Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

'Aliens': Mothers, Monsters and Marines

2010; Issue: 59 Linguagem: Inglês

1449-857X

Thomas Caldwell,

Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction

James Cameron's 1986 film 'Aliens' contains a fascinating exploration of the way Western culture has traditionally aligned feminine characteristics with nature while masculine characteristics have been aligned with civilisation. However, far from the more clear-cut representation of this dichotomy that Cameron would later explore in 'Avatar' (2009), where feminine/ nature equalled good and masculine/ civilisation equalled bad, Aliens features a more complex exploration, presenting two extremes of femininity with masculinity caught in the crossfire. With the alien queen as the monstrous mother facing off against Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as the nurturing mother, the hyper masculine marines are at best rendered ineffective and at worst killed or used as incubators. A further complexity is added by representing the ruthless corporate interests at play in 'Aliens' as more reflective of the values of the parasitic aliens than those of most of the human characters.