'A Psychosexual Analysis Of The Movie Alien'

Ridley Scott couldn’t have timed a terrifying outer space movie with an unstoppable Alien any better. In a time when our society was experiencing a declining economy, political mayhem and a gender role revolution, Ridley addressed his audience in a brilliant manner. Alien stands as a groundbreaking movie that not only tested movie genres but also tugged on the number one heartstring, which was a seemingly dark and gloomy future of mankind. Incorporating a throbbing temp track, psychosexual imagery implications and threatening sound effects, Alien (1979) attacks and fuels the 70s decade fire of comprehending the fears of the unknown and uncertain rapid spread of technology, sexual disease and feminism.
In the scene where Ash malfunctions and
Aside from the constant fear of being disintegrated by nuclear warfare, Americans were scared of the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and the realization of the potentially severe impact on our population. The idea of the Alien herself was an “infection” and from the very beginning when Ripley insisted on keeping Kane quarantined, Ash contributed to this infection boarding the ship and killing off everyone expect for Ripley. The audiences in the 70s and 80s were able to resonate with the idea of quarantining and destroying an infection. When Ash attacks Ripley we see yet another violent rape connotation as he attempts to choke Ripley with a rolled up magazine simulating forceful oral rape. This attempted oral rape by Ash on the only woman aboard ending unsuccessfully is an attack at the male viewer. Each male crew member who were killed by the Alien, were victims of malicious rape which impregnated them and served as hosts for its continued survival. This technique was used to challenge the horror genre’s common trend of raping women and generate an indescribable fear in the male viewer of empowering a woman as the protagonist in the greatest era of Feminism and women