Long Live the Xenomorph Queen

The mere mention of the legendary sci-fi movie “Alien” is enough to set any space nerd off their rocker, and rattling about the matriarchal hierarchy of “Xenomorphs”. It suggests a nomadic lifestyle, one often observed within early human society, while also drawing powerpoint presentations to celebrate the “M41A Pulse Rifle” as the pinnacle of 1980s sci-fi design.

If one were to take this conversation to another crowd, feminists would praise the Alien movie as the perfect portrayal of the struggles a woman faces in day–to–day life, brought to life with dramatic effects and paraded in razor-sharp quality across the silver screen.

The seventies were right at the heart of the second wave of feminism. Women were once again fighting for reform. Stepping off the platform built by the female leaders before them, women were fighting for equality in workplaces, reproductive rights, and challenging gender roles.

It was the perfect time for Ridley Scott to direct one of the most iconic sci-fi movies of cinematic history that would leave future aspiring directors scrambling to catch up to him.

Equal parts thriller and horror, wrapped up in the sci-fi genre, “Alien” had the hallmarks of a box office sensation. 

Using the tried and true method of a high–stakes situation by locking a group of brilliant but misogynistic astronauts aboard a space vessel with no hope of safety reaching them in time. 

At least not until several light–years later, which was plenty of time for the onboard alien to lavishly pick off one member of the group at a time with gruesomely bloody deaths that would sear itself across movie screens.

The movie takes place in the year 2122, with a group of astronauts aboard the space vessel Nostromo embarking on a mission to investigate a mysterious signal when an alien boards the ship and all hell breaks loose.

While delivering the audience with this action-promising plot line that would guarantee success, director Ridley Scott took one more step, intentionally or unintentionally, that would solidify the Alien movie as a parable of feminism.

The movie offers a deeper take with veiled messages regarding reproductive rights and discreetly challenging gender roles, as well as taking into account the inequality women faced in the workforce. 

By casting a woman as Ripley, the main protagonist, the movie was already promising to be different, if not even better than other movies within the sci-fi genre. Women were mostly used as eye-candy, and the only way they would benefit the plot was by playing the role of the disposable love interest.

When the directors were originally writing the script, they had yet to settle on the gender of the character. Even the name, Ripley, in itself is androgynous. Whether casting actress Sigourney Weaver as the lead was intentional or not, feminists and nerds alike have praised the choice.

Unlike previous female roles in sci-fi movies at the time, Ripley was portrayed as cool-headed and calculating, like her male colleagues, at times making better choices than they did. 

Ripley immediately ordered quarantine when one of the crew members, Kane, was infected by the Xenomorphs.

As the highest–ranking officer at the time, her commands should have been executed immediately. 

However, Ash had challenged her authority as well as basic safety procedures. He overrides her orders by bringing Kane aboard the vessel, which triggers the chain of violent events and brutal deaths following the invasion of the Xenomorphs. 

This blunt defiance of a woman, regardless of official rank, mirrors the workplace realities women faced from the 1970s to this day.

Ripley clearly has the rank as well as the experience to issue an order that would follow basic safety procedures, but is ignored because she was a woman. 

The message of this pivotal point of the plot is clear: when a woman’s judgment is ignored, the consequences are dire.

Ripley also challenged gender roles. In the iconic scene when she finally managed to defeat the Xenomorph queen, [adjust the sentence from here]. 

Dressed in a space suit that made it difficult to distinguish her gender, as well as tying her hair up to resemble a more masculine style, which is a common action in movies when a female character has to step up and control the situation. She stood head to head with the notorious monster that was responsible for the deaths of her entire crew.

Armed with a harpoon, a symbol of traditional masculine power, her act of penetrating the Xenomorph was often viewed as a metaphor for sexual assault survivors taking revenge on their attackers. Since the Xenomorph attacks its victims through penetrations, the scene of her defeat was viewed as a symbolic fight back against the trauma of sexual aggression.

The Xenomorph in itself is an image shouting feminist ideals. Its method of reproduction is horrific and gruesome, strangely similar to the horrors of childbirth.

Organisms would launch themselves towards the face of their victims, giving them the name “Facehuggers”, before wrapping their tail around their host’s neck, effectively constricting their airway and rendering them unconscious.

The Facehuggers would then force an ovipositor, a tube-like organ used by some female insects to lay eggs, down the throat of their host to implant an embryo. 

All the while ensuring their host has enough oxygen and keeping them alive long enough for the Facehuggers to enter their next stage of development as Chestbursters.

True to their name, the birth of a Chestburster is violent and bloody, bursting out of their host’s ribcage while simultaneously tearing through several vital organs and effectively killing their host. 

The iconic scene was a shock to audiences seeing it for the first time on the silver screen; it was the stuff of nightmares. Yet the similarities to oral sex and childbirth are overwhelming. 

Strangely enough, the most horrific method of infection that the male mind could conjure would be similar to the terror that women would be subjected to. 

The single scene that marked Alien as the feminist icon of sci-fi was loaded with symbolism.

Ripley would repeatedly be the voice of reason throughout the movie, much to the dismay of her male colleague, Ash. At the climax of their animosity, Ash lashed out, forcing a magazine down her throat in an attempt on her life.

His weapon of choice, a pornographic magazine, was the perfect symbol of the history of silencing women by objectifying them as an accessory for sexual appeal.

Ripley is one of the most famous female characters of cinematic history, as one of the first women to have the lead role. She invented the “Last Girl Standing” character trope, the lone survivor who bested the antagonist with her intelligence rather than brute strength.

Alien would not only be a success in the sci-fi movie genre, but it would also be a cultural victory for feminists and pave the way for other strong female representation in movies.