Study of the Gender Representations within the Aliens Series

This study employed a detailed examination of and comparison between and among each of the four films within the Alien series to explore and demonstrate distinct differences in gender representation in the series. This study has also determined that there exists a relationship between these differing gender representations and concurrent changes in the gender norms of films created for the primary target audience the United States with secondary international audiences. This determination was aided by a detailed examination of the gender norms in multiple genres including science fiction, action, horror, and hybrid mixtures of these three. In addition, gender representations in other films contemporaneous with each film in the Alien series were examined in order to provide an additional basis of comparison for the gender representations within the Alien series. In all cases, each of the Alien series films was compared to films made during the same historical timeframe.


Throughout the making of Alien ( 1979) Scott repeatedly referred to 2001: A Space
Odyssey (1968) as a "masterpiece" (quoted in Landon, 1991, p. 93). Scott's admiration of Kubrick's film is also evident during the commentary on the making of Alien (1979) available on the 20 1 h anniversary DVD edition. Scott stated, "2001: A Space Odyssey ( 1968 was and still is one of my favorite films" (Alien DVD, 1999). Although Scott admired and borrowed from Kubrick's groundbreaking science fiction film, he had very little exposure to any other science fiction films with the exception of Star Wars ( 1977) which he viewed as "a kind of art movie" (quoted in Landon,1991, p. 93). This lack of experience with the science fiction genre may have freed Scott from any stringent cinematic formulas and enabled him to make a pseudo-science fiction film outside of the science fiction genre. 7 As stated before, Alien (1979) does not clearly belong to any one genre of film. While Ka win' s (1986) test concludes that Alien ( 1979) is a horror film it is difficult to distance viewers and reviewers from the fact that the film does take place in outer space and on distant planets (Arnold, 1979). This element of space travel essentially traps a horror film in the science fiction genre. The hybridity of the film genre Alien ( 1979) belongs to is not the focus of this study on gender representation, but it needs to be assessed in order to apply the discursive approach effectively to cultural criticism.
The discursive approach takes into account the historical specificity of an event such as the Alien (1979) film (Grossberg, 1984;Hall, 1991 ). Historical specificity refers to the meaning a signifier has at a moment in history. The signified meaning of the signifier is not constant. Therefore in order to analyze a text one must account for the text's meaning during the period it was created. For example, in order to assess the impact of the gender representation in Alien ( 1979) one must first acknowledge what the viewers and critics of the film compared Alien (1979) to during its debut and the gender norms within those films.
Utilizing this theoretical approach fosters the need to know which genre to compare Alien ( 1979) to considering the gender norms vary within different genres (Clover, 1992). Assuming that Alien (1979) is a hybrid genre film creates difficulties in assessing which gender norms to compare it to although understanding more about film genres as ever-evolving concepts may serve to answer these questions.
Martin Flanagan (1999) explores the notion of genre evolution utilizing 8 Baktin's concept that "genre is a narrative mode which is engaged in a 'truly historical struggle' taking place over centuries of literary development, and shaped by intertextual relations and interaction with human experience in the process of reception" (p.156). Flanagan (1999) argues that genres provide a narrative framework that allows films and filmmakers to convey a message that is narratively understandable and enjoyable to mass audiences. Consequently, in order to stay financially profitable film genres need to evolve in order to keep pace with audiences' definitions of an enjoyable film.
Eventually this evolution began to yield hybrid genres that contained at least two sets of narrative conventions. Science fiction films such as Star Wars (1977) and horror films such as Jaws (1975) set the stage for the hybrid genre evolution apparent in Alien (1979) and its sequels· by creating a renaissance for the science fiction and horror genres. Until the late 1970s the science fiction and horror genre films attracted primarily young male audiences in small numbers (Clover, 1992;Doherty, 1996;Flanagan, 1999). As the number of female and older male viewers increased mega-budget, merchandisable films became "a central economic fact, structuring all life, thought and practice in Hollywood" (Flanagan, 1999, p.159). Therefore, Alien's (1979) hybridization of both the science fiction and horror genres was a timely and financially profitable move.
Understanding and concluding that Alien ( 1979) is indeed a hybrid genre film supplies this study with the vital, yet up until this point, missing operational definition of the gender norm variable. Each genre within the Alien series followed a formula for gender representation and those formulas or gender norms will be used for comparison against the gender representations within the Alien series. For example, the gender norms of multiple genres during 1979 will be compared to the gender representations found in Alien (1979).

Gender Norms:
There are two dominant schools of thought on gender norms within the science fiction genre and each school is distinct in focus and conclusions. One group of scholars (Bell-Metereau, 1985;Doherty, 1996;Inness, 1999) determines the gender norms within the science fiction genre by analyzing the costuming, dialogue, and actions (or external evidence of gender) of each character for dominant personality traits associated with mascu1inity or submissive personality traits associated with femininity. For example, Doherty ( 1996) posits: In classical Hollywood cinema perhaps only the western outdid science fiction in its relegation of women to a peripheral and predictable status ... Barred from full admission to the upper echelons of the space crew, women entered as novelty and decoration, sometimes even filling the role of scientific expert in an erotically charged white-coated and horn-rimmed-glasses way.
