Aliens, Freud And The Unconscious
Aliens, Freud and the Unconscious: An examination of the film Alien
Introduction
What does one get when they mix the creativity of film-making and the unconscious imagination? Alien, the film. This exciting science-fiction film was directed by Ridley Scott in 1979. This film captures and possesses an array of qualities, all of which contribute to its overall success. In fact, one of the more predominant qualities that exists in this film is the use of suspense and surprises to encompass the illusion of fantasy. Thus, the purpose of this analysis is to describe some of these qualities and illustrate how they, together, create an exceptional mise-en-scene and ultimately provide the audience with endless opportunities to become engaged, …show more content…
The key difference here is that with suspense comes anxiety, merely due to the fact that the audience is expecting something to happen but they are uncertain as to what exactly (Barsam & Monahan, 132). However, surprise occurs when an ordinary scene is taking place and out of nowhere, unexpectedly something occurs. An excellent example of this is the previously described ‘alien bursting through a crew-members chest’ scene. This causes a very short-lived emotional response which ultimately intrigues the audience and leaves them wanting more future …show more content…
Well, it is actually quite simple. One of the theories that Freud maintained was in respect to emotions and he never, “…abandoned his central premise that emotions buried deep in the unconscious mind determine the basic motives and behavior patterns of human beings” (Smith, 169). Throughout the film Alien, the audience is repeatedly startled and sitting on the edge of their seat to see what will happen next. Naturally, this triggers emotions. Some may become scared and feel upset, while others become more fascinated and anxious. A good film will allow for these emotions to be felt by the audience as it demonstrates the film’s ability to really interact. What Freud argues is that these emotions lead to certain behaviors, including screaming, clinging to others, hiding behind blankets, crying and so forth. In the 1880’s Freud conducted studies and, “…traced intense fear and anxiety in adults to unconscious apprehensions of infants…” (Amith, 170). He further argues that these behaviors develop from our unconscious mind, meaning that if an individual can watch a film and demonstrate these behaviors it implies that the film has succeeded in fully interacting with its audience. In the case of Alien, this is exactly what takes place and indeed Scott did a great job in directing this film by ensuring that all the right elements were incorporated to create the
Introduction
What does one get when they mix the creativity of film-making and the unconscious imagination? Alien, the film. This exciting science-fiction film was directed by Ridley Scott in 1979. This film captures and possesses an array of qualities, all of which contribute to its overall success. In fact, one of the more predominant qualities that exists in this film is the use of suspense and surprises to encompass the illusion of fantasy. Thus, the purpose of this analysis is to describe some of these qualities and illustrate how they, together, create an exceptional mise-en-scene and ultimately provide the audience with endless opportunities to become engaged, …show more content…
The key difference here is that with suspense comes anxiety, merely due to the fact that the audience is expecting something to happen but they are uncertain as to what exactly (Barsam & Monahan, 132). However, surprise occurs when an ordinary scene is taking place and out of nowhere, unexpectedly something occurs. An excellent example of this is the previously described ‘alien bursting through a crew-members chest’ scene. This causes a very short-lived emotional response which ultimately intrigues the audience and leaves them wanting more future …show more content…
Well, it is actually quite simple. One of the theories that Freud maintained was in respect to emotions and he never, “…abandoned his central premise that emotions buried deep in the unconscious mind determine the basic motives and behavior patterns of human beings” (Smith, 169). Throughout the film Alien, the audience is repeatedly startled and sitting on the edge of their seat to see what will happen next. Naturally, this triggers emotions. Some may become scared and feel upset, while others become more fascinated and anxious. A good film will allow for these emotions to be felt by the audience as it demonstrates the film’s ability to really interact. What Freud argues is that these emotions lead to certain behaviors, including screaming, clinging to others, hiding behind blankets, crying and so forth. In the 1880’s Freud conducted studies and, “…traced intense fear and anxiety in adults to unconscious apprehensions of infants…” (Amith, 170). He further argues that these behaviors develop from our unconscious mind, meaning that if an individual can watch a film and demonstrate these behaviors it implies that the film has succeeded in fully interacting with its audience. In the case of Alien, this is exactly what takes place and indeed Scott did a great job in directing this film by ensuring that all the right elements were incorporated to create the