Sunday 23 October 2016

Review: 'Alien' by Ridley Scott (1979)

FIGURE 1: Alien by Ridley Scott (1979)
Alien (1979) is an innovative film in many ways. Whether it's through its use of creatively futuristic set design, or through it's inventive use of props, hand made costumes, alien heads and special effects makeup, it is really a ground-breaking film, that also stands time. At it's most basic level, Alien has a very simplistic story line. It shares the basis of it's story line with many other horror films, in which things come out to get you in the dark, yet, this doesn't detract from how innovative the film is, in fact, it's quite effective. 
         ''One of the great strengths of ''Alien'' is its pacing. It takes time. It waits. It allows silences (the majestic opening shots are underscored by Jerry Goldsmith with scarcely audible, far-off metallic chatterings).'' (Ebert, 2003). It builds up the story in small, slow steps. This could suggest to the audience how enormous what the characters are carrying out is, and how long these people have been out there. How long it takes to descend onto the planets surface, along with the exploration of the alien caves and spaceship, the conversations and arguments between crew members. It brings a real sense of real life reactions and situations.

FIGURE 2: Alien by Ridley Scott (1979)
The design of the set is extremely creative and contemporary. Its covered with immense detail and precision, along all of the walls, tables, circuit boards, interfaces etc. ''Scott's films are often criticised as victories of style over substance, but this criticism is misguided: a film's visual style is part of its substance and is central to how the film communicates with the audience.'' (Zouch, 2010).  The spaceship design is perfect for a horror movie, as it creates a sense of claustrophobia and isolation, along with a recognisable environment for the audience.  Two concept artists were used to create this groundbreaking set design. Ron Cobb designed all of the human environments, logically and realistically. His designs bring the audience within the environment as all of his creations appear to look as if they would work and function. Surrealist artist Hans Rudi Giger designed the alien planets and the alien itself. His designs are innovative and detailed, and he created an alien design like no other.  He designed the alien to be a biological creature, it has a massive emphasis on this with its slime, wet looking and acidic blood. Although, the exoskeleton makes it look mechanical at the same time. It could be argued that the use of two different concept artists to create the idea of two different worlds worked immensely in creating such a contrast of look and feel for the audience. 
        It can be argued that alien projects our fears on reproduction and birth. Our fear of being 'cast off'. ''Kristeva argues that we have a subconscious fear of the abject throughout our lives. The abject consists of all things that threaten our sense of cleanliness and propriety, such as the interior workings of the body, bodily fluids and waste. Being forced to face the abject is inherently traumatic.'' (Zouch, 2010).  We are forced to witness the aliens horrific reproduction cycle. We see a man getting impregnated with this alien that then rips itself out through his chest, and this could signify the female reproduction role. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Alien movie review & film summary (1979) (2003) Directed by Roger Ebert .

2. Editors, Z. (2010) ‘Building better worlds’: The production design of alien. Available at: http://zouchmagazine.com/building-better-worlds-the-production-design-of-alien/#.WA0TSugrKhc (Accessed: 23 October 2016).

ILLUSTRATIONS

Alien: El octavo pasajero 1979 (1979) Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjclZ7s5PHPAhXMEiwKHW2qBQwQjhwIBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F447474912951766660%2F&psig=AFQjCNF4JrQXGxcQMzF8UQ60Xdoi2NnxBg&ust=1477341701018549 (Accessed: 23 October 2016).

Schaefer, S. (2015) Neill Blomkamp on his ‘alien’ project: ‘I still may make that film’. Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiBs9z-4_HPAhWCDywKHVC4CmMQjhwIBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscreenrant.com%2Fneill-blomkamp-alien-5-movie-sequel%2F&bvm=bv.136593572,d.bGg&psig=AFQjCNF-4uvPYBOnfQUf4JuZbp58PU8XZA&ust=1477341471050336 (Accessed: 23 October 2016).











1 comment:

  1. Hi Polly,

    You have touched on some interesting points here :)
    See my previous comment re italicising the film names and quotes. Also have another look at the referencing guide here, to make sure that your bibliography and illustrations list are set out in the correct way -
    http://www.uca.ac.uk/library/academic-support/harvard-referencing/

    ReplyDelete