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‘Alien’ Retrospective: Imperialism, Giger’s Phallic Imagery, and the Corruption of Nostromo

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The Nostromo sails on an empty black sea across a giant, star-sprinkled canvas, venturing away from the unknown, back to Earth; quiet, weightless. Dallas, Ripley, Lambert, Brett, Ash, Kane, and Parker make up the crew of this commercial towing vehicle, carrying twenty million tons of mineral ore back to the Earth’s crust. The seven crew members aboard sleep in their separate little cocoons like eggs waiting to be hatched, encompassed until they reach their final destination; lifeless for months in the dead space of the middle of the sky. The halls are empty and bleak, housed only by the program that runs deep in the ship’s veins, known to the crew as “Mother”. She watches over her little ones while they sleep, steering the way back home, and keeping an eye on the darkness the surrounds their small voyage. Suddenly, a small light flashes a peeping urgent message deep in the hollows of the metal walls’ core. A spark of life has announced itself in the vast blackness; the drowning echo of an S.O.S. call coming from another vessel far off in the distance. Mother jumps on the distress call and quickly wakes up her sleepy shipmates, who are quite upset when they learn that they are only halfway home. At the urging of their science officer, Ash, they decide to investigate the cry for help, although most of the crew is reluctant. Despite their brief moment of hesitation, they know that it is their job, as astronauts, and as Americans, to look into every possible opportunity to lend a hand, especially if the results mean furthering their growth on another planet that can support life. It is their duty as representatives of the United States to stake their claim in as many foreign lands as possible, even if those inhabiting it are alien.

It was only a few moments ago when the crew mates all ate happily together upon their awakening, telling jokes and spilling stories and making up for time lost in the dozens of hours spent in stasis, but now, they are here, answering a cryptic call echoed out from the middle of nowhere. When they arrive on this dark, windy planet, it seems as though it would be nearly impossible for humans to exist here. With vicious, ghastly winds, permeated with tiny specs of crystals whipping about, being outside in this environment is confusing and brutal. A few members are sent out into the fray to search for any humans that might have sent out the distress call, but from the look of the planet upon landing, it seems that death and disappointment is all that awaits them. Kane, Lambert, and Dallas go out into the storm to investigate, and in their travels, discover an abandoned spaceship positioned not far away, behind the whirls of sand, hiding in plain sight. Next to the massive LV 426, the members of Nostromo look no bigger than the grains of sand that slaps at their helmets. Upon entering, Kane finds a small hole in the floor, and ventures deeper into the belly of the beast. Down below, he finds a strange glowing mist about waist high, illuminating what looks to be hundreds of thousands of giant slimy eggs. Like a small child, his curiosity gets the better of him, and it’s not long before Kane begins poking at one of the eggs, and to his delight, finds a reaction. The top of the egg opens as if it were a banana unpeeling, and for a second, Kane is lost in pure science fandom-fueled joy. “He seems to have organic life!” Kane exclaims into his headset excitedly. But we must all pay for our curiosity, and in a mere seconds, the creature within screeches to life, springs itself at Kane’s face, and renders him helpless. After bringing him back to the ship, Lambert and Dallas call to Ripley to open the hatch in order to get Kane to the infirmary as soon as possible. After asking about Kane’s condition, Ripley denies entry, and says that the crew members must obey quarantine protocol. Dallas and Lambert are furious, but Ripley argues that it’s for the good of the crew; that they can’t risk bringing an infection onboard that could put everyone else in jeopardy, but before she’s even done dueling out justice, Ash has already let the three back onboard, and they hurry Kane to the medical center. A simple assumption wherein humans instinctually believe that they are the superior beings to any kind of outside force will prove not only foolish, but fatal.