Like Raquel Welch in the biological exploration film Fantastic Voyage (1966), the space bimbo filled out a tight-fitting uniform to distract and entice. Though a woman of science, she was destined to lose her composure and succumb to a sheltering masculine shoulder at a crucial moment (pp. 193-4). 10 In contrast, a second group of scholars (Balsamo, 2000;Doane, 1990;Haraway, 1991) primarily view the science fiction genre in terms of how futuristic technology replaces-and aliens simulate-sexual reproduction. Psychoanalytical scholars argue that man's replication of the reproduction process is either in response to male fears of the female's power to reproduce or "otherness" (Bundtzen, 2000;Doane, 2000). One should note that the "being" men create using technology generally turns on them in disastrous ways. For example the supercomputer, Hal, in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 is designed to keep the astronauts alive in space, entertain them, and complete their mission if they are incapacitated.
However, Hal's awareness of the dangerous and curious nature of the astronaut's mission causes Hal to malfunction killing most of the astronauts.
The psychoanalytical focus on biological sex differences leads some scholars to ignore external evidence of gender representation in favor of internal evidence of being genetically human. Doane ( 1990)  Freud's theories which promote a stronger focus on the sex or sexual relations characters have in science fiction films rather than the masculinity or femininity of the characters. Sobchack (1990) argues: Borrowing upon the psychoanalytical techniques of free association and dream analysis, such an approach should allow us to see how human sexuality and women return to the science fiction narrative in displaced and condensed forms .. .in their repressed and potent combination as a sign evoking male fear and desire-sex and women figure significantly, if covertly, in shaping the basic structure of the genre and initiating its major themes (p.104).
Sobchack's analysis of sex, women, and arguably the "basis structure of the [science fiction] genre" leads her to conclude, unlike Doherty, that gender norms within the genre are repressed. Sobchack (1990) states: Generally, then, in the various overt dramas of science fiction film, the nature and function of human heterosexuality are either muted or transformed. While there are numerous boy-meets-girl encounters across the galaxy and the genre, they tend to be chaste and safe in their dramatization and peripheral to narrative concernno matter when the films were made. One gets the feeling that they are included either to satisfy the vague demands of formula or to answer the unspoken charges of homosexuality which echo around the edges of the genre (p. 105). 12 For the purposes of this study, the psychoanalytical view of the science fiction genre will be examined only peripherally. The gender norms posited by Doherty ( 1996) and his colleagues will be applied to the Alien series of films and it's contemporaries. Therefore, a closer examination of what gender behaviors are expected of men and women in science fiction films is needed. Inness (1999) cites Jane Fonda's character in Barbarella (1968) as the standard for female roles and their personalities in science fiction genre films up to the 1980' s. Inness (1999) states: This job [Queen of the Galaxy] ... required Fonda to prance around in not much of anything and flaunt her body. Barbarella (1968) is typical of early science fiction films and novels, which frequently portrayed women as little more than curvaceous sex kittens, just waiting to seduce (or be rescued by) the next man who landed on their planet (p. 102). Bell-Metereau (1985) suggests that not only are women in science fiction genre films helpless, weak, and submissive but they are also "more often than not a hindrance at the crucial moment when the protagonist is trying to escape from or defeat the villains and monsters" (p.209). The submissive nature of women within this genre is made more obvious compared to the dominant attributes of the male characters. Doherty ( 1996) offers insight into gender norms by describing the difference in characters men and women were permitted to play in science fiction films. Doherty ( 1996) states: The sex roles are imbedded like concrete in the Eisenhower era ..
. Two of the stock characters in science fiction cinema-the pilot and the scientific expert-were male-only employment opportunities whose demands for vehicular skill and abstract reasoning disqualified the maladroit and hysterical female from command authority (p. 194).
Being aware of science fiction's genre formula for strong, male protagonists and weak, female victims, it is interesting that this genre eventually melded with horror in films such as Alien (1979). Horror genre films traditionally script female victims and male rescuers the protagonists of horror films have, since the mid-1970s, been primarily female (Clover, 1992).
Clover identifies the female protagonists of a horror genre film as a "Final Girl." Clover (1992) states: The image of the distressed female most likely to linger in memory is the image of the one who did not die: the survivor, or Final Girl.
She is the one who encounters the mutilated bodies of her friends and perceives the full extent of the proceeding horror and of her own peril; who is chased, cornered, wounded, whom we see scream, stagger, fall, rise, and scream again. She is abject terror personified. If her friends knew they were about to die only seconds before the event, the Final Girl lives with the knowledge for long minutes or hours. She alone looks death in the face, but she alone also finds the strength either to stay the killer long enough to be rescued (ending A) or to kill him herself (ending B). But in either case, from 1974 on, the survivor figure has been female (p.

