wrote<\/span><\/a> in 2011, \u201cRipley isn\u2019t a fantasy version of a woman.\u201d Because of Ellen Ripley, for good and ill, the cosmic landscape has become a more habitable place for female characters. Sandra Bullock\u2019s Ryan Stone in Gravity<\/i> and Jessica Chastain\u2019s ship commander Melissa Lewis in The Martian<\/i> wouldn\u2019t exist without Ripley as a guidepost. Which is why Scott\u2019s current white male depiction of feminism is so frustrating. <\/span><\/p>\nPrior to deconstructing the film properly, it\u2019s necessary to discuss the presumed intent of Prometheus<\/i> and Alien: Covenant<\/i>. Both films imply a \u201cwoke\u201d mentality towards feminism. When Prometheus<\/i> was released, the studio squabbled with Scott and lead actress Noomi Rapace about a scene where Elizabeth Shaw has an alien surgically removed from her stomach, presenting itself as a thinly veiled abortion allegory. A similar thread runs through Alien: Covenant <\/i>involving the implantation of unwanted embryos, albeit in a less graphic and penetrative manner. <\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s laughable not to expect women in space and in prominent leadership positions by 2017, let alone 2104, when Alien: Covenant<\/i> is set. The director is aware of this. But there\u2019s a distinction between having women present and placing them in the same capacity as Ellen Ripley. In Scott\u2019s Alien<\/i>, Ripley is a Warrant Officer who has a mutual rapport with the ship\u2019s captain, played by Tom Skerritt. When she talks, respect is demanded even if it\u2019s not adhered to, a problem that shows the stupidity of the men around her as opposed to a slight against her character. <\/span><\/p>\nIn both Prometheus<\/i> and Covenant,<\/i> the Ripley analogs, Rapace\u2019s Shaw and Katherine Waterston\u2019s Daniels have defined positions but no real purpose within the narrative. Shaw\u2019s a scientist who discovers the cave paintings that bring the characters into space, but the majority of her screen time is spent dealing with her significant other\u2019s transformation after being attacked by the alien creature. Daniels is even more ill-defined, second in command to the captain, but outside of being overridden in the decision to stop at the signaling planet \u2014 a decision she rightfully says is bad \u2014 there aren\u2019t any other significant moments of her in power. Daniels and Shaw survive as part of a group, as opposed to Ripley\u2019s final girl, with a backhanded need to keep one man alive for \u201cequality\u201d that ultimately leaves both female characters incapable of surviving on their own.<\/span><\/p>\nRipley\u2019s final girl status didn\u2019t necessitate the need for a male love interest, one of the bigger backslides the new franchise takes. Where Ripley was the foil to the \u201cmonstrous mother\u201d that was the Xenomorph (a term coined by Lynda K. Bundzten in 1987), Shaw and Daniels are both unmoored by a \u201cwidowing.\u201d Daniels loses her husband in the opening scene. It\u2019s the first thing audiences know about her, and with no indications of her past that don\u2019t include her husband, there\u2019s little proof that her agency doesn\u2019t live and die with him. This is certainly a slight uptick from Shaw, who is hobbled at every turn by her boyfriend, right down to questioning whether to have a child she knows is an alien purely because it was delivered to her via sleeping with him. Each case shows women as only reacting to trauma through being alone without a male counterpart, whereas Ripley reacted to the trauma by using her inherent strength to survive.<\/span><\/p>\nThese issues aren\u2019t exclusive to the main heroines, though because they are set up as Ripley alternatives it\u2019s easier to discern. Alien: Covenant\u2019s<\/i> views of marriage end up being detrimental to all the female characters. Two women die immediately once the crew reaches the alien planet. The fact that these women die first, with the majority of the third act being dominated by men, presents them as disposable figures. Furthermore, the male characters refer to the females exclusively as \u201cmy wife,\u201d hardly ever referring to them by name, reiterating an out-of-touch 1950s connection between marriage and property. Complicating matters further is the nature of pattern. These issues are a continuation of problems established in Prometheus<\/i>. Charlize Theron\u2019s Meredith Vickers was a cold ice princess with an Elektra complex who could only prove she wasn\u2019t a robot by having sex with a man. Alien: Covenant\u2019s<\/i> problems are building on a series of missteps that degrade the pedestal Ellen Ripley is standing on. <\/span><\/p>\nIf the Alien<\/i> franchise is to continue, it would behoove Scott and his screenwriters to pare down their cast. Leave the female as the final girl or, if the intention to leave a pair alive, consider making it two women as opposed to a woman and a man, which leaves the question of \u201crepopulation\u201d hanging in the air. There\u2019s no reason for the female to lack a relationship, but show proof of action and agency that don\u2019t involve the spouse\u2019s death or deterioration. It\u2019s not enough to be aware of feminism and thus gender-swap by putting a woman in power. One must allow the woman to wield that power of her own free will \u2014 something Daniels and the rest of the Covenant<\/i> women aren\u2019t able to do.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nKristen Lopez<\/a> lives among Xenomorphs in Sacramento.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1979 director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Dan O\u2019Bannon gave audiences the scare of a lifetime with Alien and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":467,"featured_media":7276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1381,1400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","category-on-the-marquee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/467"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}