In response to Barbara Benesch' post of Nov. 20.
Full agreement on Ripley as a powerful female SF character.
In Alien, she is the only one with the intelligence, determination,
bravery, and assertiveness to survive. She also makes the hard decision
that would have saved everyone else - to keep the away team quarantined
in the airlock until they figure out what happened to Kane. 'Course Ash
overrides her order....
Aliens:
> Then, when she was sent on with the marines to Acheron,
> she continued to pull her own weight with the rest of the crew,
> and refused to be cowed in the face of marine bravado.
True, but she actually goes way beyond this. First, she is
singlehandedly responsible for rescuing half of the team from their
disastrous first trip in. Then, she is primarily responsible for keeping
them together and putting together a plan to get them out of there. A
civilian, she still virtually takes command. Personally saves Newt,
personally kills (?) the Queen, etc. Hicks is a great guy, and tries,
but is clearly outclassed. Noone else comes close.
> Ripley managed to avoid all of those traps, and while the movie
> does have Ripley fighting another female (thus reducing the
> end battle to a "cat fight") over a child (appealing to the idea of
> "maternal instincts" causing her ruthlessness), she's still a better
> feminist role model than most movie women at the time.
That bothered me somewhat, particularly the line "Get away from her, you
Bitch!", emphasizing this idea. And these are _clearly_ the two
strongest characters in the film - Ripley and the Alien Queen. By the
way, by strongest characters I mean in strength-of-action, not
strength-of-character.
> (Also, Vasquez, the *really* gung-ho female marine, was a
> pretty good feminist character as well, having established her
> place as a member of the squad, and the men treated her
> accordingly.
Again, I think you're not going quite far enough. I love Vasquez, and
she's not just taking a "place as a member of the squad," she's clearly
the most hard-core of the bunch. And, as you say:
> And for a gung-ho marine, I have to say she didn't come
> across as "butch" as they could have made her.
Definitely.
> Also, let's keep in mind her budding relationship with Corporal Hicks.
Hmm. If you mean in terms of retaining her femininity - that is, being
strong without somehow becoming a masculine role - I'd say that her
interactions with Newt are a stronger measure. Though, the scene where
Hicks gives her the wrist locator is touching, primarily in her response.
Alien3:
I'm sorry you were so disappointed. I certainly like the first two
better, and Hicks' and Newt's deaths at the beginning were incredibly
painful. Still, I think Alien3 is _very_ important in terms of Ripley's
character. I like to consider the trilogy as a sort of classic hero
saga, and focus on Ripley's development. Looked at that way, getting
through her nightmares, overcoming her debilitating fear to the point
where she calmly hurls herself into annihilation, grasping the baby Queen
as she does, is an ultimate victory over her Nemesis.
For some time I've been concerned with Alien Resurrection as lying
outside of the span of that saga. But now, as I write this, I'm thinking
that since it'll be a resurrected or cloned Ripley, that that is only
appropriate. I'm curious to see how it'll fit in. I'm a big fan of
director Jean-Pierre Jeunet from Delicatessen, so I'm stoked. 'Course
I'm also a bigtime fan of Ridley Scott and James Cameron.
Anyway, I guess I'm rambling way over quota. Us Alien fans seem to have
a problem with that. :)
Rhian
rhian.m.merris@cpmx.saic.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:07:31 PDT