The Allure of Alien

The late 70’s were formative years for the science-fiction genre in cinema. When Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope was released in 1977, its immediate impact and success had production studios scrambling to jump on the sci-fi bandwagon.

Just two years later in 1979, British director Ridley Scott took the burgeoning sci-fi film genre into a new, darker direction, solidifying himself as an acclaimed filmmaker and creating what remains one of cinema’s greatest and most disrupting masterpieces – Alien.

Xenomorph

The Xenomorph, the titular antagonist, crawled from the imagination of Swiss surrealist painter, Hans Ruedi “H.R.” Giger. The art style of Alien was specifically inspired by Giger’s 1976 painting Necronom IV which portrays a humanoid creature with an elongated skull and serpentine coiling.

Giger joined the film’s production as a member of the special effects team where he became instrumental in bringing his painting to life. The final design is an over 7 foot tall, skeletal, biochemical model, colored in shades of black, blue and bronze. The cylindrical skull possesses no visible facial features besides its mouth. Its primary weapon – its inner pharyngeal jaw – was an added addition to Giger’s original concept. The creature has several sexual overtones making its gender purposely unidentifiable.

Giger’s Academy Award-winning contribution to the film is a testimony to the cultural impact of his nightmarish genius. The age-defying terror of the iconic Xenomorph lives on, inspiring countless work and featuring in a multitude of crossovers in comic books, novels, video games and movies.

USCSS Nostromo

The film takes place predominately aboard the Nostromo – a towing vehicle filled with ore from floating refineries. The vessel is the antithesis to spaceship designs commonly seen in sci-fi. Decrepit and unattractive, the ship evokes the look and feel of a truck in space – unglamorous and built for commercial purposes.

The name Nostromo came from the Joseph Conrad novel Nostromo: A Tale Of The Seaboard. Scott’s love of Conrad’s work inspired a number of space-vessel names throughout the Alien franchise including Ripley’s escape ship, the Narcissus (also from Alien), the USS Sulaco (from Aliens) and the USCSS Patna (from Alien 3).

Its narrow corridors and chambers were designed to resemble the interior of a World War II submarine. The vessel was constructed to give a sense of claustrophobia which, when the Xenomorph joins the crew aboard the ship, exacerbates the confined space and heightens the terror.

Lieutenant Ripley

The character of Ellen Ripley, the film’s main protagonist, has become a landmark in cinema, and she is considered one of the greatest female protagonists of all time. Actress Sigourney Weaver received critical praise for her portrayal of Ripley and the role remains her most famous by far.

Ripley was originally conceived as a male character which arguably, would have marred the film’s overall success. Ellen Ripley not only defies the convention of a young female character in a horror film - proving herself to be a survivor rather than a victim - she is unquestionably the heart and soul of the film. Notably, unlike previous films with female leads, Ripley has no romantic interest making her one of the first female characters who isn’t defined by the men around her, or by her relationship to them.

Strong willed, level-headed, and determined – Ripley is celebrated for successfully challenging gender roles – no mean feat within the male dominated genres of science fiction, action and horror.

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