As one of the more modern films we’ve seen up to this point, Ridley Scott’s “Alien” mirrors many of the contemporary patterns in space-based science fiction that main stream works exhibit today, while serving as a reflective piece of popular culture from the late 70s and early 80s. The design of the spaceship in the film itself is not speculative, as it might have been in a previous generation. In terms of chronology, the film has a basis for depicting space travel since the United States put Neil Armstrong on the moon in 1969. As part of the space race that contributed to American lunar missions, there was an associated movement to increase interest in science and technology within popular culture — math and science education were prioritized in order increase the number of people with the training necessary to help the United States win the space race. While “Alien” came out almost a decade after Armstrong walked on the moon, the film can be considered as part of the growing cultural appreciation for science, engineering, and space — a trend visible in the popularity of modern films such as Interstellar. “Alien” depicts notions of space travel and human contact with a deadly organism. The alien form in the film is monstrous and its actions are based in hostility towards humans — this hostility is central to the depiction of many modern Alien vs. Human films. While the depiction of the alien is speculative, this film and science fiction works dealing with space in this era can be considered both a product and catalyst of a larger cultural appreciation of science, especially in the wake of Cold War conflict. Much in the way that the Apollo 11 mission inspired a cultural reverence for science, films like “Alien” were able to generate a popular base for scientific exploration and speculation.
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Ridley Scott’s “Alien” exhibits the transition point in the depiction of outer space travel from adventerous and fantastical storylines to the suspenseful science fiction thrillers that we are still exposed to in the present day. While watching “Alien,” certain elements were easily distinguishable from the undirectional composition of previous outer space travel stories, one of these being the films focus on the “company.” In “Alien,” the crew operates under a rigid system, following the guidance of the ship’s intelligence system mother, and the procedures imposed by the company. This is reiterated by how the scientific officer Ash is a robotic creation himself, placed on the ship by the company to research and ensure the survival of the alien species. These components work together with the adaptable and deadly alien life form as the story moves along, building a suspenseful plot in which the odds are stacked against the survival of the crew. In my opinion, this marks the most major difference between “Alien” and previous outer space stories; in “Alien” the plot develops in a way that appeals to modern science fiction fans who enjoy the potential fear and thrill within the genre. This becomes more apparent when you compare “Alien” to a box-office present day science-fictional films such as “Life.” Produced in 2017, “Life” tells a similiar story of a crew’s discovery of a living alien organism while in outer space; the crew eventually identifies the life form as a highly adaptable malicious organism with advanced survival skills at a point which might be too late.
The film “Alien” reveals the transition from human space travel to private corporation space travel through the channel of humans. Throughout the movie there is frequent mention of “the company” that the robot Ash represents and speaks for. The main database “Mother” makes all the decisions on the ship, the largest being the choice to land on the planet and respond to the “SOS call.” The emergence of modern day space travel opened up an entirely new industry to be privatized and claimed by commercial actors in twentieth century America. “Alien” marks this transition from an era dominated by human imagination in the realm of science fiction to the reality of space travel as an industry in modern day. The realities of the world are reflected in the actions taken by Mother for the company that gives first priority to the return of the organism to Earth even at the cost of the crew. The film is largely a reflection on the evil of this corporation, and corporate America is general, that wishes to use the alien as a weapon. The crew members are simply bodies that are capable of exploring and interacting with the aliens to the company, nothing more. Further, with this domination of industrial space travel, the humans are morphed into hosts for the aliens. The aliens use the human body as an incubator for offspring in which the birth of one results in the death of the other. The company uses crew members’ bodies to produce the alien and fulfill the larger objective of international military strength through a weaponized alien that the company can produce and sell to warring nations. “Alien” acts as a transition from an era of science fiction writing dominated by human protagonists to actual modern day science as an industry for competing corporations to exploit and make innumerable gains from.
Aumit provides many possibilities for further comments. I’d be interested to how and if others see Alien as a transition in the depiction of travel in outer space. If so, a transition from what to what?