Gender And Sexual Politics In Ridley Scott's Film Alien

In Ridley Scott’s film Alien, I observed how the film for its time was unique, in the sense that it comprehensively dealt with gender and sexual politics in a direct manner through its content and text which in contemporary films still remains rare. One of the most obvious way Ridley Scott dealt with gender was by having a strong lead female character. Ellen Ripley, the protagonist of the film, who still currently stands out as a top action hero as her character refrains from falling under the cliched portrayal of women in horror films. Most classic Hollywood film often associate women as the secondary, weak and passive characters, who are often killed or rescued by the typical strong masculine lead. A common trope about female characters within Classic Hollywood horror film typically involve two endings which include either death as punishment or marriage to the masculine male protagonist as salvation. However, in Alien the roles have reversed, the character who makes active, wise decisions and survives the attack of the monster is a female,

whereas, the male characters are the ones who are passive, quick to die and await for orders from Ripley. The Captain in the film who is the “leader” fails to protect his crew and due to his unwise decision is killed, however, it is Ripley whose plan to defeat the alien works. It also defies the tropes of classic hollywood film as Ripley is neither punished nor saved, as she saves herself without having a masculine figure rescue the damsel in distress

Other than Ripley, the main antagonists in the film are both portrayed as female even though they are both in terms of appearance are genderless. We have a computer who Ripley is battling called “MU-TH-UR 6000” or “Mother” and then we have the Alien, who Barbara Creed refers to as the “parthenogenetic mother, the mother of primordial abyss” due to the fact that the xenomorph could reproduce without the need for fertilisation - without a male - which again reverts back to the point where even the alien does not need a male figure to function. This could also be seen as a male fear and their fear of castration. Creed discusses that the film empowers femininity as it depicts that females are the one who gives life and takes away life, which is quite evident within the film itself. From the very start of the film, as the camera wanders through the extended corridors of the mothership before settling down in the chamber where the astronauts are awoken from their pods by “Mother”. Creed discusses the opening as allegorical as she relates the sequences to the inner workings of that of a female body and referring to the chamber as the womb. As the “Mother” awaken the astronauts from their pods and the costumes they come out wearing from their pods could be seen as the “Mother” giving birth. This sequence itself depicts that the father is absent and the mother brought them to life without a male figure.

Another scene that fascinated me was when Kane boards the ship through a door shaped like a vagina as they walk through a passage which again resembles the inner body of a woman and they discovers a chamber containing hundreds of eggs.

As he inspects one, a “Facehugger” jumps out, gets through his space helmet and attaches itself to his face and Kane passes out. A few scenes later an Alien pops out of Kane’s chest known as a “Chestbuster”. This scene fascinated me as it could be a seen as male entering a woman without her permission hence it could be referred as raping the woman. However, the roles have reversed once again. It is the male character who is the passive one and gets raped by the “Facehugger” as it implants an embryo within Kane, which later comes out of his chest as an infant and in the process kills him. It again creates this notion of how the mother does not need a male figure for the child hence killing

him.