An Analysis of “Alien” through the Lens of Jeffery Cohen’s “Monster Culture”
The constraints of normality within today’s society often determine what or who does not fit the designated mold of behavior and character traits. Discrimination towards difference is seen throughout cinema, portraying characters that differ as dangerous and malicious in their actions, unethically predetermining their demeanor despite society’s implementation of provocation and selfish pursuits. Likewise, the antagonist extraterrestrial in “Alien”, by Ridley Scott, is misrepresented as a simple and malicious reptilian, personified as a foreigner in its own territory. The alien does not attack unless hunted first, signified by its feeble attempt to sleep within the
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While the whole movie, not just this scene, externally portrays the alien and monstrous, it is similar in behavior, if not more willing to coexist than the crew itself. This particular scene consists of Ripley, the final remaining crew member, undressing and preparing to sleep for the long trip back to Earth, while the alien remains hidden and sleeping. The extraterrestrial’s choice to board the ship is seen more as one of a predator stalking its prey rather than one of survival. Ripley’s terror towards the alien’s murderous behavior is intensified when it is discovered sleeping within the walls of the ship because of the false belief of its death. The scene ends with Ripley forcing the alien out of the craft and incinerating it with the rockets, ignoring that the alien was not reciprocating the …show more content…
Ripley is dressed in her underwear upon the discovery that the extraterrestrial is aboard the ship. Through her lack of clothing, her character is equated to a damsel in distress, hopelessly over powered and in a vulnerably exposed position. Also, the shade of her clothing, white, emphasizes the innocence and purity her character is meant to portray, contrasting with the black coloration of the alien’s exoskeleton. The coloring of previous scenes consistently attracts the mind to the setting throughout the movie because areas of refuge consisted of bright and white surroundings, while scenes consisting of unsafe situations were dark and dingy. As a result, the costuming decision for the female character generates an ambiance of danger, mimicking a situation analogous with assault, and therefore enacting fear. Her circumstance rallies support against the alien who is paralleled with a Peeping Tom. Its sleeping location within the wall of the ship is mistaken for that of a stalker’s hideout, reinforcing the misconceived view of sexual tension, and murderous habits. While Ripley is more than capable of protecting herself, more so than any of the men of the crew she is characterized in the final scene as weak and defenseless. The portrayal of the woman in this way emphasizes the falsified notion that the alien does not belong within the society of the crew, and that it cannot consist
The movie Gattaca, takes place in a world of discrimination and prejudice, although different from what most people might first imagine, the principals remain the same. Instead of racism because of someone’s physical appearance, it is racism because of someone’s genetic code. Society has never looked at physical appearance less in history. The resources are abundant in this world and genes can be very easily viewed at genetic code booths, much like a ticket booth. This movie contains several important characters, a protagonist who is overcomes discrimination to make his dream come true, and presents a unique possible future of society that humans may have to decide on.
If someone had previous knowledge of a crime, are they just as guilty for not reporting that a crime was going to happen as the person(s) that actually perpetrated the crime? This question was a major point of discussion and the major driver of the plot in the book Monster by Walter Dean Myers. In this book, 16 year old Steve Harmon is being tried for felony murder for participating in a robbery perpetrated by James King, Bobo Evans, and Osvaldo Cruz that ended in the death a Alguinaldo Nesbitt. Although the jury found Harmon innocent in the end, the readers still learn that Steve knew that a robbery was going to happen. Also, scattered throughout the book were bits of evidence that alluded to Steve’s involvement in the robbery. Therefore,
Conclusion: In all, racial oppression and identification is a concurrent theme in Butler’s works that have been discussed. Butler’s examinations involving the sense of pride and passion towards uniqueness and individualism are evident in many different perspectives. In Butler’s works, the passion the main characters have towards themselves in an alien world teach the reader important values and lessons against negativity and racial discrimination.
...l change how we envision them and us. When Aliens are no longer popular and there isn’t a continued paradigm of fear, the integration of the different peoples will no longer be a hot topic and this need to write about the segregation of American society will no longer be necessary and this essay can be thrown out.
Monsters and the Moral Imagination, written by Stephen Asma, presents many possible outcomes as to why monsters are the rise. Mr. Asma discusses why monster portrayals could be on the rise in movies, books, and stories throughout his subsection Monsters are on the Rise. Perhaps the rise is due to traumatic events in recent history such as the holocaust or the terroristic attacks of 9/11 in
Gina Marchetti, in her essay "Action-Adventure as Ideology," argues that action- adventure films implicitly convey complex cultural messages regarding American values and the "white American status quo." She continues to say that all action-adventure movies have the same basic structure, including plot, theme, characterization, and iconography. As ideology, this film genre tacitly expresses social norms, values, and morals of its time. Marchetti's essay, written in 1989, applies to films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rambo: First Blood II. However, action-adventure films today seem to be straying farther away from her generalizations about structure, reflecting new and different cultural norms in America. This changing ideology is depicted best in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), which defies nearly every concept Marchetti proposes about action-adventure films; and it sets the stage for a whole new viewpoint of action in the '90's.
