GWSS 3307: Feminist Film Studies, Fall 2008

In the film Alien, Ripley is constantly fighting against the men to make the right choices. Even when she is in charge her decisions are ignored. Although we find out later that Ash is not a man, but a robot, we must still acknowledge that his actions were predetermined by men. Ripely is the sole survivor because she is the only character who makes smart choices and does not act hastily. She can also be seen as acting as a male character, as determined by Hollywood. The other female character, Lambert, continuously behaves as a scared neurotic woman unable to care for herself or defend others. Ripley and Lambert are opposites in everything they do. Ripley survives through strength, not letting the men determine her choices, and acting on her own instincts. Perhaps the sole survivor was meant to be a woman because the alien is herself female. They mirror each other, each with the potential to bring in life and to destroy life.

Posted by Tina Fey at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ripley's relationship with the rest of the crew shows her as someone the men want to protect. When the baby alien emerges from the stomach of a crew member, the men get in front of her as a protective shield. When Ripley says she'll go in the vent, one of the guys tells her "no," and that her and Lambert have to stay behind. The males are protective of both the women. The crew as a whole, treat one another as members of a family would. They are careful of each other and it seems they all genuinely want everyone to stay safe. The mother to this crew (family), is the ship. The ship provides shelter, food (storage), and safety, which are all important factors in the caring of a family. As the crew dies off, Ripley must begin to protect herself to stay alive.

Posted by ande4840 at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Obviously gender plays a big role in this film. I saw many instances where the male characters minimized Ripley’s thoughts and opinions. There was a scene where Ripley suggested that she (and I believe the other female on board) go out after the Alien, but one of the men told wouldn’t allow it, as if women cannot or should not put themselves in danger’s way. The men also minimized Ripley’s authority because, even though she was supposed to make decisions about who to let on board, for example, her decisions were not respected or taken seriously. I saw that as a threat to the men. They didn’t want to believe that Ripley had better ideas than they did. Also, Ash (although he was a robot) became violent with Ripley while he was malfunctioning. Then ironically, the men had to come to her rescue.

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Posted by Bute0023 at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the film gender plays a big role pertaining to who will be in control of what happens on their spaceship. Ripley is the second in command of who is supposed to be in charge on the ship, however, as we can see in the film, her decisions on what actions to take regarding their safety on the ship are ignored at times probably because she is female. At the beginning of the film when the three characters go outside of the spaceship to investigate if there are living beings on the planet and the captain of the ship is attacked by the alien, Ripley, who is now in charge because their captain has an alien attached to his head, decides to follow code and not let them back on the ship because they could endanger themselves by allowing the captain and the alien attached to him back on the ship. However, the male character, who is the doctor/scientist on the ship, decides to disobey his female boss and let them on the ship anyway, but if she had been male, the chances of him disobeying his boss are much less likely. All throughout the movie Ripley seems to know what the next step should be in saving them from the aliens, but the other characters only begin to listen to her once half of them have been killed, and it is basically their only option because nobody really knows what is going to happen. I think it makes sense that she is the only survivor at the end because from the beginning I think she was the only one who really thought about the dangers they would encounter by letting the alien onto their ship and she never gave up on surviving.

Posted by hall0778 at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The movie “Alien� is very interesting in the way that gender, race, class and sexuality play a part in it. Issues of gender are most clearly exposed by the way that Ripley’s orders are constantly challenged and ignored by all ranks of crewmembers. The other woman, Lambert, was so annoying in the way she just froze in the end times of battle with the alien. She screamed and just acted like a stereotypical girl in times of pressure. I couldn’t stand her. In contrast, the ship, the vessel that held all the knowledge and ultimate power, was called “Mother.�
The only non-white person was Parker, the mechanic that was always complaining and worrying about money. This illustrates the stereotypes of African Americans as lower-income and less powerful than white people. Brett, Parkers colleague, also represents lower class by the work he does and the level of authority he has (or the lack of it).

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Posted by AJ at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

All seven memebers of the Nostromo crew represent the idea of a family. One of the beginning scenes shows all of them sitting down and having a meal together. During the meal, Captain Dallas was told "Mother wants to talk to you." Mother is the ship that the members are traveling on. In the Barbara Creed reading Mother is described as an Archaic mother. The reading goes on to describe how her many tunnels and rooms she consists of represent the woman's body. Her family is represented by the crewmates that she tells what to do. Captain Dallas reporting to Mother identifies him, family wise, as the lead older brother that is in charge. During the film all crewmates look out for each other in order to protect one another from the alien. Chief Engineer Parker functions as the strong tough man that can defend himself. His African American race further portrays his strength when interacting with the crewmates. The crewmates treat the female, Warrant Officer Ripley with dismissive attitudes. They don't entirely take her seriously and override her orders. Science Officer Ash overrode Ripley's orders to not bring Executive Officer Kane back into the ship when he was attacked by the alien. There was one scene where Parker and Engineering Technician Brett were talking to Ripley asking her about the bonus situation. As they were conversing with her they had an almost mocking cynism about how they were adressing the money issue. Ripley got fed up and walked away while the two men broke out in laughter.

