Study Questions on ALIENS

1)Ridley Scott got tremendous attention when ALIEN was released for claiming that he used gender-blind casting in the film. That is, he wrote the characters without regard to their gender and then cast them according to which performers best fulfilled the qualities associated with those

characters. (We may question whether such gender-blind casting is really a practical possibility when character traits are so often gendered in our culture). James Cameron, on the other hand, has to begin the filmmaking process with the foreknowledge that Ripley is female and construct her actions according to assumptions about gender. What kinds of assumptions about gender shape this particular film? At what moments does Cameron make gender a specific focus of discussion? The subsequent study questions are intended to point you towards some issues surrounding gender you may want to consider more closely as you watch the film.

2)In the Director's Cut of ALIENS, there is a sequence which shows Ripley learning that her daughter has grown up, had a family, and died during the time she was in cryogenic freezing. The daughter had been a small girl when she left. What might this scene have contributed to your experience of the film? Why might Cameron have decided to exclude it? What assumptions does

the film make about Ripley's relationship to motherhood? Are there other characters in the film who show nurturing tendencies?

3)Another element cut from the film was the suggestion that one's sex may be biological or artificial, that is, one can choose to be either male or female. How might the inclusion of this detail have complicated our understanding of the way gender operates in the film?

4) Early in the film, Hudson asks Vasquez if she has ever been mistaken for a man. Her come-back is one of the classic moments in the film. What does this suggest about these two characters and their relationship to gender-appropriate roles?

5)A recurrent motif in the film is the issue of trust, whether we trust someone to successfully perform the job assigned to them. One of the first times this question surfaces is when Ripley is asked to demonstrate that her skills and experiences allow her to make a meaningful contribution to the mission. What other characters are forced to prove themselves in this way?

6) Some feminist critics have dismissed Ripley as "Rambo-ette," that is, as a hypermasculine character, which suggests that women can only be heroes if they act like a man. Is that a valid description of Ripley's character? Why or why not? How might she be compared with other recent female action protagonists in films, such as THE TERMINATOR, THELMA AND LOUISE, or SILENCE OF THE LAMBS? What problems surround the construction of a female action heroine in contemporary cinema?

7) One of the most striking elements of the film is that it raises but avoids the issue of heterosexual romance. Where does this issue surface in the film? How might we have expected a Hollywood film to have resolved this question? What kinds of social units does Cameron propose as an alternative to the heterosexual couple as a means of bringing about closure in the film? How have later films in the ALIENS series dealt with this issue?

8) Both Bishop and Newt are cast as androgynous figures in the film; they are associated with both masculine and feminine traits. What moments in the film link them to non-gender-specific traits? What might these characters contribute to the gender politics of ALIENS?

9) Given our discussion of science fiction's portrayal of the alien last week, it seems important to spend some time reflecting on the image of the alien in this film. How might it compare with 1950s images of the alien, such as those in STARSHIP TROOPERS or "My Sister's Brother?" What aspects of the alien get special emphasis here? What frames of reference does the film

give us for thinking about the alien? How might an understanding of the anxieties surrounding the alien contribute to or complicate our understanding of the film's gender politics?

10) James Cameron often gets portrayed as an action filmmaker more interested in special effects than story or character. However, the power of this film hinges on the complex grid of characters which Cameron constructs. What devices does he use to link action elements with character issues? What roles, for example, does the device of the head-mounted camera play in intensifying our focus on character responses to the events that are occurring? How does the film's structure enable us to build complex relationships with characters while maintaining a rapid pace and a consistent level of suspense? How might this issue about characters vs. special effects parallel the evolution of literary science fiction?

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