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As an imperialist nation, America is defined by its need to conquer, expand, discover, and claim every achievement and piece of land that it can. Our craving for manifest destiny is no longer restricted to the limits of North American soil; it even extends as far as outer space. Therefore, if an alien species makes its presence known, as a nation, it is our duty to be the first to shed light on its existence, and quickly claim it; trademark it in some way to let everyone know that it belongs to us, and to us alone. Always in competition mode, and always sniffing out the next opportunity, it’s no wonder that when a signal of alien life reveals itself to the Weylan-Yutani company, they quickly forces their crew to investigate, knowing full well that the humans may be obliterated in the process of trying to bring back the foreign specimen. The crew awakens at the beginning of the film in egg-like quarters, reporting to a superior called “Mother”, a program controlling the giant life-giving vessel that each of them resides in; like little joeys resting inside the warmth of a protective kangaroo pouch. The LV 426 alien planetoid that the crew inspects not only houses its beings as well, like a humongous maternal figure, but it is even shaped like the top of a Y; mimicking a woman’s fallopian tubes. Inside, hundreds of eggs grow at the base of the structure, waiting patiently to be born, until the day that a human male stranger strolls over and abrasively reaches his hand inside of one of the delicate shells. Both ships symbolize different colonies, with Nostromo representing America, just as any craft coming out of our country would in space, and the LV 426 representing a foreign nation that we wish to conquer; heroes claiming a spot in space when the world has run out of free land. Of course, as Americans, we assume that we will overpower our competitors, and easily dismantle any that would dare challenge us. However, when the gang encounters this unknown species, they will learn that colonialism and curiosity come with blood, sacrifice, and loss, all in the name of elected representatives who would never dare to get their hands so dirty. Ultimately, Alien provides a cautionary tale of what can happen when our need to probe and examine and capture outweighs our humanity. In a way, the xenomorphs are merely fighting back, and defending their home against the trespassers that seek to steal them.

A commentary on imperialism is not the only quality that makes the 1979 Alien stand out. While working on the film, director Ridley Scott constantly stressed the importance of making the movie frightening, and keeping it horror-centric, a trait that deems it unique in comparison with the rest of the Alien franchise, which is largely based in action-adventure. Scott advertised the movie as being “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre of science-fiction”, aiming to meet the tension and the pure ferocity of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 cult classic. Although aesthetically, the two films feel worlds apart, the feeling that emits from both is one of relentless suspense. Alien is an exercise in sheer terror, swapping out the rustic, creepy strangers of the south for a different kind of hungry animal; one that moves about unnoticed, pouncing when its prey is alone, and quickly recoiling into the air vents with its new prize following along limply in its grasp. Being so far away from home, up in space, where no one can hear you scream, is enough to drive a person mad given enough time. The isolation and solidarity that come with trekking into a world beyond our own can be overwhelming — a punch in the gut to anyone who thinks they’re sick of humanity; ripped out of the crowd and thrown into a machine with thin walls that keep the death from flowing in. The mere idea of space travel is terrifying, but to partner this long journey from home with a predator lurking in the corridors of the ship is to trap a mouse within small confines and watch as the snake swallows it whole. At one point, Ash calls the xenomorph a “perfect organism”, and he’s right, but perhaps not for the reasons he thinks. The xenomorph, although beautiful in its appearance, is a superior being to humans because it is so completely basic. The species has no ultimate agenda; no end goal to wipe out humanity or take over the world, or create an army and unleash war against its neighbor. The xenomorph is simply a preditorial being that seeks to hunt, kill, eat, and reproduce. It is emotionless, with an acid layer laying just beneath its surface skin, preventing those who would seek to harm it from succeeding, and thus becoming, the ultimate assassin.