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Posted by hendr324 at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The crew of the Nostromo acts as an interesting family unit in Ridley Scott’s film Alien. Although they come from different backgrounds, races, and genders “the family� eats together, sleeps together, gripes together, and jokes together, all under the umbrella of the “Mother� board of the ship. Ripley, usually third in command, is first in command in determining whether or not to follow quarantine orders although Kane has been attacked by an alien. She follows her maternal instinct to enforce the order and protect her family, the crewmembers, but the robotic-science officer Ash breaks rank and lets him in because of his programmed order to bring back alien life at all costs. There is an interesting division of labor, as Dallas acts as the patriarchical father and has access to “Mother� and rules over the crew, and Parker and Brett are the low class, paid less and given the grunt work on the ship (also demonstrates capitalism). Lambert would be a weak daughter figure, always screaming and crying in fear, never able to make a decision for herself.

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Posted by Mel at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is clear that the crew of the Nostromo function as a family unit. At the beginning of the film, the leading figure is Dallas, but Ripley is quickly able to take over this role as she demonstrates her rationality and ability to think clearly under pressure (e.g. following protocol by not allowing Kane onto the ship). This motherhood over the rest of the crew is perhaps the very reason why she is able to emerge as the sole survivor. The contrast between these two types of mothers amplifies the idea of what it is to be a "bad mother" or an "archaic mother". The womb-like sets and costumes also support the theme of motherhood in this film.
We can also see a critique of capitalism in the interaction of Brett and Parker with the rest of the crew. They represent a clear class difference, serving as the laborers who must follow their contract or risk losing everything they have earned thus far.

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Posted by allora at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The movie Alien shows a wide range of how society works on the ship and yet how it is in the real world. The crew has to work together but it seems that some have advantages over others. The guys that are have to least power are Parker and Brett. Both of them seem to have less education than the rest of the crew. Brett seems to be the least smart of the two and is second to die. Also, Parker is African American which doesn't make a difference but it is interesting that he is put in the lower bracket and not above anyone giving orders. One of the first scenes we see is Brett and Parker saying that they better get paid more because it wasn't far that they weren't being paid equally. This is interesting because they seem to be doing the more labor but yet getting the least amount of pay. Than the way Ripley is played out is fascinating because it always seem to have the women that is in charge be this so called "tough bitch". Why does a women in-charge have to be portrayed as this not nice character. Why can't a women that is in charge just be respected enough that she was picked to lead and not have to become this bitchy person. But they did make play her out to be scared and have to run to a man for protection.

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Posted by breme071 at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Gender and the role of motherhood play an important role in how the crew interacts with one another. Ripley plays the strong, independent-minded female who struggles for power and getting her voice heard. The crewmembers (mostly male) that both rank and outrank her consistently undermine her authority. An example of her authority being challenged is clear in the scene when she desperately tries to convince Ash to follow the ship’s quarantine protocol, but he refuses.

In terms of family, Ripley functions as the knowledgeable, sensible and undercut mother and Dallas serves as the ruling, ignorant father while the rest of the crew are like children. Ripley ends up as the sole survivor because she is the most logical and intelligent member on board and doesn’t let her emotions or curiosity put her at risk. She is also the only member to separate herself from the archaic mother’s spell...

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Posted by Da provida at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is interesting to watch a movie like Alien where the entire film is set in space in future but gender, class, race and sexuality still plays a big part in the story. The male characters seems to want the female character (especially with Ripley who is third in command) to adhere to there decisions. Dallas ignores Ripley’s warning to quarantine the three crews who had been off the ship. The behavior and language of Parker, the African American who is in-charge of maintenance, is cliché and worries about his salary. It also implies that African Americans are going to be in lower class and always be worried about money and that racism & sexism is always going to be present in our society no matter what the setting is.

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Posted by dorje003 at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ripley is portrayed as a very masculine character in this film, an instance that this is prominent is in the beginning of the film after Kane is attacked by the alien and Dallas wants to bring him on board but she is stubbornly against allowing that. This seems to go completely against the feminine role, she would rather risk him dying than bringing him aboard for treatment and a chance to save him. This is just the first example that illustrates how Ripley contradicts female stereotypes. This is an important point to make because this seems to be the true characteristic that saves her. There is only one other female on the crew and as we see she is just about the epitome of femininity, we also see that she doesn’t stand a chance of survival and it could be argued that the only reason she lived as long as she did was because she was being protected by the masculine characters of the film.