35).
Clover 's ( 1992) analysis of the Final Girl phenomena attempts to explain how and why contemporary horror films cast women into the hero/survivor role against tradition and expectation. Clover (1992) argues: The functions of monster and hero are far more frequently represented by males and the function of victim far more garishly by females [in horror films]. The fact that female monsters and female heroes, when they do appear, are masculine in dress and behavior, and that male victims are shown in feminine postures at the moment of their extremity, would seem to suggest that gender inheres in the function itself-that there is something about the victim function that wants manifestation in a female, and something about the monster and hero functions that wants expression in a male. Sex, in this universe, proceeds from gender, not the other way around. A figure does not cry and cower because she is a woman; she is a woman because she cries and cowers. And a figure is not a psycho-killer because he is a man; he is a man because he is a psycho-killer (pp. 12-3). 15 Due to the power of gender representation to designate which sex will be cast into a role, the Final Girl concept becomes even more curious. Afterall, if the hero role needs a male actor, why would the protagonist of contemporary horror films be female? In the preceding quote Clover (1992) alludes to how female protagonists adopt masculine traits in order to survive convincingly. Clover (1992) later elaborates upon the masculine nature of the Final Girl: Her smartness, gravity, competence in mechanical and other practical matters, and sexual reluctance set her apart from the other girls and ally her, ironically, with the very boys she fears or rejects, not to speak of the killer himself. Lest we miss the point, it is spelled out in her name ... Marti [Hell Night (1981)] ... Laurie [Halloween (1978)], Stretch [Texas Chainsaw Massacre II (1986)].
By representing the Final Girl in a borderline masculine/androgynous way, horror filmmakers are able to offer their viewers a female protagonist that the primarily male audience (in the early 1970s) can relate to. Viewers identified with Jamie Lee Curtis' will to survive in Halloween (1978) so much that when Curtis' character is trapped in a closet with the killer just outside trying to get in, viewers did not question how a female victim could ingeniously reach for a coat hanger and bend it into a weapon to use against the killer (Clover, 1992). 16 Although horror genre filmmakers created female protagonists male viewers could identify with, they did not attempt to completely disrupt the stereotypical notions of gender representation. Frequently, in films such as Halloween (1978), filmmakers show the previously androgynous Final Girl in a state of undress. The purpose of this depiction Clover ( 1992) argues, " . .. serves to underscore her femaleness ... so the Final Girl's 'tits and scream' serve more or less continuously to remind us that she really is female-even as, and despite the fact that, she in the end acquits herself 'like a man'" (p. 58).
The early days of horror films offered viewers an image, "of the woman [victim in the film] under attack by the forces of evil. In films she is usually a beautiful woman with long hair wearing a dress with a low-cut, tight fitting bodice that may be torn in places" (Russell, 1998, p. 209

Examples of Gender Norms in the 1970s:
Prior to examining how Alien (1979) measures up to the gender norms within either the science fiction or horror genre, it would be useful to take a closer look at two films made in the late 1970s that encompass some or all of the norms discussed in the previous section. Star Wars (1977) and Jaws (1975) are ideal examples of popular science fiction and horror films in the 1970s. In addition, an analysis of Jaws (1975) is exceptionally pertinent to this study because as the producer of Alien (1979), Walter Hill, states the writers of Alien (1979) basically wanted to create a "science fiction version of Jaws" (Flanagan, 1999, p. 159).
The popularity and impact of these films can be assessed in many ways, but the most obvious way is by examining domestic sales. George Lucas' Star Wars (1977) is ranked #2 in all-time domestic gross sales (Kahn, 2001), with $461 million in revenue-not accounting for inflation. The only other film to outgross (1977) is James Cameron's Titanic (1997) that grossed $601 million.

Star Wars
When you account for inflation, Star Wars' (1977) domestic gross would equal roughly $1.35 billion (Friedman, 2000), far surpassing any other film ever made.
Steven Speilberg's Jaws, ranked #13 in all-time domestic sales, surpasses Titanic (1997) with roughly $877 million in domestic sales after accounting for inflation.
Baktin's idea of genre evolution (Flanagan, 1996) implies that the overwhelming popularity of Star Wars (1977) and Jaws (1975) suggests that the gender representation within those films are not at odds with audience expectations and therefore conform to the formula of each film's genre.
In addition to Jaws' (1975) popularity as a horror genre film, the film is an excellent example of how the earlier traditional depictions of men and women in horror films were still welcomed in the mid 1970s. The stereotypical depictions of men and women are more prevalent in Jaws (1975) as compared to Halloween ( 1978) in part because it deviates from the employment of the Final Girl that Clover (1992) found so prevalent in late 1970s horror genre films. Consequently, laws (197 5) was one of the first and last mega-blockbuster horror genre films to not offer female characters major roles as either primary victim or killer.
