BASC 201 - Alien Movies
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- miscellaneous
- robots &c
- human responses to alien behaviour
- behavioural opposites of aliens
- IC historical context
- decline in prestige and competence of the presidency; search for a strong and benevolent alien symbolic of search for a respectable and trustworthy president to direct US technocracy; 1980 election of Reagan, the kindly father figure, supports this view
- economic and social stratifications
- more important to daily life in industrialized societies
- reaffirmation of trad. family and religious values
- most EC films have threat posed by aliens to monogamous nuclear family; romantic subplots, dated depictions, women serving food to men; aliens burning churches, but sin is always punished; fornicating teenagers etc. rural yay, cities nay
- alienating effect of modern society
- linked with films that stress small-town values; pod people represent the worst of modern, regimented society
- important limitation
- scifi films are costly to make, and so their financial success depends on a greater level of public subscription than books or other less expensive media, as well as drama films that are not dependent on special effects; collective sentiments are more consistetly represented in these films as a result
- ameboids
- formless blobs of protoplasm with no recognizable organ systems; rare;just want to eat humans
- Creeping Terror
- crawls through lover's lands, etc, eats anyone who falls down in front of it
- threat of totalitarian state
- corporate state in oppositiion to individ; symbolic of real social relations in America, longstanding ambicalence towards teh state. 72% EC plots.
- depersonalization
- increased from EC to IC; "trust's a tough thing to come by these days" The Thing, 82 remake. depicts how little you can trust your friends and neighbours in modern urban society
- military threat to society
- anti-militarism about 25% in major and minor films
- threat of the totalitarian state; diff between EC and IC
- anti-state sentiment v. strong in EC, nearly absent in IC, a few actively praise the gov't
- LC: war of the worlds remake
- massive, technologically invincible alien devastating earth; gov't fights bravely, promotes family values, divorced father learns parenting and then gets back with his wite
- recent themes
- media conglomerates have supressed theme of alien as metaphor for US govt, instead fostering generalised dread of outsiders, amplifying politcally harmless themes such as divorce and parenting.
- LC: Independence Day
- departure from established metaphors; technologically superior evil aliens mounting invasion of earth, herocially defeated by US Air Force; poster from the film is alien ship vaporising the white house; reflects deep-seated fear of powerful enemy, but no such enemy was present
- individual myths
- may originate within a particular stratum or class, and may characterize other classes as alien
- monstrous humanoids
- basic bipedal form with threatening features; tend to be oriented towards world domination, using earth as resources (eg blood or women); sometimes military invasions but also more limited aims;
- intermediate cycle
- rise of the good alien; only 19% evil (mostly humanoids)
- single organ systems
- inevitably the brain; use psychic powers to take over the world
- antielitism
- only in one of 7 major films, but present in most minor; arrogant, opportunistic intellectuals portrayed
- critical view of scifi
- formulaic trash, poorly made, illogical in plot, aimed at thrill seekers.
- individualism
- value of individual most important EC theme. individual rights > collective; collective action always fails
- ambivalence towards the state
- low-level criticism of the state, good cop bad cop; unqualified support of the govv't rare (War of the Worlds)
- threat of technology
- creeping terror; alien is a machine. others; alien is in possession of superior machines. one major film, 8 of 25 minor films
- mythological characters
- exhibit extremes of physical appearance and behaviour; their nature and actions constitute a cuture's defn of humanity or inhumanity
- major vs minor: totalitarian theme
- only 3 of 7 major films dealth with it, while 80% of minor films dealt with it; nearly half low-budget films had malevolent chief exec
- opposition to the totalitarian state
- expressed in two ways: overt critique of totalitarian behaviour, by US gov't or invading power, or covert use of alien as Chief Exec, malevolently controlling police, army, influential scientists, political leaders
- malevolency
- 25/29 monstrous forms malevolent; humanoids had a nearly 80% chance of being benevolent or neutral
- leader
- 15 of 32 films EC have recognizable leader who exercises absolute control over any other aliens and usually one or more humans; scientists, military, police, w/e. 65% of aliens evil, 77% of leaders evil
- mistaken impression; opposition to the totalitarian state is against communism
- while alien execs establish control over scientists (commie subversion of academia), ET's technological superiority, alien control over police and army as well, blue-collar workers shown as victims; danger of internal totalitarianism of American state
- superman
- alien and gov't work together to fight crime
- redef'n of family and moral values
- v. important, dominant theme of ET and Close Encounters; draw from religious themes of UFO cultists, who are clearly seeking new gods in the form of benevolent, technologically and pschyically powerful aliens
- conclusion
- material and social conditions of society have primacy in the formation of myths
- antimilitarism, anti-elitism
- similar proportions EC and IC
- LC: Signs
- christian minister, wracked by doubt; slays aliens which helps him regain faith in God. paranoia of outsiders, strong religious message; resonated iwth audeinces after 911
- non-monstrous humanoids
- basic bipedal form, benign features; common, variable in behaviour; appeal for the end of the Arms Race (EC) --> Day the Earth Stood Still,
- monstrous non-humanoids
- distinct form that is not bipedal human; It that conquered the world, creepig terror, the thing, Martians; malevolent, one exception in I came from outer space; goals are world conquest/extermination
- IC new themes
- integrating immigrants; racism and bigotry that influences amaerican conceptions of hispanic immigrants; class stratification, gap between rich and poor widening
- inter-ethnic and internaitonal relations
- important concerns in industrialized societies
- threat of technology
- ratio identical to EC only 4 IC films had strong techno themes, one optimistic the other threatening
- major vs. minor: general
- major stress individualism and family/religious values, whereas minors are much more critical of state, elites and technology. more blue-collar than middle class.
- family and religious values: IC
- majority of films, main characters are divorced or separated or living in sin; reaffirm ideology of romantic love, but recognise that norms have changed since 1950