Continue reading "A Critique of Ripley's Femininity and Individualism" »

Posted by luco0005 at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I found the film Alien to be particularly enjoyable because of the presence of Ripley - a character who is primarily not sexualized or sensualized, who is portrayed as strong and capable in the face of dangers that are extreme and unable to be completely understood. However, I must say that I wouldn't have considered the film in the context of monstrous motherhood if not for the reading. Despite my enormous and peculiar personal fear of aliens, I did not react to the sinister mother figure of the alien very strongly - perhaps because I was trying to disconnect myself a little from watching as intently or carefully as I usually might. The imagery of the womb and bizarre alien birth (in terms of the 'chestburster' scene) were overt, but not surprising to me because of my familiarity with the art of H.R. Giger, who designed the aliens and the sets. (I am no prude, but I find his work to be uncomfortably visceral and sexual, and certainly not in a positive way. An interesting choice to design this film, and probably the reason for most of the 'monstrous motherhood/femininity' critiques...)

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Posted by allison at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Although the film "Alien" presents the audience with well worn
characterizations of race, class, and gender, it also offers an unlikely
protagonist in the female character of Ripley. Within the quasi familial
structure of the crew hierarchy is the classic patriarchal model of
the self-assured, white male, daddy figure (Dallas) as the leader, with most
of the other crew members falling into their childlike, subordinate
positions. Race and class inequalities are seen as the token black male,
Parker, and the blue-collar male, Brett, are relegated to toil in the
steamy engine room, and neither one is presented as capable of running
the ship. This is evident as Parker is shown as a lewd hot-head and Brett’s
never thinking for himself suggests that he is not very intelligent.

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Posted by kafka at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am so glad that we watched this film. I love the alien movies: Lt. Ripley is one of my favorite film characters of all time. She is strong and enduring both physically and emotionally, follows her own instincts instead of following the commands of others, and she has some awesome biceps to boot. (See "Aliens", "Alien 3", "Alien Ressurection" too.) I think that she survives in this first film because she is the main character, the hero. In addition, she is the only character to defy stereotype. The rest of the characters are set up as expendable from the onset, and are stock types employed in many a hollywood film: Captain Dallas is clearly incompetent as the leader, disregarding quarantine protocols and reacting rather emotionally to the new problem on their ship instead of being proactive, leaving Ripley to pick up the pieces . Ash, the robotic Science Officer, is the character who signifies discovery at the expense of human life and who inevitably meets their end when the specimen turns out to be much more lethal and destructive than expected.

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Posted by Ms. Chevious at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In Alien there is a unique relationship between the characters in the movie. Ripley is a strong independent woman who is constantly being outranked by the male characters while they are disputing. The fact that Ripley is the character who defeats the alien and outlives all of her crew reverses the stereotypical role of a weak woman in flim. In Alien the men are presented as weak characters; Dallas continually is making mistakes. He broke quarantine laws and cannot protect his team, and eventually dies. The structure of their family is revealed when it comes to there duties on the ship. Ripley and Dallas are like the parents of the ship because they have more power and responsibility. While Parker and Brett are like the children of the ship because they are constantly being told what to do since they are the mechanics, and lowest in the hierarchy of ranks on the ship. In the movie I also noticed the role of archaic mother being filled by the mother alien. Her reproductive capability is unlimited and she is not dependent on a male counterpart to reproduce. In addition, the alien ship had dark caverns of the spaceship and large entrances that resembled a female reproductive system. The darkness of the spaceship represented that the female body appears mysterious and sinister.

Posted by conlo027 at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I believe Ripley is the sole survivor of the film because she contrasts with the Archaic Mother, the alien. The Archaic Mother is the monstrous feminine. She is never seen but always present. She is seen when the crew goes through the vaginal like opening to the alien space craft, in the rows of eggs, in the birth of the alien, and so forth. Ripley contrasts with this arachaic mother because the audience can see her and she is viewed as the acceptable female in that she poses no violent threat because she is seen and known. Creed analyzes that the monstrous feminine of the archaic mother is dangerous because she is prephallic and can use her offspring to penetrate the crew. This is seen when Kane is attacked/penetrated and actually gives birth to the mother’s offspring. Ripley is allowed to survive and become the hero because she the acceptable female because she does not have this prephallic quality.

