History Film / Alien

The Alien Monster and several other elements were designed by [[HRGiger HR Giger]], whose [[FreudWasRight sexualised]] [[OrganicTechnology biomechanical]] style influences science fiction movies to this day.

** The alien is put into a human body by the Facehugger, whose reproductive organ looks like a vagina with mandibles and a prehensile penis. Its spawn, the Chestburster, looks like an erection with teeth. And the long, eyeless head of an adult Alien is obviously phallic. The Alien was based on a [[http://home.att.net/~ShadowlandHome/Necro4.jpg painting]] by surrealist artist HRGiger, whose nightmarish work is very sexualized. Giger wanted the Alien to be the embodiment of the fear of rape.\\

[[caption-width-right:324:In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream.]]

The Alien Monster and several other elements were designed by [[HRGiger HR Giger]], whose [[OrganicTechnology biomechanical]] style influences science fiction movies to this day.

* XMeetsY: ''"[[TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle Discord in Scarlet]]"'' meets ''"It! The Terror From Beyond Space"''

* NoOSHACompliance: One of the escape shuttles is out of action and one won't carry the entire crew. Averted with the SelfDestructMechanism which is very difficult to activate. Labels on the self destruct system's instructions also have symbols to warn against trapping your fingers.

* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:Ash goes out the with the infamous line, [[EvilGloating "I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies,"]] and signs off with a smug smile.]]

!! This film provides examples of:

* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:Ash goes out the with the infamous line [[EvilGloating ''I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies'']] and signs off with a smug smile.]]

* XMeetsY: ''"Planet of The Vampires"'' meets ''"It! The Terror From Beyond Space"'' meets ''"[[Series/DoctorWho Doctor Who's The Ark In Space]]"''

* AnimalImmunity: Played straight with Jonesy the Cat. Ripley leaves Jonesy behind when the Alien surprises her, and it curiously looks at the cat as if it's about to eat it. When Ripley gets back the Cat is unharmed.

* ItWasHisSled: Kane dies when an alien bursts out of his chest.

* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler:The film leaves open the possibility that the cat that Ripley takes along with her as she flees the soon-to-be-nuked ship has been infected. This is, of course, proven untrue in the second film, and quickly takes a back seat to the fact that the title monster stowed away on Ripley's escape pod. There was also an original TwistEnding planned: the Xenomorph bites Ripley's head off, then records a message in her voice, and relaxes, waiting to get picked up.]]

->'''Ripley:''' Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer reporting. The other members of the crew, Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash and Captain Dallas, are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.

* TheForeignSubtitle: "The Eighth Passenger" in most languages.

\\
The alien is put into a human body by the Facehugger, whose reproductive organ looks like a vagina with mandibles and a prehensile penis. Its spawn, the Chestburster, looks like an erection with teeth. And the long, eyeless head of an adult Alien is obviously phallic. The Alien was based on a [[http://home.att.net/~ShadowlandHome/Necro4.jpg painting]] by surrealist artist HRGiger, whose nightmarish work is very sexualized. Giger wanted the Alien to be the embodiment of the fear of rape.\\
\\
A DeletedScene in the first movie showed [[spoiler:Dallas and Brett being "converted" into Chestburster eggs - they're ''double'' rapists; a man is disfigured into a feminine construct, and dies "giving birth" to something that does the same thing only quicker.]] JamesCameron took advantage of the deleted scene to add a HiveQueen to the Alien life cycle, leading to the following;\\
\\
Maternal symbolism: the AI of the spaceship in ''Alien'' is called "Mother." The organic alien ship is entered through vagina-shaped doors. The showdown between Ripley and the alien queen has a great deal of MamaBear implications on both sides. Many critics have compared the alien queen with [[Literature/{{Beowulf}} Grendel's mother]].

--> TheHero: Dallas\\
TheLancer: Ripley\\
TheSmartGuy: Ash\\
TheBigGuy: Parker\\
TheChick: Lambert

* FreudWasRight: Scores of essays have been written over the last three decades on the obvious sexual and maternal overtones. [[InvokedTrope These are all intentional.]] A good detailed analysis of the sexual symbolism of the film by Rob Ager can be found [[http://www.collativelearning.com/alien%20analysis.html here]].\\