The movie Alien is unique in such a way that the movie goes from being a science fiction movie to a horror movie in the middle of the film. The horror aspect of the movie is quite apparent through the various filming techniques that are implemented throughout the course of the film. The director of Alien chose to use a very dark set when making this movie in order to add the horror aspect of the film. In addition to the dark sets the directed uses cuts or pop ups of the alien in order to scare the viewer. The use of close-up shots of the alien was also used in order to scare the viewer.
The alien and the humans in the movie are portrayed in the same manner. The reason I say this is because “it attacks the rest of the crew because they threaten its survival (Mullhall 18).” The alien and the humans both have the instinct of survival that is why they are trying to destroy each other over the course of the movie. Another similarity exhibited between both species is in the way of how they reproduce. This is apparent in the film when Kane “is impregnated with an alien fetus which his body then brings to term and labors to bring forth into the world; he undergoes a nightmare vision of sexual intercourse, pregnancy and birth (Mullhall 20)”.
Throughout the movie the use of music is not present for the most part. The reason I believe the director chose to not use music in the majority of the film was because it actually made the movie more suspenseful and added to the viewers feeling of fear. The lack of music made the viewer pay more attention to the dialogue of the movie and also gave the viewer the feeling of how alone the cast of actors actually were. The score of the movie goes along with what the actors are doing. A perfect example of this is “the suddenly deadened soundtrack and sequence of overlapping dissolves that chart Hurt’s emergence into conscious awareness seem to mimic the mode of that emergence (Mullhall 16).” Music is present in the movie at the very end of the film when Ripley finally destroys the alien. I believe that the use of music represents mankind’s victory over extraterrestrial beings.
Works Cited
Mulhall, Stephen. “Kane's Son, Cain's Daughter.” On Film. London: Routledge, 2002.
12-32. Print.
Scott, Ridley, dir. Alien. 1979. Twentieth Century Fox, 2009.
Thompson, Kristin. "Alien." Storytelling in the New Hollywood. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1999. 283-306. Print
Your quotes fit very nicely with your post. I like that you brought up the lack of music and how it added to the overall suspense of the movie. I don't really get the reproduction reference because the alien hatched out of an egg before it ever attached itself to Kane's body, but with the quote it makes more sense. I also agree that Scott was able to create a mix between a science fiction and horror very smoothly.
ReplyDeleteI like what you begin developing in the section about similarities between the alien and humans; what might this suggest symbolically? What does Mulhall discuss regarding the feminization of the crew?
ReplyDeleteThoughtful observations about the score and Kane. After Kane is attacked, the cutaway shot goes to a bird's eye view of the derelict spaceship and all you can hear is howling wind.
You have a three part analysis here. Maybe you can have three different headers to space out your post (lighting and editing, theme of survival, and score). You should also watch your in-text citation format; the close quote mark goes before the parenthesis of your citation.
Adam,
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of your post is great. Your analysis of the score and lighting are very in depth. Good work!
In the middle of your post you bring up how the species are similar and continue to say that they reproduce the same. I think this may need to be reconsidered. The alien asexually, parasitically, impregnated Cane. This is far different from humans. You are definitely right when it comes to both having the instinct of survival though. Neither of the species wanted the other to win.
The two things I like most about your post were the similarities between the humans and alien, and also how the lack of music heightens the tone of isolation. I think that the similarities show that people themselves are capable of great monstrosities. But on the other hand, since the alien is only trying to ensure its own survival, and is not killing out of malice, the film suggests that whatever horrible actions people may commit, there may be an explanation that warrants understanding if not being outright condoned. Additionally, the lack of music throughout the majority of the film has many repercussions. Since it is absent for so long, its entrance into the film acts as sort of a harbinger of doom. Its use is so effective that the tension created by its absence is only exceeded by its inevitable inclusion.
ReplyDeleteDespite the strong aspects of your post, there are a few issues I have to take up with it. The first of which is that the post seems a bot short. You may have reached the word minimum, but the oversized pictures and elongated quotes make it feel like we get very little of your own ideas and analysis. Maybe you could expound a little more on your theories surrounding the symbolic nature of the alien's reproductive cycle. Secondly, you make the error of placing the quotation marks on the outside of the parenthetical citations and punctuation. This is easily corrected however, and not really distracting, so your post is consequently well done.