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?
6 thoughts on “Alien–Group 4”
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When I first saw this movie as a kid, I definitely felt the undressing at the end was unexpectedly gratuitous–thereby agreeing with many of the posted opinions above. Upon rewatching it though–this time with the prompt front and center in my mind–I definitely viewed it as less sexualizing, and more thematically pointed. Whether this is a stretch or not, I genuinely saw in the undressing a reflection of the conflict throughout the film–the theme of living organism’s dominance over “industry” (probably not the best choice of words, but it’s close enough). The film obviously stresses the idea of corporate interest being prioritized over human life; this is evident in the hidden agenda of the Nostromo’s journey–as well as the allegorical presence of Ash. Yet what is it that ultimately threatens and tears apart that corporate interest? Not any kind of constructed weapon but a natural killer–a dangerously evolved alien life form capable of unprecedented predation. At the beginning of the conflict, Ripley represents “industry” and technology–she is a cog in the business–standing up against the organic, naked xenomorph. After the twist though, when Ripley turns on the very corporation she was attempting to protect, the battle is stripped down to organism versus organism. Ripley strips off her corporate uniform before claiming victory against her valid opponent–a predator that technology repeatedly failed to outfox.
I have some mixed opinions on the costume changes (edit: by the end of this post, I think that I’ve settled on liking them, but very conditionally). I do think that Ripley’s undressing was a little gratuitous, in that potentially similar ideas could be conveyed in a less sexual way, but I also kinda see the merit. She believes that she’s escaped the alien, she no longer has any crewmates to worry about, and she just mad-dashed away from an exploding Nostromo. Who’s to say she can’t take off her stuffy clothes? In this state, she is incredibly vulnerable, but supposedly, that doesn’t matter. When she comes across the alien hiding in the machinery, she immediately must cover herself up again fully in a spacesuit. As her body is covered again, her sense of ease and her vulnerability vanish. I don’t think I view her any differently by the end of the movie (she was a badass who was ignored, then a badass who prevailed), but I think that she views herself in her surrounding world differently. Her final outfit, her comfortable yet modest nightshirt, indicates her new outlook. Even when she is “relaxing,” never again will she be as vulnerable as that moment earlier in her underwear. There exists no space for her (and perhaps all women?) to ever be truly vulnerable.
The final scene where Ripley undresses is an interesting one. The scene begins with her in the heat of battle, very stressed out and her clothing reflects that as she is wearing a work jumpsuit. This jumpsuit can be seen as a symbol of the profit-driven and dehumanizing company that she works for and all she has had to do to survive throughout the movie. Finally, when she thinks she is out of the woods she changes her clothing. She takes off her jumpsuit and strips down to her undergarments showing a more vulnerable and sexualized version of Ripley than we have seen throughout most of the movie. In a way this also symbolizes her severing ties with the company who brought her to this situation as she is now fighting for herself. This vulnerability lasts only a short time as she finds out about a stow away on the ship and quickly changes into an astronaut suit. After fighting the alien she reverts back to comfortable feminine clothing signifying to the audience that she is disassociated with her company and in relative safety. Overall I don’t think this scene alters my perception of Ripley as a resilient tough character that much. However, her costume changes work to sexualize Ripley and show her attitudes throughout the scene.
Clothing and the way that someone wears it tells a lot about a person. Ripley was seen throughout the film as strict and the “nagging woman” who was a stickler for rules, like quarantining Kane. Her costumes also help bring that type of character to light (i.e., the loose-fitting clothing lacked femininity). Ripley was assaulted violently, stripping her of her autonomy and control of her own body. The final scene is in direct contrast to this–where although she was wearing barely anything and you can see her body, it is more intimate and less sexualized. Ripley has taken power into her own hands. Ultimately, the costume changes in the final scenes coupled with her interactions with her daughtered showed, as Chase said, her defiance of the predatory alien and the impersonal bureaucracy. Ripley was able to regain control of her body and the future, no longer conforming to this entity.
In costume terms, Ripley’s choice of clothing shows a lot about her character. Her choice in the regulation overalls separates her from the other characters comfier wardrobe in the movie. Her costume relates her closer to Ash than her human crew members. Her position on the ship is made clear that she requires things to be done by the book. An example is when she insists on following procedures and quarantining Kane after his alien attack. As time goes on in the film, the looser Ripley wears her clothes. This seems to be the result of Ash assaulting her when she discovers what’s going on, but it could also be way more symbolic than that. Now that she has realized exactly what kind of people she’s working for, the company, why bother with conformity? Her body is the one thing that they cannot brand with their symbol. The transformation is completed in the film’s final scenes when, famously, Ripley strips down to her underpants. Any last devotion she has to Weylan-Yutani is cast aside. Ripley is asserting her humanity (specifically, her obvious femininity) in defiance of predatory alien and impersonal bureaucracy. Her costume change could be thrown into the birthing metaphors that are seen throughout this movie. She is reborn into her own femineity and body, dependent of the company.
For all the dehumanizing moments in Alien, I think there are a lot of humanizing components, and Ripley finds herself on either side. On one hand, Ripley makes a cold and calculated decision when she orders Kane to not being allowed back aboard the ship when the alien attaches itself to him. While Dallas overrides Ripley’s decision, and while the decision ultimately was the sound one, it is emblematic of the attitudes of the crew aboard the industrial Nostromo. I don’t know if the final scene necessarily alters my perception of Ripley as a character, but it does allow the spectator to see her in an incredibly intimate form when compared to her initial role aboard the Nostromo. She no longer operates amidst a corporate expedition as a part of a team, but as an individual who thinks she is alone fighting for her own survival in a relaxed state after mistakenly thinking that she has won. I think, too, it’s worth considering the sexualizing manner of the costume changes in the final scene. Where Ash’s assault of Ripley is pornographic, violent, and dehumanizing in nature (and literally in that Ash is a robot), the portrayal of Ripley undressing, while not inherently sexual, is potentially sexualizing of the female protagonist in a manner that is intimate, voluntary, and, ultimately, humanizing.