Although women were not used in the contemporary role of Final Girl, they certainly maintained their role as victims in Jaws (1975). The opening scene of Jaws (1975) is perhaps the most remembered scene in the entire film because of its fear inducing nature and due to the fact that stills from the scene were used in almost all of the marketing for the film (see appendix). The film opens with teenagers sitting around a bonfire on a beach. One of the teenage girls, a blonde named Chrissie (Susan Backlinie) rises and runs toward the water, saying that she is going swimming. Chrissie is followed by a drunk man who is eager for an intimate mid-night swim. When they reach the water, Chrissie takes off her clothing and runs further down the beach before plunging in naked. Her silhouetted image splashes at the surface, first viewed from a distance far underwater, and then from closer range. Meanwhile her drunken friend passes out on the shore.
A buoy's bell on the surface of the water rings at various almost ominous intervals. Then suddenly her nude body is pulled· under and dragged helplessly on the surface of the water by an unseen shark, as she screams: "God help me!" (Jaws, 1975) Chrissie attempts to grab the ringing buoy, but is then attacked and submerged for the last time in a horrifying sequence. The scene closes with a shot of the water, which is still again and quiet.
This first scene employs the traditional usage of female characters in horror films by depicting Chrissie first as a sexual object and then as a terrorized, helpless victim. Chrissie is objectified for male viewing pleasure and "defeated" by the "monster" in a way that does not deviate from her feminine appearance. In other words, Chrissie does put up the struggle that would be expected from a character of any sex in her situation, but she fails to think of any ingenious way to save herself as perhaps a male "hero" should and would. Imagine John Wayne in Chrissie's position: his "true grit" would have undoubtedly allowed him to pick up the buoy and bludgeon the shark to death with it.
The other major female characters in Jaws (1975) act similarly and are represented according to their gender roles. The day after Chrissie was killed the beaches are still open (against the male sheriffs wishes) and an unknowing yet protective mother gives her son permission to go out on his raft for "just ten more minutes" (Jaws, 1975 (Jaws , 1975). Statements such as these, while expected from a "good" mother, serve to represent her as mentally weak and unaware of the true dangers that exist.  Jaws, 1975). Martin responds, "Drowning!" (Jaws, 1975). Ellen is further represented as a lady by her dislike of the hired shark killer, Quint, due to his foul language and dirty limericks.
Hunting and killing sharks is not a job for a lady, therefore when the film proceeds to the climactic confrontation with the shark there are no women involved. Lev (2000) describes this point in Jaws (1975), "the nuclear family is replaced by an all-male fraternity which might be called 'the return of patriarchy'.
In times of crisis, social heterogeneity is replaced by the leadership of the father" (p.48). Although the captain of the shark killing ship is an aged, hardened man named Quint, the true father of the boat is the ever-cautious Chief Brody.
Quint is over-masculinized by his constant references to sex, pretty women and killing. He shuns and belittles the computerized tools Hooper relies on saying, "Nowadays, these kids, they take out everything, radar, sonar, electric toothbrushes, ha, ha" (Jaws, 1975 This lack of identification may be in part due to the effort of Speilberg to create a sense of overwhelming fear of the shark and then audiences are introduced to someone (Hooper) who foolishly is more fascinated than frightened of the maneating shark.
In contrast, Brody was scared of water and the shark and consequently seemed to understand the "big picture" of the danger they faced. Brody also had been depicted time and time again doing the "good thing" by trying to save people.
Therefore, Brody made the perfect protagonist that viewers could identify with and root for. Consequently it is Brody who is left to do battle with the monster. In a courageous offensive, Brody heaves one of Hooper's compressed air tanks into the shark's mouth, once again, showing the innovativeness of a masculine survivor.
As the shark circles for another attack, Brody grabs a rifle and takes aim at the explosive canister. Brody fires repeatedly until he finally hits the target and the shark explodes.
George Lucas ' Star Wars (1977) offers viewers a similarly satisfying ending combined with the gender norms viewers expect from a science fiction genre film. The only major female character, Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), is not depicted as a "space bimbo" (Doherty, 1996) or a "hindrance at the crucial moment [of escape or triumph]" (Bell-Metereau, 1985). Princess Leia is able to use weapons, think innovatively, and possesses some leadership qualities.
Therefore, it would seem that in terms of feminine gender norms Star Wars (1977) deviates from the traditional science fiction genre. That assumption would not be entirely correct.  (Star Wars Special Edition, 1998). In addition to the femininity (and impracticability during a gunfight) of Leia's clothing, Leia's hair is braided into an elaborate hairstyle reminiscent of the hair on the Madam Alexander dolls popular during the 1970s (see appendix).
