Aliens is definitely my favorite of the franchise. I love how, like the article points out, that Ripley is the ultimate action heroine. She demonstrates motherly instincts in her protection of Newt, and when it comes to facing off against the queen, she spits an awesome one liner, "get away from her you bitch!"and proceeds to kick some xenomorph ass! That's the kind of thing we'd expect from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, and Ripley and Sarah Connor as well, show that transition of women occupying these kind of roles now. It's because of badass female characters like them that there is an all female version Expendables style movie now in the works. The 1980's really introduced this idea of a great heroine with Aliens, The Terminator, and really took off in the 90's. Not only did it pave the way for great female action stars in empowering roles, but even Oscar winners like the article points out titles like Thelma and Louise and Silence of the Lambs. Before that, in the 1970's it was occupied by men in those roles like Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, and you'd have that lone hero fighting the good fight then getting the girl. Ripley really brings out not only the final girl scenario, but rises above that in the sequels to be the only one who really knows how to fight the aliens. As the series progresses, in the fourth one she's putting to shame a team of mercenaries and emasculating them.
Where the article points out that women in these roles could come off as being symbolically male as they are shown muscular, wielding guns, there are other aspects of their characters that set them apart. Their heroism is created by transition, they don't start out at badasses. Ripley is a woman who was put into an extraordinary situation in Ridley Scott's Alien, and while being haunted by it in the beginning of the sequel, she doesn't just hide away, she wants to see them eliminated because she knows just what they're capable of, and by the end we see what she is capable of. Her actions become driven by motherly instincts as she protects Newt. There is a lot of female imagery in the Alien series, from the Queen Alien, the aliens being developed inside a human host, the eggs. The film stands out not as a woman trying to be a badass hero in the image of a man, but a woman who adapts and rises about the threats around her to protect herself and those around her.
And here is a clip of Ripley in all her awesomeness telling off the Queen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnOIvn8hMS4
I like what you say about Ripley's heroism being a transition, she doesn't start out as a total badass but being put into that situation she eventually became one. I also really like what you say about the film not trying to take the male hero image and replace it as a woman but show a woman who rises up to protect herself and others, especially Newt because she's driven by the motherly instincts.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that this film shows, as you put, Ripley's role as this great action heroine as being part of a transition and transformation process for her as a character. If you look at her growth and development over the course of not only this film but its predecessor "Alien" as well, you see her grow into the powerful heroine that she becomes by the end of this film. And that's why I think the comparison that the article makes between "Aliens" and "Terminator 2" is such a strong and valid one; both sequels take the lead female character from each film's respective franchise and allow them to grow and develop into the strong, assertive, and complex characters we see them become by the end of both "Aliens" and "Terminator 2."
ReplyDeleteI like your point about transition too. Though that's true of most action heroes too, isn't it? Especially in the beginning of the franchise. Even Rambo started out kind of mild-mannered. That's the whole Hero's Journey steps one and two: The call, the refusal of the call. The journey, etc. Good summary here. Just a bit more analysis of that idea of transition in relation to gender images would have made this even stronger.
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