In the final segment of Alien we see Ripley somewhat differently than we have to that point. Most obviously, she undresses in the escape pod, puts on a bulky space suit, than appears at the very end in kind of nightshirt. Ripley continues, of course, to fight resourcefully against the alien and, by extension, The Company and its profit-driven, dehumanizing, militarized vision of the world, so that’s nothing new. But how, if at all, do these costume changes in the final scenes alter your vision of the character?
7 thoughts on “Alien–Group 1”
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Thinking about the posed question, like many others, Ripley undressing at the end also caught me pretty off-guard. Throughout the majority of the film I understood Ripley as this sort of tough female character who is constantly pushing against the sexist nature of The Company that is portrayed through orders given by Dallas as well as through Ash the milk-blooded robot’s defiance of any authority that Ripley tries to exercise. I mean there is even a scene where Ash is exacting the sexist and dehumanizing power the company holds over women by literally shoving a rolled up magazine down her throat in front of a bunch of naked pinup posters on the wall. If Ripley’s role as a character is not to fight against sexist patriarchal power than I don’t know what it is. Finally, another aspect of Ripley that made me feel like she was supposed to be portrayed as a strongly feminist character is her existence as a sort of “Final Girl” that is so often seen in slashers such as “Scream” and “Halloween.” Final Girls, from the way that I view them, seem to be a symbol of feminism in horror films, and most definitely in Alien. Ripley, after her entire crew fell to the Xenomorph, has to stare death in the face and fight against the oppressive symbolism of The Company in order to save herself and a cute cat. I guess that is why I was surprised when the last scene included sexualization of her character. The whole time she was being built up as this woman fighting against a larger system of oppression and then, bam, there she is standing half naked for seemingly no reason. It almost felt like she was being displayed as a kind of pinup girl we saw on the wall in the earlier scene I talked about. It just didn’t seem to make much sense.
This scene, where Ripley sheds her bulky space suit and is left in her underwear and nightshirt, is a huge jump from the strong, brave, intelligent Ripley that we see throughout the film. In this moment, it is revealed that she has not defeated the alien, as we were meant to believe she had, and she appears rather weak for the first time in the film. I, like Nate, initially saw the scene as odd and perhaps unnecessary. I didn’t really understand why the powerful female character needed to be undressed and shown in such a sexualized and vulnerable way. As the slides noted, females in science fiction have so often been depicted in overly sexualized ways, like the women on Star Trek’s The Enterprise who wear tight, red minidresses. This is why the scene of Ripley undressing felt like a bit of a let down. However, I can also see how this scene symbolizes not just Ripley’s removal of her garments but also the shedding of her association with the ship and its profit-driven, capitalist ideals. In this way, perhaps the scene is not sexualizing her or leaving her vulnerable but giving her more power and showing her in a new light. The clothing gives off a feeling of purity and newness as she prepares to leave the ship behind. In the end, regardless of how one is meant to understand this particular scene, Ripley emerges as the heroine and the victor, not the victim, which is a marked change from how contemporary horror films portrayed female characters.
I think I feel differently about Ripley’s costume changes after seeing the screenwriter’s quote about attacking men in the slides. While watching I felt like her in a tank top and underwear was a little much but I was also asking myself why they were doing that. She was sexualized in that scene to a point she hadn’t been in the movie prior. Especially when she is in the spacesuit closet, the vantage point of the camera was intentionally meant to expose her in a way she really hadn’t been. As a character, we aren’t given anything about her. She is simply strong and smart and lasts the longest. There was no vulnerability or exposure in who she is as a character, so it was disorienting to have her particularly sexualized in this specific scene. I do think, though, the prior scene of ash attempting to choke her with a magazine particularly made her look weaker and sexualized.
I think that in the moment of watching this last scene I saw her as a little less of a main character and felt frustrated that of course they had to sexualize her at some point in the movie so why not at the end. After reading the screenwriter’s quote however, I now see it as a continuation of the way he was trying to “attack men.” Ripley’s sexuality wasn’t meant to make her vulnerable, it was a threat. She could figure out a way to kill the alien even while practically being naked and the vantage point of the camera could have been specifically to give her a position of power. As the viewers, we are looking up at her instead of down at her.