Leia appearance creates the impression that she is an uppity girl-child when she is brought to the dark, towering figure of Lord Darth Vader. Surrounded on three sides by tall, strong soldiers and facing the black helmeted Darth Vader, Leia puts on a show of strength saying, "I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan" (Star Wars, 1977). Vader responds dismissively, sending Leia off (to her new room). Vader said, "You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. Take her away!" (Star Wars, 1977 (Star Wars, 1977). This exchange is reminiscent of the differences in moral character between Quint and Brody in Jaws (1975) with Han playing the part of Quint and Luke the part of Brody. Similarly, one can conclude Han Solo will not be the eventual hero of the film.
Princess Leia's uppity nature and innovativeness are displayed immediately following her introduction to Luke and Han. Leia chastises them when they all get trapped in a dead-end corridor with Imperial soldiers firing from the entrance. She says, "This is some rescue! .. . You came in here. Do you have a plan for getting out?" (Star Wars, 1977). Then Leia blasts a hole into a ventilation shaft with Luke's gun, opening an escape route into a garbage chute. Leia unceremoniously shoves Han saying, "Somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, flyboy!" (Star Wars, 1977).
However, aside from her innovativeness in times of pressure, Leia does not maintain her masculine, leadership role primarily because her sarcastic demeanor is softened by her appearance to the point that she ends up sounding more like a chastising wife than a soldier. For example, as soon as they enter the garbage room Han's hyper-masculinity act-before-thinking persona causes him to try to shoot the door which results in the gun-fire ricocheting off all of the walls, nearly killing them. Both Luke and Leia try to stop Han from shooting, but only Leia follows up with a motherly admonishment saying, "Put that thing away you're going to get us all killed!" (Star Wars, 1977). 27 Eventually, with help from Luke's robots, they all get out of the garbage room and continue their escape to Han Solo's space-ship. During this effort Han and Leia have an exchange that serves to make both parties seem even more stereotypically masculine and feminine or perhaps stereotypically husband and wife. Han says, "If we just avoid any more female advice, we ought to be able to get out of here." Leia replies, "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but from now on, you do as I tell you. Okay?" Han Solo says, "Look, Your Worshipfullness! Let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person.
As noted before, obviously Princess Leia is not the traditional, feminine lady to be saved, rescued, and perhaps sexually conquered. However, it is important to note that she is not represented as overtly masculine or even androgynous as some critiques suggest. Sobchack (1990) argues: For all her aristocratic presence as a princess, Leia is also represented as one of the boys. Whatever her narrative relations with Han Solo, her tough and wisecracking character is not about to let her tightly-coiled hair down nor expose her female flesh ... She is simultaneously protected and desexed by her social position (princesses are to fight for, not to sleep with) and by her acerbic and pragmatically critical attitude. (p. 106). 28 Princess Leia is not depicted as a "curvaceous sex kitten" (Inness, 1999) but she does not act nor is treated like "one of the boys" (Sobchack, 1990). For example when Luke and Leia are trapped on a ledge hanging over a bottomless shaft, pursued by Imperial soldiers, Luke takes a grappling hook and rope from his belt and "Tarzan-swings" himself and Leia to safety. However, not before Leia gives him a kiss "for luck." Leia kissing Luke before he swings her to safety reveals the softness underneath Leia's "wisecracking character" and reminds viewers of her probable role as a romantic partner for either Luke or Han Solo.
Viewers get another reminder of the romantic possibilities involving

Princess Leia during an exchange between Luke and Han Solo. Luke asks Han
Solo what he thinks about Leia and Han responds, "Trying not to kid." Luke smiles and says, "Good." This provokes Han's masculine, competitive nature and he says, "Still she's got a lot of spirit. Do you think a princess and a guy like me ... ?" Luke quickly interrupts with an emphatic "NO!" (Star Wars, 1977).
This exchange prompts the question that if, as Sobchack ( 1990)  By the climactic ending Leia's femininity as an object of affection and a weak woman to be rescued is firmly in the minds of the audience. Therefore it comes as no surprise when Princess Leia, the "head of the rebellion," has a male General debrief the rebels on their mission to destroy the Imperial battle station.
Nor does it seem surprising that the mercenary, Han, refuses to be a part of what he refers to as "suicide" (Star Wars, 1977). 29 Han Solo's depressing assessment of the mission is shared by many of the rebels who prepare to die for their beliefs. In this pessimistic scene Luke, the natural leader, is alone in convincing people that the mission is not impossible. Lev (2000) discusses this phenomena, "One should also remember that Star Wars' rebellion in no way challenges gender, race, or class relations. White male humans are 'naturally' in positions of authority. The boy Luke grows up and takes his place as a responsible male leader" (p. 34).
During the final battle Leia moves into her socially expected role of the wife, sister, or daughter and waits for the soldiers to come home while Luke, with his innate abilities, accomplishes the impossible mission and saves the day. George Lucas also offers redemption to the selfish mercenary, Han Solo, by sending him back to help Luke complete the mission.
