years before movies. To prevent another "apple of discord" from causing

strife, jealousy and loss we must have a judge, respected and admired to give the proverbial

"thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down". Although Roger Ebert is no longer with us, I admired his

candor and fearlessness when addressing the big Hollywood studios and championing little

independent films. "Alien" was a polarizing film when it was released in 1979. It was different, it

was cerebral and it combined genres into an invigorating, non-formulaic way.

In his own words, Ebert stated (2003):

"At its most fundamental level, "Alien" is a movie about things that can jump out of the

dark and kill you. It shares a kinship with the shark in "Jaws," Michael Myers in

"Halloween," and assorted spiders, snakes, tarantulas, and stalkers. Its most obvious

influence is Howard Hawks' "The Thing" (1951), which was also about a team in an

isolated outpost who discover a long-dormant alien, bring it inside, and are picked off

one by one as it haunts the corridors. Look at that movie, and you see "Alien" in

embryo."
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

He went on to state, as I have in this essay, that "Alien" is an original film in many ways.

He applauds the director's pacing and careful building with many avenues to guess at before

revealing its horrible form. Ebert even acknowledges the texture of having an older,

experienced cast rather than the titillating use of fresh faces and firm fannies as in most films of

the horror genre.

The only young ones in the cast are young by a relative degree. Sigourney Weaver, who

played Ripley and Veronica Cartwright, who played the hapless Lambert, are 30 and 29

respectively. These are not adventurous thrill-seekers but wise, hardened workers in a gritty,

dirty job. A job that somebody has to pay to have done. He ends his critique by stating "A few

more ambitious and serious sci-fi films have also followed in the footsteps of "Alien," notably

the well-made "Aliens" (1986) and "Dark City" (1998). But the original still vibrates with a dark

and frightening intensity" (Ebert, 2003).

Analyzing a film is a condensed and sped-up version of analyzing life... if you blink, you

might miss it, so make sure your eyes are wide open. The director was using a series of

deliberate "red herrings" to suck the viewing audience into a belief that touches all human

endeavors - The challenge of the unknown. We love to see new things, new horizons, and new

ways of doing something. Is it any wonder when, faced with a cryptic message from an

unknown, unexplored world about a previously unencountered lifeform that we want to know
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

what its all about? This is the magical device in the story, the opening of "Pandora's Box" and

letting loose all of the evil into the ship.

Ridley Scott doesn't want to insult his audience. No one in life encounters a mystery and

then solves everything about it in two hours. The is a vast tale and by killing off the crew of the

Nostromo and having only Ellen Ripley and "Jones" the cat as survivors, he was sending a clear

message and setting up four decades of sequels. In Ripley, the strong, feminine, motherly, and

incredibly brave "new" woman; we the audience find "Hope", in the bottom of the Box, after all

of the terror and carnage of the previous two hours. Hope is truly what it means to be human.
Survival of The Fittest: The Fantastic Horror of Alien

RESOURCES:

American Film Institute. (2008). AFI’s 10 top 10. Retrieved from

http://www.afi.com/10top10/

Buckle, A. (2011, March 11). The Film Emporium: Critical Analysis: Alien (Ridley

Scott, 1979) [Web log]. Retrieved from

http://thefilmemporium.blogspot.com/2011/03/critical-analysis-alien-ridley-scott.html

Carroll, G., Giler, D. & Hill, W. (Producers), & Scott, R. (Director). (1979). Alien

[Motion picture]. United States, United Kingdom: 20 th Century Fox, Shepperton Studios,

Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK. Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire,

England, UK.

Ebert, R. (2003, Oct 26). Great Movie Reviews [Web log]. Retrieved from

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

Eggert, B. (2012, June 4). Deep Focus Review - The Definitives - Alien (1979)

[Web log]. Retrieved from http://www.deepfocusreview.com/reviews/alien.asp

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd

ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Internet Movie DataBase. (2015). Alien. Retrieved from:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/?ref_=nv_sr_1