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featherynscaleSaw Alien last night on the big screen with the rest of the Trinity. I don't know how it happened, but none of us screamed like a little girl at any point during the film, which I think was pretty good, as I was fully expecting to.
I still crawl out of my very skin when the face-hugger jumps out of the egg... the rest of the film isn't so bad. Once the alien has reached adult monster size, it doesn't bother me at all. What does bother me is the texture of the film - Giger in three dimensions makes me feel a little ill, and the fact that everything, everywhere is so ...wet... *twitches*
Anyway, on further reflection, it's a wonder that any of us who saw this film at a formative age were ever able to have sex at all without serious dysfunction.
You don't notice this stuff when you're ten, twelve, but the really alarming bits of this film are all about somebody's fear of fellatio... with the face-hugger, you can pass it off as fear of pregnancy (and yeah, this is probably a big part of why I find the idea of pregnancy to be so grotesque), but later in the film, Ash rolling up a girlie magazine and stuffing it in Ripley's mouth to choke her? Yeah.
Anyway, we all enjoyed being frightened, sickened, and offended, which is not something that I think really bears close examination, so I'll write it off as vicarious joy-at-survival, and move on.
But nobody was going to bed after that, so we had to sit up and watch Chocolat on DVD as a sort of therapy. I hadn't seen it before, and I have to say, I approve. I tend to approve of most films with Johnny Depp in them (with the notable exception of The Astronaut's Wife, which, due to aforementioned issues about pregnancy I refuse to even watch), but also I approve of chocolate with chili pepper therein, and of hedonism in general, so on the whole, good therapy.
No screaming psychosexual nightmares to report.
I still crawl out of my very skin when the face-hugger jumps out of the egg... the rest of the film isn't so bad. Once the alien has reached adult monster size, it doesn't bother me at all. What does bother me is the texture of the film - Giger in three dimensions makes me feel a little ill, and the fact that everything, everywhere is so ...wet... *twitches*
Anyway, on further reflection, it's a wonder that any of us who saw this film at a formative age were ever able to have sex at all without serious dysfunction.
You don't notice this stuff when you're ten, twelve, but the really alarming bits of this film are all about somebody's fear of fellatio... with the face-hugger, you can pass it off as fear of pregnancy (and yeah, this is probably a big part of why I find the idea of pregnancy to be so grotesque), but later in the film, Ash rolling up a girlie magazine and stuffing it in Ripley's mouth to choke her? Yeah.
Anyway, we all enjoyed being frightened, sickened, and offended, which is not something that I think really bears close examination, so I'll write it off as vicarious joy-at-survival, and move on.
But nobody was going to bed after that, so we had to sit up and watch Chocolat on DVD as a sort of therapy. I hadn't seen it before, and I have to say, I approve. I tend to approve of most films with Johnny Depp in them (with the notable exception of The Astronaut's Wife, which, due to aforementioned issues about pregnancy I refuse to even watch), but also I approve of chocolate with chili pepper therein, and of hedonism in general, so on the whole, good therapy.
No screaming psychosexual nightmares to report.
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Psycho, sexual, nightmare.
Date: 2003-11-14 10:36 am (UTC)The Alien, particularly in the first movie (I'd have to rewatch the sequels to see if it still fits) is characterized more as a sexual predator than a serial killer/animal. With the exception of the chestburster scene (obvious birth reference), there's almost no blood in the entire movie. There are however tons of dripping, slimy, mucusoid shots of phallic/vaginal objects, and the aforementioned violative imagery (the oral rape and attempted death-by-girlie-mag, among many others). The Alien stalks its prey leisurely - it could have taken them on in fair combat, let's be honest, but it chose not to. It seems to take great delight in its prey's fear, more than the actual killing. Lambert's and Parker's deaths are drawn out, Brett's abduction (and impregnation) is purposeful instead of manic, and the way it stows away and uncoils itself in the shuttle at the end is almost condescending. It doesn't even bother killing Ripley when it has a chance on the shuttle, but sneaks up behind her.
Only twice do you really see it 'angry': when it kicks the cat aside (obviously it didn't get the intended reaction from Jonesy, so it's unimpressed), and when Ripley burns it with the steam on the shuttle. In Aliens, you see the mother alien do this as well on the loading dock - it gives up on subtlety and reverts to sheer aggression. Every other time, it's grinning like a maniac... physiologically hard for it not to do, I grant you, but there's no screeching like when it is actually angry. The connection to Chocolat makes me think of the scene where Serge is trying to get his wife back, and when presented with Juliette Binoche's character blocking him, switches over to murderous hatred rather than oozing sliminess.
Maybe that's just me.
Re: Psycho, sexual, nightmare.
Date: 2003-11-14 11:22 am (UTC)Was just having the conversation about whether the same themes play in Aliens with Dan, but unfortunately, it's been too long since I've seen said film to reasonably say.
On first blush, this makes me think "Oh, well then, I should watch the rest of them and see"... But on further reflection, I figure I've probably done enough damage to my sexual functionality already this week just with the one film. So maybe next week.
You think too much.
Date: 2003-11-14 11:25 am (UTC)And there's a certain amount of "fear my cock" going on there, too. Most of her allies are women; the two most significant antagonists are big manly men with power (political or physical). By contrast, Johnny Depp is a femmie -- smaller, more intuitive, with eyeliner (if memory serves).
...
Sorry. Forgot my point. Ramble on.
Re: You think too much.
Date: 2003-11-14 11:40 am (UTC)Yup. Thinking about Johnny Depp in make-up tends to do that to me, too. (Memo to self - Self, please work on this typing thing... figure out which key is 'p' and which one is 'o'... Bad enough that the other day you typed a note calling people 'my herpes' as opposed to 'my heroes', but if he's going to have to be 'Johnny Depo' regularly, I may just quit on you - and then you're on your own, babe.)
Anyway. Yeah, Chocolat was chosen for its positive sexual imagery and intimations... sort of an Alien antidote.
Re: antagonism, though, I thought that the conflicts between Vianne and the Comte and Vianne and Serge were less interesting than those between Vianne and Caroline (over the little boy) and Vianne and Roux (the sparring that went on about "lovely, but not my favorite"). Fighting the Big Men (tm) just seemed too easy for her. (And also I just eat up the whole sexually-charged sparring thing, so that may not be that important in the film to anybody but me.)
*shrug* Fun film all the way around. I approve of it.
Fun film all the way around.
Date: 2003-11-14 12:06 pm (UTC)