The end result is a science fiction genre film that in no ways challenges the expected gender roles of men or women. George Lucas responding to criticism about the conservative nature of his characters and story line says, "I mean, there's a reason this film is so popular. It's not that I'm giving out propaganda nobody wants to hear" (Lev, 1998, p. 32). As frightening as that idea may be for women's rights advocates, Star Wars (1977) being the all-time best selling film ever to date, George Lucas certainly has support for his statement.

Gender Representation in "Alien" (1979):
Ridley Scott's Alien ( 1979) can not compare to the amazing popularity of Lucas' Star Wars (1977) or Spielberg's Jaws (1975). However, one should not infer that Scott 's Alien (1979) was accessible enough to viewers that it bested Francis Ford Coppala's Apocalypse Now (1979) for the 4th most profitable film in 1979 (Kahn, 2001) with $78.9 million in domestic sales. Accounting for inflation, Alien (1979) grossed $201 million in domestic sales (Friedman, 2000), almost $13 million more than Ridley Scott's most recent film Gladiator (2000) which won the Best Picture and Best Male Actor Academy awards. Therefore, there is little doubt that viewers could relate to the representation of gender in Alien (1979). The remaining question is to what were viewers relating? Similar to Princess Leia, Ripley is innovative and quick thinking. The difference is for the majority of the film Ripley is portrayed as androgynous, not needing to be saved by other characters or hindered by feminine clothing and artifacts. The Washington Post's Gary Arnold (1979)  Bell- Metereau (1985) argues that critics such as Kroll struggled to fit Ripley into their conception of a woman's role in a science fiction film because her role greatly violates expectations. However, that argument does not properly address the point of greatest negative criticism of Alien ( 1979), the closing scene.
The Boston Globe's Michael Blowen (1979) explains, "[Ridley] Scott does make a concession to feminism by casting Sigourney Weaver [Ripley] as the hero but he couldn't resist a sexist jab at the end when, with no motivation, she removes her trousers" (p. E16). (1979) from 1979 to the present have perpetually been fascinated with the closing scene in which Ripley is shown undressing for the hypersleep back to earth. Kavanagh ( 1990) addresses this issue stating:

Critics of Alien
The image [of Ripley undressing] presented to the viewer here is hardly sensational by any standards, and it seems senseless for a progressive criticism to construct from it a general condemnation of the film that denies all of the other effects of a fairly consistent feminist statement (p. 77).
Before discussing whether or not Alien (1979) does offer a "consistent feminist statement" perhaps a description of the scene in question would be helpful.
After destroying the Nostromo, and presumably the alien, by setting its self-destruct mechanism Ripley prepares the escape shuttle for the trip back to One merely needs to compare still publicity photos of both Weaver and Wray to see the different levels of femininity (see appendix). To fully be able to debate the gender representation in Alien ( 1979) one needs to look at the film as a whole rather than just that one scene that may depart from the rest of the film's message.
In order to understand the impact of the gender representation, one needs to address the historical specificity of that representation. While criticisms such as Jack Kroll's may seem short sighted and unsupported they do represent a viewer's reaction to Alien (1979) in 1979, the period for which the film was created. The differences in reaction to certain representations of gender within Alien ( 1979) as viewed in 1979 and present day are of great value when trying to understand the film's overall message concerning gender norms.
Alien ( 1979) is the first film set in space and in the future, to this author's knowledge, which employs the Final Girl concept that Clover (1992) found lent in horror genre films in the late 1970s. Clover's (1992) concept of the preva Final Girl is extremely helpful in understanding both the masculine traits of 34 bravery, rationality, and innovativeness that Ripley possesses and the contradictory sexual objectification of Ripley in the closing scene of the film. In addition, Clover's (1992) concept of the character's role defining the character's gender sheds light upon the depiction of the rest of the characters in Alien ( 1979).
Each character in Alien ( 1979) was written so male or female actors could portray any part (Penley, 1991). The end result was an overwhelming sense of As discussed in terms of gender norms in science fiction films, this type of androgynous representation was a huge break away from the "space bimbo [who] filled out a tight-fitting uniform to distract and intice" (Doherty, 1996, p. 134 ). In fact, Ridley Scott had to be pro-active in order to keep Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley out of gender oriented clothing. Weaver recalled, "They gave me this costume that was light blue with a little pink trim. And Ridley came in, and he .d 'You look like fucking Jackie Onassis in space.' ... he threw me this flight sat , thing from NASA, and I put it on and it fit perfectly" (quoted in Abramowitz, 2()00, p. 352).
That was not the only struggle for equality in costuming that Ridley Scott Ridley Scott originally wanted the characters to be portrayed in the nude during this scene because he explained, "To be totally realistic I always wanted the entire crew to be stark naked. Of course they would be if they were lying in any form of hypersleep (pause) they would be naked" (Alien DVD, 1999). With the first scene focussing on the full body of one male character as he awakes, sits up, and eventually stands to walk out of the hypersleep chamber, Scott realized that having the man naked would offer "a particularly extraordinary view" (Alien DVD, 1999). Total nudity being prohibited by the 20th Century Fox Studio, Scott argued that female characters should also be topless and went so far as to film a scene depicting the two females topless. The studio overruled this as well, although the final version of the scene shows a portion of one woman with only a strip of material covering her breasts.