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Posted by Faith Kolstad at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The movie Alien reinforces the idea that a woman is able to go out into the working world without having to give up her family status and responsibilities. Ripley is the self confident, self assured woman in the film. Her character is able to be compared to the other female in the film who displays the characteristics of a stereotypical woman of a horror film. She is an over emotional, slightly self consumed woman, who ends up screaming throughout the film until she is killed. Ripley on the other hand seems to stay even tempered while trying to deal with and kill the alien. Ripley’s status in the crew (third in command) shows that she is of higher ranking, however, this does not stop some of the men in the crew, of lower status, from cracking jokes at her expense. One of the main characters who disregards her status is the African America on the ship. He also fills the stereotype of a typical “black� character by making sexist jokes about the woman on the ship and also being overly worried about him getting his fair share of the money. He is also the character in charge of the maintenance of the ship; his job is more labor related than the others. Ripley can also be compared to the captain of the crew who can be seen as the father figure of the crew.

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Posted by robes002 at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The film Alien addresses many issues, including motherhood, gender, social class, and the life cycle.

Social class did have a role within the film Alien. The rank of the crew members had on the ship represented their rank within society. Those who may have been considered a lower class were the maintenance men while those who seemed more educated and came from a higher class were the leaders of the crew. It is also the two maintenance men that seem to be much more capitalistic than the others. They were the two who were particularly concerned about whether they were going to get paid more or not for the mission to the mystery planet.

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Posted by lars2805 at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The film Alien addresses many issues, including motherhood, gender, social class, and the life cycle.

Social class did have a role within the film Alien. The rank of the crew members had on the ship represented their rank within society. Those who may have been considered a lower class were the maintenance men while those who seemed more educated and came from a higher class were the leaders of the crew. It is also the two maintenance men that seem to be much more capitalistic than the others. They were the two who were particularly concerned about whether they were going to get paid more or not for the mission to the mystery planet.

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Posted by lars2805 at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The crew members form an interesting representation of a family. Dallas, the man Mother calls to give information so that he can share it with the rest of the group, is clearly the father figure. Kane represents the eldest son, as his illness and death affect Dallas the same way it would if it were his son: he’s angry, worried, and depressed. Lambert, whom Dallas brings to explore the new spaceship, represents the favorite daughter. Ripley begins as the elder, less-liked daughter (as she is in charge “when Dallas and Kane aren’t here,� meaning she has some power, but Lambert yells at her, implying they are fairly equal as long as the man’s still in charge) and transforms into the mother figure.

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Posted by Katie Green at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Alien, I would classify Ripley as an “in charge mother� figure to all of the other crewmembers. As previously stated in our slides, she is in control, strong-willed, caring, role model mommy, knowledgeable, gives guidance, dedicated to career and to self, but ultimately to family life and the safety of her crew members. I would consider Dallas the father figure, because it appeared him and Ripley had a very close relationship and they displayed the most control over the other characters. Kane, Parker, Brett and Lambert I believed played more of the child role in this film. They all complained about the money they were making and tended to just follow the orders given to them by Dallas and Ripley. It is important to note that Parker is black and Lambert is a female. Throughout the film Parker is in charge of doing a lot of the labor work and Lambert is pretty much portrayed as the weak, emotional woman.

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Posted by sulli396 at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think that gender and class interact within the movie because when they land on the Alien planet or ship and Ridley does not allow the others to come on board, Ash over rules her and lets them in. Her reasoning is that they need to go through a detoxification process and Ridley being the highest in command at that point in time (she has high class) was over thrown by Ash, not taking into consideration that she has "power" over him. I think that he does this is because he knows that he can get away with it because she is a girl and that a girl can not really hold a high class power. Also, Dalls being a male, and the Captain did not "punich" Ash for disobeying direct orders. Each character had their specific role; Ash is the science officer and administers medical treatment, Brett is the engineering technician, Dallas is the laid back captain, Kane is the executive officer, Lambert is the navigator, Parker is the chief engineer and Ripley is the warrant officer. This makes a family in that their ship is their mother and they all have specific roles to make the mother run. For example when the mother beeps they all come

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Posted by Abbie Weeks at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When I watched Alien, I saw Ripley take on the role of the mother to the other crewmates, while Dallas was the father figure. This was also shown more literally in the way that Ripley was second in command to Dallas. Dallas was who the crew ultimately listened to and the crew didn’t show much respect to Ripley until he died. This is shown when Ripley commands that they follow the quarantine procedure and not let Kane back on the ship after he is attacked. Instead, although she should be first in command at the time, Ash ignores her and opens the door. They really created a sort of family while they were stuck on the ship together. They even ate dinner together. Class played a role with the characters’ ranks. Dallas and Ripley are sort of a higher class while Parker and Brett, the mechanics, represent the lower class. Race is a factor since Parker is the only non-white person on the ship and he is one of the mechanics and he is constantly complaining about the money he is going to make.

