1979's Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, is a brilliant exercise in mood and atmosphere building up to a horror film of excruciating terror. The design of the alien, the strong performances and direction, and the straightforward, inescapable tale of a haunted house in space make it a landmark science fiction film. Part of its brilliance comes from its examination of power relationships, exemplified by the tug of war between Ripley and the Alien. Through the lenses of Devor and Cohen, a pair of crucial scenes in the film will be explored in terms of their exploration of power.
The alien itself maintains all of the power within the structure of the Nostromo once it is birthed; the rest of the characters attempt to subvert that or escape from that grip of power that the creature holds. Many of them maintain the illusion of power, an illusion which becomes more and more shaky as more and more crew members keep getting killed off. One major change in the power structure comes with the death of the captain, Dallas (Tom Skerritt), which effectively leaves Ripley in control. There is a scene immediately after Dallas' death, where Ripley weighs her options and must maintain power over the rest of the group. Parker (Yaphet Kotto) continually challenges Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) authority by wishing to go out into the ship and hunt it down, while Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) collapses into panic and opts to abandon the ship. Finally, Ripley, through authoritativeness and decisiveness, claims command of the group.
Devor, in his essay "Becoming Members of Society," examines gender roles in relation to power. "Research shows that dominant persons of either gender tend to influence tactics and verbal styles usually associated with men and masculinity, while subordinate persons, of either gender, tend to use those considered to be the province of women. Thus it seems likely that many aspects of masculinity and femininity are the result, rather than the cause, of status inequalities" (Devor, p. 68). Devor essentially argues that masculine behavior, rather than feminine, has become the symbol of power in a relationship. Whomever has the most masculine qualities, in terms of assertiveness, bluster, and posture, has a high likelihood of maintaining authority.
Ripley, in this first scene, uses these masculine traits in order to gain power over the crew. Lambert's overt femininity (as evidenced by her crying and wanting to run away from the problem) is rejected out of hand as being hysterical, Ripley talking to her as if she were a child. Meanwhile, Parker paces around the room in a rage, refusing to listen to Ripley, because he is displaying more masculine tendencies - his shirt is even ripped, and he is holding a weapon, as if to solidify his image as the manliest crew member left. However, Ripley finally manages to get him to listen by displaying a stereotypically 'masculine' behavior - shouting back at him. When she shouts, "Will you listen to me, Parker?! Shut up!" Parker does so, and concedes the power role to Ripley.
One may counter-argue that it is Ripley's femininity that allows the polar opposites of Parker and Lambert to be equalized, and that Ripley displays feminine qualities in abundance later on (e.g. crying, the protective instinct to go back for Jonesy the cat). However, Ripley does not maintain full power until she makes this display of overt toughness and masculinity; Parker, as the most masculine person left, must be put in his place, and Ripley chews him out in order to do so.
Another scene that demonstrates the power the alien has over the crew is the scene in which Ripley is attacked by Ash (Ian Holm ) after his complicity in the company's intent to bring the alien home is discovered. Ripley is slowly chased by Ash, beaten and symbolically raped by a rolled-up magazine, with which he attempts to strangle her. She is only able to escape through the help of Parker and Lambert, who kill Ash (who is revealed to be a robot, another 'other').
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, in his essay "Monster Culture (Seven Theses)," discusses the nature of monsters, such as the titular alien, and their propensity to escape. "No monster tastes of death once," says Cohen, and this is true of the alien as well; every attempt to destroy it is seemingly useless and ineffective (p. 71). Given Ash's turn as the villain for this scene, it is clear that Cohen's claim of a monster's "propensity to shift" is made literal - he can even turn a crew member against the rest (p. 71). Both Ash and the alien are the 'other', that which is not human.
In this scene, Ash (and by extension, the alien) is attempting to seize power over Ripley, both sexually and physically. His primary goal is to kill her, which is one he shares with the alien - according to the company's plan, the alien was to be birthed, kill the crew, and Ash would escort it back to Earth by himself. Ash's true otherness is displayed here, as his slimy coldness is revealed to be android distance and alienness. Unlike Ripley, he walks slowly, methodically, without facial expression. His attempts to attack are made by grabbing her and throwing her across the room, which Ripley is helpless to stop. He eventually drags her to a bunk (one surrounded by pornographic images of nude women) and rolls up a newspaper with almost sexual glee. He then attempts to stuff it in her mouth, Ripley helpless to stop.
Cohen speaks about category crisis, where the monster finds it so easy to escape because it cannot be classified or categorized. Ash being the true monster in this scene, he himself is finding it difficult to categorize himself, as he is both an emotionless robot and, through the way in which he attempts to kill Ripley, expresses confused sexual desire, albeit in a violent way. Cohen states that "For the most part, monstrous difference tends to be cultural, political, racial, economic, sexual" (p. 73); while some can argue that the pornographic images and the magazine-as-murder-weapon are merely coincidences, Ash's expression of difference, through its setting and the sexually charged nature of the performances, is most certainly sexual.
In conclusion, Cohen and Devor discuss gender and sex as a means of establishing power over others. In one scene, Ripley uses masculinity to exert power over her crewmates, fitting in with Devor's assertion that masculinity typically merits more compliance than femininity; in the other, Ash demonstrates his otherness by acting differently, directly opposing Ripley by siding with the alien, and using sexual, rape-based malice in his attempt to kill her. Both of these scenes, and both of these lenses, provide ample demonstration of why power is such an important tool in the characters of this film.
Works Cited
Devor, Aaron. “Becoming Members of Society” (RAW 68-86).
Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” RAW (68-86).
Scott, Ridley. Alien [Motion Picture]. Perf. Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt. Los Angeles: 20th
Century Fox, 1979.
