The Alien Inside of Us

                When discussing Alien in class the idea that movie’s monsters are simply allegorical references to our own fears was hinted at and was consequently stuck in my head. Initially, I didn’t see very far past the shell of a horror movie that ascribed to its genre: scary movies. Upon viewing it a second time, though, certain thematic points became much clearer.  I’d tried to follow along with the generally sexually driven theme that had been hinted at in class, but didn’t feel as if I found much of an overarching purpose behind it; obviously certain parts clearly were sexually driven, but I never felt that I could see a larger unifying drive behind these scenes in that light. For example, the scene where the Alien is first presented to us as a face-sucking entity on the face of the stranded astronaut; the reference to fellatio is far from subtle, but I also saw the value in this scene as portraying the Alien as, simultaneously, sustaining and draining the life force from him.

           In this way the classic notion of Alien probing is put onto the Alien; for the most part the Alien's main mode of destruction is through probing. The comparisons can go even deeper, though, when thinking about what was the vehicle through which the crewmates came to face these issues; and the vehicle is "Mother", a spaceship owned by the Company with ulterior motives to those onboard. By placing the parasitic role on both the Alien and the Company, our inherent fear of being taken advantage of is exploited in the explicit and sexual senses. Similar to the mode in which the Company has used there lives expendably in the name of its own advancement, so too has the Alien acted parasitically by eliminating the crew in the name of its continued advancement. The entire theme of advancement in the name of all else is made clear by the cut throat nature of the mission in which they'd embarked, as made clear when they were initially arguing about what the fair compensation for their work would be; only for them to be told that it was out of their hands and beyond them, in the same way the mission as a whole was out of their hands and beyond them. Their mission wasn't one of status or intrinsic, goodwill value. Rather those onboard were there for the same reason the ship that was taking them was, profiteering.
    

Fading into the Sunset in Sunshine

            In Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, the powerhouse of our universe, the Sun, is dying and a team of astronauts are sent to restart it and keep sustained the potential for life in the universe. The movie presents an interesting situation that contributes to our ability to analyze and learn about the characters by putting each into this unbelievably pressure-filled scenario. Literally, the weight of the world as they know it is on their shoulders; this is made clear when Mace points out just how isolated their situation is that they’d been alone long before communication with Earth was lost. The impeding doom associated with their isolation is underscored by the motif throughout Sunshine in which the ship is constantly seen hurdling towards the Sun whenever a step back is taken and the ship is viewed against the backdrop (an interesting analogy for how hopeless their entire mission feels when taking a step back and observing).

             The ways in which the characters respond to this is our best way of learning about the characters. For example Trey, the mathematician, in the heat of this pressure cracks. As we discussed in class, the duality of opposite concepts is what truly allows for our understanding; without one, the other cannot be fully grasped. In this way the frailty of mind of Trey and the cowardice of Harvey allow us to understand the coming of age of Capa as exemplified through his heroism. Initially when we are introduced to Capa he is a timid character who is reluctant to take responsibility when he was most informed and best suited to decide as to what course their trek would take, this would eventually change.

            Those who accept responsibility within the world of Sunshine seem to be rewarded when they make the ultimate sacrifice. All of the crew onboard the Icarus are martyrs sent to save Earth, but the true hopelessness of the situation is not pushed on the crew until the initial decision by Capa is made. As the movie makes clear, the decision was one of complete chance, a toss-up. From here on out, those who accept their role in the following events are relieved of their role in a tranquil state of apparent bliss; one that is beyond description as Kaneda shows us. Where as those who fight it are not given such a peaceful exit; they aren’t simply embraced into the light as Searle and Capa eventually are. Capa’s progression from the reluctant decision-maker to the final, ultimate decision-maker is an underscore for my take on the purpose of the movie: highlighting the importance of virtue and heroism in the face of hopelessness even when repercussions are far out of sight.