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Posted by Jolene Lewis at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Throughout the Alien series and particularly within the first movie Alien, Ripley represents the “strong female� character. She meets opposition to this role in her distrust of Ash. Ash represents the male patriarchy and the working class crews subjugation by the capitalistic system. There deaths come mainly because he accepts the rule of the corporation over the safety of the crew. The relevance of Ripleys gender only appears a few times in the movie, and becomes only an issue because she is both masculine and strong/willing to make tough decisions, and sexualized at the same time. The underlying familial structure of the crew is also apparent. Some character interact as if they are siblings (ie outside the ship going to find the alien and sitting down to eat meals) and some as if they are parental (ie Ripley and Dallas' treatment and the hierarchy of power(notice also the reinforcement of hetero-normativity))

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Posted by spiek010 at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Ridley Scott’s Alien, race, gender, class and sexuality play important roles in determining how each character functions in the ship. While Ripley can be seen as the “main character� in that she survives, the other characters serve important roles as part of the ship’s family. The ship itself takes the role of “mother� for the crew; this is made obvious by the very name of the ship itself. If the ship is mother, then Dallas can be said to be the family’s father figure. Only he has access to Mother in the beginning and he is in command of the entire ship. He fits in with the patriarchic view of a normal family structure. The other characters make up the rest of the family, with two clearly subordinate to the rest: Parker and Brett. Both characters are portrayed as being from the working-class in the society and get paid half of what the rest of the crew makes. It is important to note that Parker is the only character in the film that is non-white.

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Posted by seitz057 at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ripley plays the mother figure to the crew in Alien, while Dallas could be construed as the typical father figure. Although Ripley seems to have power and asserts herself, this authority is constantly undermined. Because she is in the mother role, the rest of the “family� (the 2 mechanics as goof-off kids, Lambert as the angsty teenage daughter) seems annoyed when she tries to direct them. When Dallas makes orders, on the other hand, the rest of the crew listens and obeys. After Dallas’ death, Ripley increasingly takes charge and the crew starts listening.

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Posted by happyfeet at 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Alien started off as a film that was representative of a typical patriarchal white film. Dallas and Ash where the main characters that possessed authority over all the other characters. Although, Ripley was second in charge from Dallas the crew including Dallas did not give Ripley much respect. Her word was disregarded by Dallas, Ash and Parker. Parker was portrayed as the loud, outspoken, “black guy� who didn’t respect others especially Ripley. Almost ever time Ripley spoke, Parker was annoyed and he would respond with a disrespectful comment. In the majority of the film the hierarchy of white educated men rained supreme. Although Parker and Brett were mechanics I felt they were held with higher respect then Ripley (who was supposed to be 2nd in charge). The women, Ripley and Lambert were on the bottom of the totem pole. A specific instance of this is when Dallas, Kane and Lambert left the ship to go out into space.

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Posted by thoughts at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The crewmates are all living together as a family on the spaceship in the beginning of Alien. They sleep, eat, and work together. Ash and Dallas are portrayed as the macho male types. They make the final decisions on the ship and communicate with Mother, the computer. The two mechanics bring up the issues of race and class. One of the mechanics is African American and the other represents the lower class, because of his laid-back dress and scruffy appearance. They spend their time goofing-off and complaining about being stuck on the ship. Ripley is the mother figure. She assures the two mechanics that they will be included in the bonus, for the delayed voyage back to earth. She also looks out for the safety of the crewmates. She didn’t want to open the latch after the first crewmember had been exposed. Ash and Ripley do not get along, this is made clear in several scenes. For example, Ripley confronts Ash about his poor decision to open the latch and not fallow quarantine procedure. Ripley is suspicious of Ash’s actions, leading up to the exposure of his true identity.

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Posted by kerli006 at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ripley is the sole female survivor of the attack on the "mother" ship by an alien creature that latched itself onto Kane, reproduced and birthed itself through his stomach. Gender is played with in this movie...Kane is the "mother" of the foreign alien creature and Ripley is the one who survives all of the attacks, and maybe it's because she is just in the right place at the right time, but it's also because she is always thinking and always has her wits about her. When the three astronauts leave the ship and Ripley is overruled when she refuses to let them in, also when the captain decides to go into the air duct instead of her, that is showing her lack of power, but also her intelligence working ultimately in her favor. The crew seems to respect Ripley but not always take her seriously because most of her requests are ignored or changed or shot down.
The crew seems to be close, they argue but they all seem to care about each other, except for Ash who seems to be only looking out for the alien, and eventually turns out to be a robot placed there by the company who sent them on the mission. Ash always follows "mothers" orders because he can't do anything else. He is the reason the crew is all killed and ripley was smart enough to know he was up to something, or not right in what he was doing.

