Attack of the Alien!

Analysis of Authors

"There stands first the alien's motive for inflicting violence upon the human beings who encounter it. For it harbours no general or specific malice against the human race such as, or against the crew of the Nostromo" (Mulhall 4). This is what Mulhall talks about in his article and it is something that I thought about while watching the movie. I did not really understand why the alien was just murdering the crew. It never talks about or shows the alien eating them or using them for any food source or resource. It just shows the alien massacring the crew one at a time. "In such narratives, a group of character is introduced, usually in a limited locale, and then killed, one by one or in small groups, by a hostile force" (Thompson 1). This is Thompson talking about the shooting-gallery plot. I definitely thought that Alien was a shooting-gallery plot, the crew was introduced with almost no character development and before you know it there are getting killed by the alien. "The casting is quite ingenious, in that it avoids using stars who would be obviously expected to survive to the end" (Thompson 2). I also thought this while watching the movie, at first you think that the main character is Captain Dallas, but then he gets killed. You also think that it is either between Ash or Parker because they play such big roles in the film too, but Parker gets killed close to the end and Ash is more of a villain and he is also killed in a way since he is a robot. I knew that Ripley was going to be one of the main characters but was not sure that she would be the main and only surviving crew member. I knew that she would be one of the main members, because she was the most hardcore, outspoken member. She was also a good leader but an antagonist at the same time. Her leadership abilities and ability to act well in stressful, hostile situations help to keep her survive and kill the alien.

















Ripley leading the charge against the alien.

Movie Breakdown

The only real criticism I have about the movie is that there are too many times of complete silence and nothing going on at all. There should have been a better editing job in the movie. Though there were times that the silence made the movie good. Though sometimes the silence help to make the movie more creep and suspenseful, the score of the film when used I thought was used very well. It helped to make the movie scarier and darker, and you knew when something bad was going to happen like someone getting killed by the alien. The lighting of the film was also very effective in that it set the mood for a darker, scarier, and outer space horror film. In the film the cinematography was done very well. Every shot of the long dark hallways on the ship also made the movie such a good movie. It created suspense in that you felt like you might see the alien or that if they walk down the hallway then they could be killed by the alien or anything could be down there. The long hallway scenes made the movie mysterious in a way too in that you had no idea what could happen down that hallway if you dare to go down it. Overall the film was put together very well especially for the technology they had at the time the film was released. I give the movie two thumbs up!











Long dark hallway on the Nostromo.

Mulhall, Stephen. “Kane's Son, Cain's Daughter.” On Film. London:

Routledge, 2002. 12-32. Print.

Scott, Ridley, dir. Alien. 1979. Twentieth Century Fox, 2009.

Thompson, Kristin. "Alien." Storytelling in the New Hollywood.

Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1999. 283-306. Print.