The major films in the Alien series mirror the evolution (devolution?) of film, film culture and its audiences. 1/
“Alien” by Ridley Scott at its core is “2001 A Space Odyssey” with great practical gore effects but very few themes/tone Kubrick hadn’t already explored in his sci-fi opus. 2/
“Serious” sci-fi films in the 70s were expected to crib “”2001”: long shots, sterile white ship interiors, slow pace, emotionally distant actors, evil AI, evil gov/corp behind the scenes. Etc.
Ridley Scott’s brilliant film has them all. Like Kubrick’s. 3/
J4y Dy3r wisely points out the gut bust scene is actually about our poison GMO food supply since the whole crew is eating and talking about their gross processed food before it happens. Prescient and revealing or Scott, right? Sure. But Kubrick has a processed food scenes too. 4/
I contend the only seriously new idea Scott added to Kubrick’s sci-fi stew was by admitting the panopticon was matriarchal, not patriarchal. Hence the ship’s AI being called Mother and the main protagonist being a woman who cries out against “Mother, you b1tch!” 5/
Men of late 70s were likely beginning 2feel the hangover of the free love movement & sense the future of matriarchal control hanging like a sword over their head. Ripley avoids metaphorical r4pe 2 end the film showing the male physical force would not win in the end. 6/
Ripley ends the film as a literal cat lady spinster in a one room apartment. That’s the true horror of the looming matriarchy. 7/
“Aliens” is stunningly brilliant. James Cameron averts expectations as a master of film craft. The film starts as a po-face Kubrickian epic with deep sociological horror themes and ending as a glorious stupid 80s popcorn film. It’s like “Predator” but backwards. 8/
Cameron is intelligent enough to realize audiences wanted an action space film. More aliens. More guns. 80s style, baby. But he’s clever enough to flip matriarchal theme from “Alien”, revealing Ripley was a mom all along. W*men in audience decided they wanted kids after all. 9/
Cameron was arguing to the audience the matriarchy could still have a good heart, still lean on true nurturing motherhood. Ripley “don’t need no man” but she could still save motherhood in her own way. And it turns out AI isn’t evil after all, Kubrick/Scott. But it can help! 10/
By the early 90s audiences realized Cameron was lying about a loving matriarchy. Like all Cameron’s work, it was social marketing.
Nihilism about manhood and men’s place in the panopticon ruled the day. Perfect for David Fincher’s dark brand of film making. 11/
The men of “Alien” are well meaning but weak. In “Aliens” they are loveable idiots. But in “Alien 3” they are the dregs of humanity. They constantly admit to their terrible crimes. Almost faceless in their uniform look. But matriarch Ripley comes to save them from themselves. 12/
Fincher’s pessimism about matriarchy is pure. The men are incel &unhappy. But they r rediscovering religion (mirroring what we see among young men lost in current year modernity). Ripley arrives and actually smashes their delicate social order. And insults their faith/values. 13/
Alien 3 echoes audience feelin at the time. Ripley is unhappy &androgynous bc w*men were unhappy leading. Her adopted dau is dead. Men just want 2b alone away from matriarchy, similar to Fincher’s later “Fight Club”, but that’s impossible. 14/
Even the robot Cameron told us would help establish a warm social order of loving matriarchs turns out to be evil. film making itself has many closeups & ugly scenery. We’re not even allowed sterile beauty of Kubrickian sets. Alien 3 is like the film version of grunge music 15/
“Alien Resurrection” is a stupid film. Perfect for late 90s audiences tired of nihilism and ready for nu-metal and pro wrestling’s re-ascendency. Written by Whedon, fresh off “Toy Story”, it was an early taste of the “smartass superheroes” film culture to come soon with MCU. 16/
It’s a pop cult comic book film. Ripley commits suicide at the end of Alien 3 but Hollywood needs more space action! So whedon just has her cloned. And now she has super powers which include playing basketball and making super-quips! 17/
Whedon changes the AI from Mother to Father for a few possible reasons:
-he doesn’t understand the series
-he wants to argue the panopticon is acktually patriarchal
-like firefly he’s arguing for hard left wing ideas with libertarian concepts 18/
Similar 2 MCU now, director of Alien Ressurection, Jeunet, seems 2have been a hot young director (“city of lost children”, “delicatessen”) given a shot at a Big Film. He made “Amelie” a few years later similarly about a Quirky Gal but faded from Usa film making. 19/
The series spawned 3 brilliant auteurs in Scott, Cameron, and Fincher. Jeunut, otoh, didn’t hit. Evidencing the late 90s to mid 2000s Hollywood evolution to writers and comic nerds (content handlers) being the driving force behind film. Directors brought in like hired guns. 20/
I didn’t finish Alien Resurrection bc it was so dumb. So I’m uncertain what it says about the major theme of matriarchy panopticon. Probably something nerdy and dumb. Watch for yourself, or don’t. Btw the Aliens are demons. 20/20
TL; DR
21/20
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