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Posted by postx072 at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Ridley Scott’s horror film Alien, typical female stereotypes are reinforced (by the panicked Lambert) as well as subverted (Ripley is portrayed as strong, capable, and increasingly independent; she is also the only survivor of the crew). Beyond the question of gender, class and race are presented within the micro-society represented by the crew. The two mechanics are equivalent to the lower class and the only black character is one of them (he is stereotyped as being fully solely focused on getting paid, as well as being a comedian). The captain is a stereotypical white male. His orders are followed without question (as opposed to Ripley who is undermined and must exert her opinions much more forcefully to be listened to, despite the fact her intuition frequently proves to be right on). The crew also represents a family. Dallas and Ripley represent the father and mother roles, respectively, in their abilities to guide and order the other members. The others are less developed as characters and need guidance—making them children-like. There is a strict sense of order and loyalty in early in the film when Dallas orders them to board and investigate the mysterious ship and when they refuse to leave Kane behind after he is attacked. It is Ripley who refuses to readmit him—and here she steps outside of the mothering role of nurture and self-sacrifice to be more than just a mother but an intelligent and demanding presence.

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Posted by lenth006 at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ripley is the “in-charge mother� and there for is able to overcome the archaic mothership. She is in control and dedicated to her crew but ultimately to herself. I think the main reason Ripley survived is because of her priorities. She is concerned with following procedures and doing what is best for the crew (as is Lambert, but she is less aggressive and more insecure, making it impossible for her to survive because she can’t fend for herself). Gender is the major character personality differentiation in this film. Ripley wants to go outside the ship and warn the others after she realizes the computer code may be a warning instead of an S.O.S. Lambert wonders about the fate of previous crews on this mission and believes it would be best to retreat back inside the spaceship. Ripley is also concerned with following procedures—especially quarantine procedure. She doesn’t want to risk her health or everyone else’s by letting Cane back onboard the ship without following the proper procedure.

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Posted by savor004 at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the 1979 film, Alien, there was a sense of family between the visible characters as well as the invisible “archaic mother� present. The characters had specific roles and representations in the family. Dallas represented the father figure. He was the male figure that everyone listened to and looked to for answers. Ripley and Dallas had a representative parental relationship. Ripley was the guiding female of the group. She kept her head through the chaos and ended up the sole survivor. The rest of the characters seemed somewhat childlike. For example, Parker and Brett represented the adolescent boys that were impulsive and vulgar. As described by Creed in “The Monstrous Feminine,� the archaic mother is present in birth, life and death. The beginning scene was extremely infantile. The actors wake out of their egg-like bed, into a sterile, whom-like sleeping quarter. This closely related to a birthing process with an invisible mother figure. Ironically, the spaceship controlled by “mother� became the character’s place of death. The foreshadowing began when Riley felt betrayed from mother. Mother withheld

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Posted by Katherine Jonas at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I liked the fact that in Alien the “hero� ended up being a woman. In so many cases the hero or the victor is a man. I liked Ripley as a character because she didn’t take any crap from the men that were part of the crew. All the people in the crew treated each other as equals for the most part and they didn’t seem to disregard each other because of gender or race. I really have no theories as to why Ripley was the last one standing in the end other than that the message was that women can be strong and independent and just as tough as men. I think that Ripley was just as tough as a man and carried the same equal weight as the men in the crew. Even though she had this rough exterior she was still vulnerable. Towards the end of the movie when the Alien is in the ship with her and she is hiding in the space suit I think that some of her “toughness� was gone. She possibly was more relaxed and like herself because she wasn’t around anyone else. Maybe her toughness was just somewhat of an act that she did when she was around the crew and men. She becomes more independent after the crew dies off partly because she wants to be but also because she has to be because she can only rely on herself. Once she is the only one left she knows that she is the only one that can save her life. She ended up being triumphant with that task in the end by making it out alive.

Posted by jcareykc at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I found Ripley as a mother figure. She doe not give up and sometimes struggles to gain the respect she wants. I feel like she holds the crew together. She is the dominant figure unlike Lambert who does not have enough confidence to work well in stressed circumstances like Ripley (stereotypical female). I did not find it surprising when the men did not use the rules (stereotypical male). I see this in real life situations all of the time. Ripley is more precise and wants things done correctly, not faster (stereotypical female). I didn’t notice a whole lot of racial or class problems. Everyone kind of had their own problems and roles. Although Ripley is a white and seemingly middle or upper class educated female. Once the alien came into their lives I saw that Ripley was the only one who did not follow the male characters. She stood her ground because she knew what she was doing. I think it was very cool that she was the last survivor. I saw her believing in herself and using her instincts to guide her along the way to success. She diminishes the stereotypical male dominancy.

