The 'ALIENS' Metaphor

Ripley: You know, Burke, I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage.

I recently watched the 1986 James Cameron flick, ALIENS, for possibly the 30th time. It's perhaps not entirely accurate to say that ALIENS is my favorite film, in the sense of enjoying it. I'm not sure it is enjoyable as much as it is compelling, grim, brutal and ultimately, realistic. Because James Cameron was behind it, it has that practical mechanical dynamic that distinguishes all his films - remember The Abyss, Terminator, Titanic, and soon, AVATAR. All Cameron's flicks, at some point, involve machine tech. But he also tells a damn good story about what happens to people who misunderstand, or make arrogant assumptions, at the helm of some of these machines. That is what is compelling.

Burke: [Talking about the facehuggers] Those specimens, are worth millions to the bio-weapons corporation. If you're smart, we can both come out of it as heroes and we'll be set up for life.

One of the main themes in ALIENS is that of the corrupt and greedy CORPORATION, which is referred to time and again as 'The Company'. If you think the idea of the corrupt and greedy corporation is a cliche, you might want to catch the latest news on real world companies like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, AIG - in fact any fairly large company with shareholders and a stated strategy to turn a profit.

Another theme in ALIENS is hubris, and arrogance. Almost everyone is overtaken by this, rather than its opposite: modesty, humility, respect and caution. Both the Corporation and it's pawn, the expendable military, fall victim to arrogance, and the driver of this arrogance is one simple thing. Greed. Ring a bell? The pursuit of that greed, and the enslavement, the effective transformation of human beings into utilitarians - objects geared toward a specific means, a means toward a specific end - is horrifying to behold.

In ALIENS, one of the earlier scenes shows Ripley [Sigourney Weaver] hauled in front of a company tribunal, chaired by Van Leeuwen. He says: "You freely admit to detonating the engines of and thereby destroying an M-Class star-freighter. A rather expensive piece of hardware...
INSURANCE INVESTIGATOR: Forty-two million in adjusted dollars. That's minus payload, of course.
The result of the hearing is that she - Ripley - is stripped of her rank, and ordered to undergo psyche evaluations for six months. Quite a reward for surviving the 57 years in hypersleep. Of course the COMPANY doesn't care about anything other than their bottom line. This explains why Ripley is re-instated, no bad feelings, when it appears she may be able to help the company's bottom line [they suspect, after all, that what she said about the aliens was true, despite publicly disputing it, having her repeat the details several times and firing her after getting the information they want].

Burke, the loyal company man introduces himself in the beginning as:

Burke: I'm Burke. Carter Burke. I work for the company. But don't let that fool you, I'm really an okay guy.

When the alien shit is hitting the fan, the colony has been devastated, the military unit half killed, and their survival up for grabs, [Ripley and Newt just having survived Burkes' attempt to have them 'infected' with an alien], Ripley confronts Burke as follows:

Ripley: They "will" know about it, Burke, from me. Like they'll know that you are responsible for the deaths of 158 colonists here.
Burke: You're wrong.
Ripley: I just read the colony log. Dated 0-6-1-2-7-9 signed Burke Carter J. You sent them to that ship and you didn't warn them. Why didn't you warn them, Burke?
Burke: Okay. What if that ship didn't even exist, huh didn't you ever think about that? I didn't know. I went in and made a major security issue out of it, and everybody steps in, and the Administrator steps in., and I made a decision and it was a bad call, Ripley, it was a bad call.
Ripley: Bad call?
[Grabs Burke by his vest]
Ripley: These people are dead Burke! Don't you have any idea what you have done here? I 'm gonna make sure they nail you right to the wall for this, you're not gonna sleaze your way out of this one. Right to the wall.
Burke: You know Ripley, I was hoping that you would be smarter than this.
Ripley: I'm happy to disappoint you.

The result of all the shenanigans and backstabs is that out of hundreds, 3 humans beings survive, and a synthetic human that is dismembered. The 3 human survivors are a little girl - Newt - Ripley, who has a strong maternal instinct to save her [in contrast to the ALIENS' maternal hive instincts] and an injured Corporal Hicks. No company interests survive. Ironically, Ripley is instrumental in trying to protect the facility but an explosion in the facility sets off a nuclear meltdown. One of the strongest human emotions is the mother-daughter bond that develops between Ripley and Newt. During the horrific epologue of the flick, Cameron acknowledges the depth of this bond by having Ripley refer to Newt as 'baby' and Newt, who is injured and not entirely compus mentus, calls Ripley 'mommy'.

The juxtaposing ofthe mother-offspring instinct with the survival instinct of all characters, but principally Ripley and the little girl, is what makes ALIENS one of the most gripping and powerful cinematic experiences out there.

It is interesting to contrast the ALIENS voracious habits with the human beings equally voracious greed. Both species demonstrate a willingness to sacrifice their own kind towards a higher/darker motive. For the ALIENS it is survival, for the humans it is greed, use in bioweapons. Both species intend on a parasitic relationship in terms of the other, which echoes the CORPORATIONS intentions for its drones.

Perhaps the most darkly fascinating aspect of ALIENS, and also each permutation of it, is the instrumental use of REALITY. In each instalment, Ripley is the agent of REALITY, calmly, quietly informing her minders of the terrors in store. Naturally she is laughed at, vilified, comforted, or mocked:

Vasquez: Hey, Mira. Who's Snow White?
Ferro: She's supposed to be some kinda consultant. Apparently she saw an alien once.
Hudson: Whoopee-fuckin'-do.

It is the reluctance, which stems from the companies arrogance, and the companies top men, to either accept or to fully realise [that is acknowledge or communicate] the reality of the situation that creates a misperception and thus, fosters systemic collapse in each scenario. Part of this reluctance is based, once again, on the greed motive. If the community operating in the companies interest, can be kept in the dark about the true nature of things, the company stands to profit. The profit motive emerges as more important than any number of human lives, or even ancillary human interests. Everything is expendable and secondary to the profit motive. In every permutation, I reiterate, there is a systemic collapse, an almost complete loss of company interests. This is because profits are based on human enterprise, and though you cannot sell human beings for money [conventionally at least] human beings are instrumental in making money. Thus valuing human beings is part of sustaining a revenue stream, counterintuitive as it may be to some companies. The opposite is also true.

For those human beings in the front lines of the world, whether following company orders or at the mercy of them, it - reality - can be a horrible thing to witness.

Hudson: Oh dear Lord Jesus, this ain't happening, man... This can't be happening, man! This isn't happening!

What is happening, now, in the real world of 2009:
- a world swine flu pandemic
- global financial collapse
- energy crunch
- growing levels of crime, hunger, disorder, joblessness
- overpopulation
- system collapse [exacerbated by one or a number of crisis which may or may not include nuclear holocaust, climate chaos, war etc].

What is behind this? And what is driving it forward? The Company. And greed. What is the release, the answer, the solution, salvation from this? Simple. Reality.