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Screenwriter Dan O’Bannon met H.R. Giger on the set of Jodorowsky’s Dune, and was immediately impressed with his dark and distinctive artistic skills. When the project fell apart, and O’Bannon began shipping his Alien script around (known then as “Star Beast”), he met up with Ridley Scott, and introduced him to Giger’s work almost instantaneously, to which Scott responded very positively. Scott said he wanted the look of his alien to mimic the appearance of Giger’s 1976 painting “Necronom IV”, a piece which SFX maestro Carlo Rambaldi followed very closely. Despite the studio’s hesitation to work with Giger, and many people involved in the production being afraid of Giger and his sexually aggressive artwork, Scott stood firm on his decision to combine his artistic vision with the man who would go on to win an Academy Award for the film in 1980 in the visual effects category. H.R. Giger has always been a true master of horror, leading the pack in inventive monsters with the rest of us just lucky enough to bathe in his afterglow. His xenomorphs aren’t just frightening extraterrestrial creatures, they are your fears, gathered from the deepest, blackest pits of your mind, personified. Starting from when they are babies, ejecting themselves from their eggs onto a human’s face, impregnating an unwilling participant, until the offspring growing inside of the living person’s chest bursts through, killing the incubator in the process, and skitters off aimlessly, shedding its skin and avoiding attack, until it grows up. Standing at over seven feet tall, the adults exhibit phallic heads eject a smaller phallic tongue-like organ that plunges into people’s skin and penetrates their systems, ripping them up from the inside out. The teeth on this tiny seemingly sexual organ suggests a vagina dentata, signaling that this figure could be male or female. The alien’s skin is black and tight, like a latex suit stretched from head to toe; a sexual predator waiting under cover of darkness to strike. Through its symbolism, the xenomorph does not distinguish between sexes, it merely attacks; a disturbing notion for the male audiences exposed to this film. In fact, most of the victims in this movie are male, making it oddly feminist, in a genre where women are usually the ones who fall prey to sexual abuse and death.

Aside from its choice in victims, the feminism of Alien mostly lies in its victor, female senior officer Ellen Ripley. Ripley is even more meaningful than the final girl who was resourceful enough to escape her killer, she’s that hero that has the female audience waiting around for a second coming. That woman who was smart and strong and capable from the beginning, but rose to the challenge and defeated her oppressor in the end. She’s the woman who refused to be bossed around by a man, but but respected her fellow officers, and still fought valiantly for everyone on her crew, even the ones whom she quarreled with earlier. Ripley is an impressive, realistic, hopeful addition to female characters that’s written brilliantly by Dan O’Bannon because it is written for a man. Many of the crew members were interchangeable as far as genders go, with O’Bannon telling producers they could change out many of the members as either male or female. What he never predicted, however, was that Ridley Scott would cast Sigourney Weaver as Ripley. However, in his short-sightedness, O’Bannon actually crafted one of the most important women in film, even to this day, because he didn’t change her to meet what he considered a woman to be like. In order for there to truly be another Ripley, the part must be written first, for a man, because only then is the character completely treated like a person. Luckily, Ridley Scott could see what O’Bannon could not, and in the process, gave female fans someone to look up to; a worthy name to add to the list of impactful female characters. A list, which thankfully, is only growing longer and longer as time goes on and film evolves with the turning of the world.

The ship carrying the humans, called Nostromo, has a very fitting name. It is named after a a novel written by Joseph Conrad, about a man named Nostromo who’s used as a tool by the rich old men of Sulaco. Although is never allowed to join their elite rank along the other prestigious men of Costaguana, Nostromo carries out special duties for these gentlemen, hoping that one day, his efforts will pay off, and he will finally be recognized. The current dictator of Sulaco is tired of revolutionaries trying to steal his silver out from under him, so he orders Nostromo to hide the pieces out at sea. When he is attacked during his transport, Nostromo leaves the silver on a nearby island. Because everyone believes the money was lost at sea, Nostromo is never asked to return his fortune, and sneaks a bit off of it off of the island each night, piece by piece. The paranoia of keeping such a heavy secret eventually drives him insane, along with the fact that he has yet to be acknowledged by the men who constantly order him around. His need for recognition ultimately leads to his corruption, as his leaders destroy the very part of him that made him so effective: his purity. It’s funny how the commercial towing vehicle in Alien is named Nostromo, considering that everyone aboard is used as a tool by Weylan-Yutani to fetch their alien species and bring it back to Earth, dubbing the crew “expendable” in the process. More than anyone else, Ripley Nostromo, as she serves as the boatswain of her ship, not quite captain, but still ranked high enough to give orders. Ripley’s advice is always being ignored, her opinion overshadowed, and her logic discredited, and after the company’s alternate motive is revealed, even her life is tossed aside like yesterday’s trash. Her complete lack of recognition and betrayal by her peers, and by her employers, ultimately leads to Ripley’s breaking down as a character, and being built again; reborn as a warrior, a hardened shell of the person she once was; and a more perfect reincarnation of the person she must become.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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