Posted by lemme021 at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Unlike many horror films, Alien depicts Ripley (one of two female crew members aboard the Nostromo) as a strong autonomous female capable of defeating the monster. Ripley’s position as second in command indicates her role in the “family� or crew as the mother figure. She is in charge when the captain or “father� Dallas is away on his mission and acts as the voice of concern and discipline when the men try to break quarantine rules. She displays characteristics of the “In-charge Mother� because she is driven by the principles of her job and doesn’t compromise to her emotional – and weaker side. It is precisely her strength of focus and never compromising attitude that saves her from falling victim to the alien. In the film she develops and adapts as the alien does, becoming stronger as her circumstances force her to. Ripley takes on more responsibility and gives better orders as her predecessors are killed off.

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Posted by joh02629 at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In some ways Alien is innovative and presents a new formula for science fiction films, but in other ways it is extremely traditional and stereotypical. Introducing a strong female protagonist provides a different dynamic between characters. Ripley is in a leadership role on the ship, and is respected to a certain extent, but her orders are not always obeyed. She has to fight harder to be heard than her male counterparts. Ripley is threatening to men, and this is shown while she is talking to Ash and casually holding a scissors. He seems defensive, possibly suggesting an underlying fear of castration? Lambert, on the other hand, plays a stereotypically female role. She is intelligent and helpful, but cracks under pressure and is sensitive to a fault. In terms of race, the African American characters serve as laborers on the ship and are seemingly only present for comic relief. They are never really taken seriously, and are continually cracking crude jokes and making inappropriate comments. It is interesting that these race, class and gender roles still apply even while orbiting in space. Miles and miles away from Earth, and these crewmembers are still under control of the government (“Mother�). Another important aspect of this film is its take on individualism. In some parts it is celebrated, while in others strongly discouraged. Throughout the majority of the film, the crewmembers are safe while with the group. Once a character journeys alone they encounter the alien and suffer a brutal death. Ripley transforms as the films progresses. She refuses to banter with her crewmates and starts to simply give orders. She succeeds in the end by using her intellect and keeping her best interest in mind.

Posted by herma216 at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The black guy in the movie is outspoken and cares about the money and nothing else. He sometimes comes off as lazy looking to do minimal work and get paid. The black guy is the one that makes sexual jokes as well. The other female, besides Ripley, is very annoying and panicky when pressure situations arise. In one of the scenes she was told by the men to quit "griping" while the men went on with the mission. One thing I thought was very important is the instincts Ripley has. The female uses her instincts and can sense trouble before it happens. Also, Ripley plays things by the books while the men (even if one is a robot) disregards the rules and does things the way they see fit. In the movie playing it by the rules would have turned out to be a good thing, but at the same time this says that women are not allowed to step outside boundaries. Another difference is the status transactions between male and female. The captain says, "meet me right away," while Ripley uses "please" and "thank you". Another thing about Ripley is that she cares for the cat. Women look after life, while men treat the cat as something trivial. I think Ripley ends up as the lone survivor because she is the most balanced. She is brave when she needs to be, she is quick, she follows rules and knows when to challenge rules. She and the captain have this aura to them but unfortunately the captain needed to be brave and try to kill the Alien by himself.

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Posted by leex2356 at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the movie Alien I felt like the representation of a family between the crewmates was showed in many different ways from the first scene of the film. The one part that I feel like shows their bond and closeness was when the whole crew was sitting in the dining room of the space ship in which they are now on their way home and they are all eating together talking about what they are all going to do as soon as they land back on earth. You also see the representation of a family by where they all sleep on the space ship all in the same area very close to one another. As we all know Ripley is the ‘mother’ figure of the movie and is the only one that plays the game smart and survives from the creature. I feel like the main theory that Ripley ends up being the sole survivor is she is the only one that trusts no one and thought everything through and followed the directions she thought would bring her success.

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Posted by bues0040 at 7:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the opening shot of Alien we see the establishment of family between the crew members as they all emerge from a womb-like structure. From there we see that Harvey takes on the role of a father figure who is respected, while Ripley is second in command and can be seen as the mother figure of the group. Although Ripley holds a powerful position the other male crew members do not respect or listen to her orders, one can only think this is because she is a women. We see this disobedience portrayed when Ash ignores Ripley's orders and allows Kane back on the ship with a potential threat (the alien) attached to him. Contradictorily while there is a strong disobedience toward Ripley there is a strong obedience for the other mother figure in the film, the spacecraft. The main difference between Ripley and the spacecraft is the spacecraft can be seen as an archaic mother and Ripley is seen as a sacrificial mother. The crew continuously obeys the orders of "mother", even when they are life threatening. She is monstrous and unknown as she gives orders to terminate her children (crew members) if need be. Ripley is the only one who truly sticks up to the mother spacecraft and is the only one to survive. I found it interesting as Ripley slowly moved toward individualism in the film,

