Femininity In Alien Ripley

Science fiction as a genre has always been thought of to be in a constant state of advancing. Whether it be with new technology, a new type of society, or new creatures, science fiction is always progressing and growing to be more and more complex. However, even as the majority of the contents grow and expand, there are some things that rarely seem to change, and those things are the status of women and “the other.”

The Alien is a science fiction horror movie. Its setting in space and the presence of technology and artificial intelligence empathizes on its science fiction genre. Moreover, the presence of the Alien and the fact that it is a threat to human lives reflects it is also a horror film. The movie revolves around seven human beings that have the mission to return to earth from the space.

Women often appear with glamorous image on advertisements, movies. However, there are also a lot of pictures to make women soured and routine such as women in the party, velvet erotic games, etc. By taking advantage of beautiful pictures, sexy women in the media seems to make the value of women become simply. People have acknowledging that women typically only have to dep, sexy, attractive, and space for recreation. Indeed, they hardly enhance the value of women. I am really shocked to find that most of social media is making people less interested in the intelligence, curved bar, and a lot of good things that women had not simply outward beauty. The media just give people that the public wants to. The film really makes the viewer think about the true value of women in the media and society. In addition, the film effectively appeals to the audience’s emotions and empathy. Throughout the film, the writer mentions her unborn daughter and her fear of whether her daughter “could grow up to be emotionally healthy and fulfilled given our moder culture.” She mentions that becoming pregnant and discovering her child was a girl is the reason she started looking to make a change in the way society and media sees women. This is an appeal to anyone who has a daughter or wants to have a daughter. They hope that people will want to make changes, just like the narrator did, for the future of the

In Hollywood film women 's roles have varied quiet considerably between genres, geographical placement, and period settings. These factors contribute to the different representations of women 's roles in the film they are present in. The roles are diverse going from the traditional maternal role to that of manipulative murderer. Women 's roles in movies can be almost equal to the male roles, and the co-stars are not given the majority of the acclaims just because they are male. Society has set certain standards that women are supposed to follow. The most common image of women is that they are very passive and try to avoid conflict in any situation. More and more in society women are breaking down the social barriers that confine them to their specific roles. The films Rear Window and Resident Evil show women in roles that are untraditional for our society. These two movies help to show how women are rebelling against social norms and that they are taking more active and aggressive roles. In film noir’s we can see women represented as the femme fatale, a woman whose mysterious and seductive charms leads men into compromising or dangerous situations. In action movies we see the heroine who is strong both physically and mentally, and has the ability to use weapons. Women seem to be more trapped than men because they are supposed to live up to society’s standards dealing with beauty and size, which are more physical characteristics. These specific guidelines have been set by

Barbara Creed in the text "Alien and the Monstrous-Feminine" explains "seven faces of montrous-feminie", while profoundly analyzing the scenes from classic horror movies. The author claims that in cinematography female sexual organs are portrayed as horrendous due to their reproductive and maternal functions.

Gender roles have been, and unfortunately still are, evident in our everyday lives for quite sometime. Women are often portrayed as sexual objects, or delicate individuals; a body with no brain or strength. These traits are easily found within many novels and movies- old and new. In Alfred Hitchcock’s films, Rear Window and Strangers on a Train, Hitchcock begins his films representing women with the same characteristics as stated above. They are very stylish, attractive and presented as second-class individuals to males. But after examining these two films, Hitchcock does something that many directors in his time would not have dared to do. By making the women the heroine and arguably the protagonist of the storyline, Hitchcock proves to

I feel that this film is neither anti-male nor anti-female. Although I do not think it is anti-male it does put men in a negative light and makes them seem stupid. Some examples of this are the truck driver on the high way. He is disgusting and is twirling his tongue at them making sexual remakes. He is portrayed like a pig and has seems to be very stupid. Another example of this is the cop who they lock in the trunk. Some more examples are Thelma’s husband who is very stupid and controlling. All of the men in the movie fit the male stereotype as stupid, controlling, mean, and only want sex. I do think the men were stereotyped and definitely put in a negative light, but that is something women face all the time in movies and media and that