This scene, notable as support for the androgynous nature of the film as a whole, is a useful tool to contrast with the critical reaction of the closing scene in which Ripley is portrayed in her underwear. Bell-Metereau (1985) states: The viewers who see this [closing scene with Ripley] as sexist do not comment on the parallel opening scene, in which we see Kane emerging from hypersleep in a similar state of seminudity. The two scenes are a framing device that creates suspense; the roving camera gives the audience the idea that the characters are not alone, and the nudity creates a greater sense of vulnerability (p. 221 ).
Bell-Metereau point is interesting because ·she is correct in that in each scene the camera focuses on Kane's and Ripley's crotch. However, Kane is not depicted bending over repeatedly and nor is his posterior hanging out of his underwear. In addition, Ridley Scott freely admits that he used the closing scene to give viewers the sex that the studio complained was missing. Scott states, "They [20th Century Fox] kept saying there is no sex in this movie. I said 'there doesn't need to be any (pause) but there is a good opportunity here to have a bit of, know hinted at sexuality and Sigourney is certainly the person to project that" you ' (Alien DVD,1999).
Ripley's sexual objectification in the closing scene also fulfills one of the requirements of Clover's (1992) Final Girl characterization. As stated previously, Clover (1992) argues that the Final Girl needs to be objectified in some way in order to remind viewers that although she may "acquit herself like a man" (p. 58) she is still a woman to be had. Inness ( 1999)  This analysis of Ripley's cat saving mission may appear to be reading too much into nothing but, since Ridley Scott admits to being surprised that nobody questioned Ripley's return to save the cat (Alien DVD, 1999), there is obviously support for the idea that the action was irrational and out of character for the androgynous/masculine Ripley. Perhaps the reason viewers unquestioningly accepted the cat saving mission is because the mission followed the formula for a science fiction genre film. Bell-Metereau (1985) argues the female character was 39 generally present to hinder the hero at a crucial moment in the film, however since the hero in Alien ( 1979) is female the cat may have been employed to perform the hindrance functions traditionally performed by the female. If narratively viewers expected Ripley to have to save something during this point in the film then Jonesie was the logical choice for the damsel in distress.
In any case, Ripley's saving of Jonesie is merely one more example of the contradictory gender representation of her character in Alien ( 1979). If sex does proceed from gender in Final Girl films (Clover, 1992) then perhaps this contradictory gender representations makes sense. Afterall, even the male characters experience contradictory gender representation in certain scenes.
Dallas possesses the masculine quality of leadership and bravery as the captain of the ship in Alien ( 1979). Not only does every crewmember follow his orders with the minimum of hassle, Dallas also volunteers to hunt the alien himself rather then put anyone else at risk. However at the moment of Dallas' death he is depicted frozen with fear, bent up in a fetal position as the alien attacks. This tendency to depict male victims such as Dallas in feminine or weak postures at their moment of death supports the concept that victims must possess some feminine quality (Clover, 1992). Brett and Lambert's deaths further support this argument as they both were depicted standing frozen with blank looks on their faces as the alien prepared to attack them. Even though Lambert is negatively regarded in contrast to the strong qualities Ripley possesses, Lambert in death is not any more feminine than Brett, the rough masculine mechanic.
In contrast, Parker's gender representation in death is quite different than the rest of his crewmembers. Parker actually possesses the masculine quality of bravery and gallantry in his moment of demise. Parker counter-attacks the alien, as it is attacking Lambert, in an attempt to save the damsel in distress and destroy the enemy. Unfortunately, direct and undiluted masculine force is not enough to conquer the alien and Parker is defeated.
Parker's style of death does raise questions about gender representation within the Final Girl films until one hears Ridley Scott's explanation. Apparently, Yaphet Kotto (Parker) was unaware that he was not going to be the hero of the film until the day of his death scene. Kotto argued with Scott telling him "I'm not going to die. This thing can't kill me" (Alien DVD, 1999). Scott had to convince him to die and perhaps allowed Kotto a last show of strength as a compromise to Kotto saving his masculine honor. In addition Parker's last burst of masculine ]l owed viewers another way of justifying a female survivor, by illustrating force a ·t would take more ingenuity than strength to best the alien. hoW 1 One should note that Parker was the expected hero of the film after all of 41 the other males had been killed. Ridley Scott had whittled the crewmembers down to two women and an African American male creating the unexpected impression that the hero would be a minority. However, this progressive casting provoked criticism of political correctness. Stanley Kauffmann wrote, "the crew, just to keep things au courant, includes two women and a black" (quoted in Bell-Metereua, 1985, p. 211). Viewing the film 20 years later leaves the impression that Scott's casting choices were just one more joke on the viewing audience. The double crossing aspects popular in Scott's later films such as Blade Runner (1982) suggest that he enjoys making his audiences uncomfortable by giving them the unexpected (Kerman, 1991).