Ripley representing a female Christ figure in the movie. The birth of the baby alien near the beginning is similar to Jesus' birth to the Virginal Mary. Both women conceive their "child" through a way other than intercourse, and both of their births have a huge impact on the future of the human race. After this scene, Ripley is shown emerging from a white cloth draped over her body, much like Jesus did after His ...
Race and discrimination have been an important and popular topic for Hollywood to take on in the film industry. Many movies have been made about the subject using very conventional approaches; however, Alien Nation takes a more unconventional approach to the subject. Even the title of the movie alludes to the bigger meaning behind the film. Alien Nation; alienation. With the use of sound, makeup and costumes, and estrangement of the Newcomers’ characters Alien Nation sheds light on the racists attitude often seen displayed in America.
Monsters are symbols and representations of a culture. They exist because of certain places or feelings of a time period. Monsters are “an embodiment of a certain cultural moment”. Author of Grendel, John Gardner, and author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, both create a monster to represent something larger than itself in order to have the reader reflect on their “fears, desires, anxiety, and fantasy” in society, which is explained in Jefferey Cohen's Monster Culture (Seven Theses). The latest trend in monster media, zombies, also fit into Cohen's theses on what a monster is.
Winston Churchill was known to say “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” The film Edward Scissor Hands, directed by Tim Burton, expresses how society gives unfair treatment or alienates those who are different. This film shows how society quickly judges and takes advantage of those who are different making them do their bidding. Once citizens get what they want they are quick to abandon and isolate those distinct individuals. The public disrespects and is generally condemning and unaccepting of those who are different.
Ridley Scott’s films often display themes of favoring the working class over the upperclass. Scott displays working class individuals as more honorable than their counterpart, the upper class (Schwartz, x). The futuristic society in the film Blade Runner displays the social classes of Ridley’s Los Angeles at it’s extremes. The poor are poorer and the rich are exceedingly richer, there is no in-between. Scott often portrays the stubborn lead protagonist to defy authority in order to fulfill their own desires. This can be seen in Gladiator when Maximus defies the new emperor and doesn’t die but challenges Commodus to a duel in the arena. The crew on the Nostromo defy Ash and Mother, whom are the higher authority of machines on the ship. For they decide to disobey the orders to keep the alien alive at all costs after discovering that the ship deems them expendable. The crew try to kills the alien to save themselves and if the ship ever got to earth, all of mankind. As well as in Blade Runner, when Deckard defies Chief Bryant and decides to let Rachel live. Another example of characters defining authority is Nick in Black Rain, as he defies Masahiro in almost every scene. Lastly, Ridley Scott often used the working class to defy the upper class either for their selfish desires or in the case of Alien, for the greater good of
The idea of ‘otherness’ is a term that is used to describe the way people tend to view people or even nature that are unfamiliar and barbaric. In earlier colonial years, individuals described foreigners as being the ‘other’ who were not like them. They had the inability or refusal to see similarity between them and the ‘others’. Who are the ‘others’? They were identified as barbarians, savages, minority groups or people of color. Labeling these cultures for their exoticism imposed a divide between two groups: ones that embodied the norm, us, and those who didn’t, them (Staszak). Ironically, the phenomenon of us versus them is like a mirror, each entirely different yet connected by their reflection. The reflection shouldn’t be left unnoticed
Sometimes, in novels like Frankenstein, the motives of the author are unclear. It is clear however, that one of the many themes Mary Shelley presents is the humanity of Victor Frankenstein's creation. Although she presents evidence in both support and opposition to the creation's humanity, it is apparent that this being is indeed human. His humanity is not only witnessed in his physical being, but in his intellectual and emotional thoughts as well. His humanity is argued by the fact that being human does not mean coming from a specific genetic chain and having family to relate to, but to embrace many of the distinct traits that set humans apart from other animals in this world. In fact, calling Victor's creation a `monster' doesn't support the argument that he is human, so for the sake of this case, his name shall be Phil.
We live in a world where creatures have abilities that can blow our minds, however we are ignorant of this. We live in a world where a constant power struggle is occurring between these secret species, a struggle that most human beings have no inclination of. We live in a world where people who know the truth are sworn to secrecy, and those proclaim this truth are considered crazy and locked away; to be sane is to be ignorant. Well, that is what I would love to be true. In actuality, I am fascinated with the topic of monsters; I love them all: lycanthropes, Frankenstein’s monster, witches, fae, necromancers, zombies, demons, mummies, and my favorite: vampires. This fetish has been manifested in the movies I view, the televisions shows I watch, and the books I read. When my obsession with reading is crossed with my obsession with monsters the result is a bookshelf containing more vampire novels than most people would consider healthy. I have discovered that every vampire novel varies vastly; no two books are ever alike. For example, the Twilight Series, the Anita Blake Series and the Vampire Chronicles Series have different legends and lore, different relationships between vampires and society, and different genres, theme, and purpose; this array of novels display most clearly the range of audience for vampire genre can cater.
The character of Antigone and every person selected in the draft from “The Lottery” are victimised unfairly by the popular belief and are the perfect examples of people turned into aliens in their own communities while not doing anything harmful to provoke the alienation.