While watching the movie, I couldn’t help but think that the costume change in the final scenes was unnecessary, especially because it added little to either the plot or to the development of Ripley’s character. While this scene does not take away from the image of Ripley as a courageous, intelligent and determined heroine of the film, the scene felt like the director was pandering to the wishes of the audience, many of whom he probably knew would be men. Maybe he was trying to portray Ripley as being exhausted after getting the alien off the ship, and to make a clear distinction between the scenes, but I feel like Ripley could have expressed that without taking her clothes off. Perhaps the director thought the sexualization of Ripley was necessary in order to make her more relatable to the audience as a female character, and maybe the easiest way to do so is to reveal the female body in a manner that is appealing to the male gaze. Thus, while the costume change did not alter my view of the character, it did alter my understanding of the motives of the director, especially because this movie is celebrated for its strong female lead.
The costume change in the final scene of Alien in no way alters my vision of Ripley. Throughout the movie, Ripley is undoubtedly the bravest and most resourceful member of the Nostromo, and that perception doesn’t change even when she is somewhat sexualized during the final segment. Although some may perceive the costume changes as an attempt to sexualize Ripley and incorporate the male gaze into the film, I find that the costume changes symbolize Ripley’s changing mind-frame throughout the segment. When Ripley undresses into her undergarments, she is relaxed as she believes she is about to enter stasis and return home. Although the outfit is rather revealing, I believe the director is trying to be realistic in what Ripley would be wearing during stasis. Once Ripley sees that the alien is in the shuttle, her mindset changes back to being on edge. By putting on the spacesuit, she is preparing to accomplish a mission; in this case removing the alien from the shuttle. Once that mission is accomplished, she then returns to comfortable clothing, symbolizing her restful mindset before her long journey home. Ripley deserves to be revered as the film’s heroine even if the final sequence attempts to sexualize her.
Alien had many surprising moments, but the undressing of Ripley caught me off guard more than anything else. My first thought on this sexualization of our protagonist was it fulfilled the stereotypical role for women in an action movie. Hollywood may not have a problem with a strong female lead, but she has to appear in a minimal amount of clothes. It did not ruin the movie for me, but it felt unnecessary. Being terrified by the alien could have happened in countless ways and did not require less clothes.
As presented in the slides, the movie had a variety of scenes focusing on gender, specifically with Ash disobeying Ripley’s command and the chest birthing scene, but this final scene did nothing to add to the overall commentary. Maybe the director incorporated this small detail into the final scene as a sort of pallet cleanser. The slides discussed how multiple scenes were meant to make male viewers uncomfortable, so maybe this detail left people tasting a bit of the usual Hollywood action movie. Ripley’s disrobing in the final scene did little to change my actual view of the character because she looked exhausted, sweaty, and in need of a space shower. My quarrel is with the director and writer who added this detail for the men in the audience. Ripley still feels as powerful, intelligent, any other trait she expressed during the first hour and 45 minutes, but I see the final scene as the director taking control. The costume changes how I understand action/horror movies as a genre rather than the specific character. The final scene felt like a throwback to the old pulps rather than the new wave of sci-fi we are currently learning about in class.
The costume changes in the final scenes are one of my least favorite parts of the movie. To me, they demonstrate that no matter how vital of a role Ripley played as a strong, capable heroine throughout the movie, she (and women in general) can’t escape the reaches of the male gaze and sexualization of female heroines. The long camera pans up her body while she’s wearing a “revealing” tank top and underwear allow male viewers to satisfy their need for female sexualization in film. Despite the suspenseful moment, in which the focus should naturally be on whether Ripley can get out alive or not, the camera’s focus is on her body. In this moment, to me, she is no longer Ripley. She is the fictional female character that every man watches finds sexy and intriguing. Ripley is no longer sexy because she has extraordinarily brave qualities in the face of danger, she’s sexy because she’s a woman with a female body. I still adore her strength and prowess as a character and heroine, as well as the movie’s commentary on sexuality and sexualization, but these final scenes disappoint me with their focus. Even if you claim that these scenes are “commenting” on female sexualization, I think showing a woman’s nipples in a tight white tank top is pretty one-faceted.