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Posted by woul0006 at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Alien, I think the representation of the crew as a family unit is quite obvious. We see Dallas as the father figure: the leader, the hero, the decision maker, the protector. As second in command, Ripley takes on the mothering role. She is rational and responsible, but still vulnerable. She plays mother when she tries to protect the ship and remaining crew by ordering a quarantine, she makes the decision to blow up the ship, and she puts her life in jeopardy to save the cat, who she cradles like a baby once she thinks she's safe.
Once Ripley has blown up the ship and supposedly killed the alien, we see her at her most vulnerable: alone, almost naked, and unaware of the alien's presence. This is the only time we see the alien vulnerable - it appears to be sleeping. I think that Ripley survives because of her relationship to the alien: mother vs. mother.

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Posted by Natalie at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Barbara Creed's piece, The Monstrous-Feminine is a problematic text, as it narrows the scope of analysis by priviledging sexual difference and gender roles to the point of exclusion. By understanding Ripley only in relation to her gendered depiction and reception, and the gendered entities of the archaic mother, she fails to locate Ripley's position in regards to the rest of her crew, most of whom she is superior to, and to the larger societal scope, in which she stands as a white, powerful, seemingly educated and high-ranking female.

Continue reading "The Power of the Enlightened Individual: Perpetuations of Capitalist Logic in Alien" »

Posted by Sofia at 1:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Barbara Creed’s analysis of Alien is largely convincing, if to take gender as a sole lenses for analysis. Although, gender (and sexuality) in psychoanalytic theory might be a privileged site for exploring human psyche and social organization, in this case it overlooks psychological anxieties such as technology, which might or might not be related to gender. Alien, articulates gendered anxieties, but it also clearly reflects modern fear and fascination with technology. Technology is always seen as simultaneously progressive and destructive. It promises emancipation and possible transgression of human (bodily) limits, but also generates fears of losing control over technology which then results in loss of humanity itself. Alien could be seen as articulation of these tensions.

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Posted by Arnoldas at 7:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As kind of a “sci-fi junkie�, I think I am safe to say that Alien was a ground breaking film. By having a female protagonist, who is the sole survivor of an alien attack, Ridley Scott’s film was able to bust through the male – dominant norms of the time. Ridley Scott’s introduction to Ripley presents a working woman who is struggling to assert authority in an implicitly male regimen and environment. However, by the end of the film, she proves herself smarter, more logical, and more determined to survive than her pathetic crewmates.
I believe that Ripley is representative of an ‘In-Charge Mother’ we discussed in lecture. When Dallas is out of the ship or dead, she is actually the one in charge of the crew. Ripley is also very knowledgeable of the spaceship’s very confusing interior, computer programming system, and crew members.

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Posted by Eleanor Roosevelt at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I felt like in some ways Alien was a lot different than the traditional science fiction or horror film. It was interesting that the captain, Dallas, died very early. However, like most films, the female, “good� character that followed the rules survived. She also knew how everything worked and had all the necessary knowledge. This is the only reason I can think that Ripley survived. I appreciated that Ripley’s character was rational and for the most part, cool headed, rather than emotional and helpless (kind of like the other female character). She, unlike Dallas, wanted to keep the other crew members in quarantine even if this meant that Kane would die. Ripley wasn’t sexualized in the film, until the end when there are all the close-ups of her getting undressed. The article talks about how “Ripley’s body is pleasurable and reassuring to look at. She signifies the ‘acceptable’ form and shape of woman� (23). Perhaps this is true; Ripley was like the mother of the crew. However, she was not nurturing and over-emotional. We do see her scolding some of the characters in the film. I felt like the film portrayed Ripley and

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Posted by Alias at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Instead of examining each of the characters’ relationships to Ripley, I thought it made more sense to examine how each character relates to “the rules� in the movie compared to one another, and how their attitudes inform their respective relationships. What struck me almost immediately upon being introduced to the characters in the film was the idea of their being a set of very detailed commands outlined for which each member of the crew is held accountable. The best example I can remember is Ripley’s insistence of quarantine, which is also mentioned in the Alien reading for this week. However, we could delve further into the issue of rules, upon which the reading only touches briefly. The rules were of course given down through the Nostrodomos’ company, but with the ship’s isolation in space the rules seem to be regulated by the ship’s leaders. I kept wondering if Ripley’s insistence on following the rules had some kind of significance in terms of her role as a leader and possible mother figure. However, seeing Ripley’s attachment to rules doesn’t really point to any real power she might carry, since she is only following orders.

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Posted by CrazyOldMaurice at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)