James Cameron’s 1986 film Aliens can be considered a tweener being made up of many genres including a maternal melodrama, woman’s film, war film, body genre, horror, and a science fiction film. Aliens manages to successfully change the classic horror and sci-fi movie to create a story that explores the place of women in these genres and challenges the roles they normally play. This is done by structuring a horror film to play upon the male fears of female reproduction and sexuality as core themes in the film so as to unnerve its dominant men. As a result, a woman’s film is created by placing its female character as the leading role. Aliens takes its central character Ripley, and places her into a position as the gender monster. Ripley is neither totally feminine nor is she totally masculine resulting in a motherly figure that is a true warrior. Even from her first appearance she is in command and a force to be reckoned with. In Aliens the roles of gender are clearly reversed, as Ripley is the strong female character who makes active judgements and survives what is trying to kill her. The male characters are largely submissive, most die quickly, others wait for her command. Ripley stands out as being a well-developed female hero who avoids the standard portrayal of women in horror films as passive, secondary characters, creating a woman that is in charge and motherly at the same time, thus producing a woman’s film.

Moving forward to the 20th century, the 1979 film Alien and 1986 film Aliens depicts a very different hero to the ancient heroes like Achilles and Aeneas. Though there is a significant amount of variation in modern day heroes now than there was in the time of Homer and Virgil, these heroes are accepted for their character flaws as it makes them much more relatable to the modern audience, much like what Virgil was trying to do with Aeneas. Ellen Ripley, as introduced in Alien and seen in the , is a warrant officer on-board the spacecraft Nostromo, a commercial towing ship. Immediately, we see this person as being completely ordinary and would have lived a completely normal life if it weren't for the events to come later in the film. In fact, at first she seems like a side character. It is when the Alien is introduced into the narrative that she

Several film theorists have used a variety of tactics and view points to analyze feature films since their inception. One of the most prominent theorists of those that analyze films from a feminist perspective is Laura Mulvey. Mulvey is famous for her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” which presents an array of theories involving the treatment of women in films. Arguably the most notable idea presented in Mulvey’s work is the existence of the “male gaze” in films. This essay will examine Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze in relation to Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Vertigo. Vertigo does not fit the criteria of a film that

Today’s filmmakers have three areas to focus on: the event or theme of the film, the audience who will be watching the film, and lastly, the individual characters and the roles they play and how they are portrayed and interpreted. Many of these films bottom line objectives are to focus on the “erotic needs of the male ego.” The focus on fetishistic scopophilia tend to slant the view such that we see the world as being dominated by men and that woman are

Horror movies throughout history have been known to have their cheesy storylines or continuous bad acting. Especially horror movies. People nowadays could easily spot the flaws in a film and judge them drastically in reviews. Yet, little do people notice the ongoing discrimination between genders. Horror films tend to portray males and females substantially differently because of stereotypical views. There seems to be a pattern in which each gender takes a certain role in a movie continuously. Females are shown to be “objects” such as sex and emotional symbols, while males are shown as strong or powerful and moreover as the main bad guy. Although some of the newer edition films of the horror genre are displaying each gender more and more equal throughout the ongoing years, the gender discrimination dilemma still exists and can be seen by the statistics in the movie industry in general.

Creed, B. 1999. Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection. Feminist Film Theory, a Reader, edited by. Sue Thornham. New York: New York U P.

Since the inventions of television and film, media influences have become extremely important in modern society with people constantly being inundated by images and messages that come from film, television, magazines, internet and advertising. Researchers and theorists such as Carol J. Clover and Jean Kilborne believe that the fact that people are going to be affected by the media is absolutely unavoidable. Films can act as guides to how people, particularly women, should act and look. Women in horror are typically shown as the ‘damsel in distress’ and are usually attacked by the killer after committing a sinful act like having sex or misusing drugs or alcohol. The females are

While subtle, the difference between the actions taken by Dallas and Ripley exemplify the heterosexual differences in labor. Dallas’ protagonist is constantly in motion: investigating the signal, defending Ripley from the dead facehugger, and hunting the alien in the vents. Ripley’s actions as protagonist are less active, especially since she follows Dallas’ vent plan and