Still others suggest that Scott's choice of survivors was more of a political statement than a joke. Byers ( 1990) states, "There is, by the way, a dig at the predominantly white male power structure in the fact that the minority character and the women live the longest" (p.42). Whatever Scott's intentions, he created an "intelligible form of femininity" (Jennings, 1995, p. 197) that has served as the basis of comparison for the numerous female-leads that followed Alien (1979) including the three Alien sequels. The next chapter will discuss the changes in both the gender norms in the mid-1980s films and the gender representations Within the sequel to Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), Aliens (1986).

Chapter 2: Aliens -The Controversial Exception to the Gender Norms
Genre: Aliens (1986) is essentially the same film as its predecessor Alien (1979). The film begins with a space-bound crew discovering and being attacked by an alien species. The crew is almost completely destroyed by the alien (multiple aliens in the case of Aliens) when Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) suggests that the remaining crewmembers destroy the alien using nuclear weapons. In both films this plan backfires because an alien manages to stow away on the escape vessel and threatens to kill again. That is, until Ripley manages to blow the alien out of an airlock and into space. Both Alien ( 1979) and Aliens ( 1986)  These differences will be discussed at length later in this chapter, but first a continuation of the discussion of Aliens' (1986) genre is necessary. In order to compare gender representations to the gender norms of a genre one must first identify the genres to be discussed. The genre of the first film Alien (1979) has previously been discussed at length and, as just mentioned, Aliens ( 1986) borrows heavily upon its predecessor for its storyline. Consequently, it is for the same reasons that Alien ( 1979) was classified as both a science fiction and a horror genre film that Aliens ( 1986) also can be classified as such. Both films are essentially horror films in their treatment of new lifeforms but they are both set in space and therefore are frequently linked to the science fiction genre. The treatment of Ripley as a hero in Aliens (1986), as compared to Ripley as a survivor in Alien ( 1979), alludes to just one of the differences that accompanied director James Cameron's decision to add the action genre· to the mix of horror and science fiction. James Cameron had worked on two action dominated films, Rambo: First Blood, Part II (1985) and The Terminator (1984), before writing and directing Aliens (1986) and his experiences certainly impacted his decision to create an action/horror/science fiction sequel to Scott's Alien ( 1979). Cameron stated, "I was writing Rambo [First Blood, Part II (1985)) at the time and I was getting into ho le Vietnam thing, and it occurred to me that 'grunts in space' was a thew wonderful concept" (Blackmore, 1996, p. 215).
Not only was it "a wonderful concept," Cameron's addition of the action genre to Alien's (1979) already complicated genre mix assured his film would stand out from Scott's original. Prince (2000) stated: He [Cameron] was keenly aware of the classic status that Ridley Scott's Alien had achieved and determined to find a different style and sensibility for his picture. Accordingly, rather than replicating the techno-Gothic horror design of Scott's film, he based his sequel on Vietnam and World War II combat movies, ensuring that his production would be clearly differentiated from its predecessor (p. 248).

44
Cameron's creation of a new "style and sensibility" was linked not only to the shifting public opinion of the Vietnam war but also the new dawn of conservatism popularly referred to as the Reagan era. Doherty (1996)  Cameron's adoption of conservative Reagan era values extended well beyond increased support of the military. Aliens (1986) reflected a return to traditional, conservative gender roles which further set Cameron's sequel apart from the "stunningly egalitarian" (Penley, 1991) gender representation in Scott's Alien (1979).
Gender Norms in the mid-1980s: 45 Gender norms in science fiction genre films were surprisingly static during the eight years between the creation of Alien ( 1979)  series with the fifth film being released in 1985 (Prince, 2000). The success into a of the early Final Girl films such as Halloween ( 1978) and Friday the l 3 1 h ( 1980) most likely deterred directors and film studios from altering the formulaic treatment of gender norms.
In contrast, the action genre had gone through some dramatic changes in gender norms in the late 1970s to early 1980s (Tasker, 1993). However, those changes do not impact the Alien film series due to the fact that the action genre was not employed within the series before 1986. Therefore, for the purposes of this study only the gender norms of action genre films in the mid-1980s will be examined.
Female and male characters in action genre films are for the majority represented in a way that is very similar to their representation in science fiction genre films. For example in a film such as Rambo: First Blood, Part II (1985) the leading male character is represented as the strong, smart hero that will save the day. This representation in Rambo: First Blood, Part II (1985) was so powerful that the leading male character Rambo quickly became synonymous with masculinity and aggression (Tasker, 1993 The cinematic exceptions to this gender representation formula of action genre films, such as The Terminator (1984), mimic the gender norms in Final Girl horror genre films. In The Terminator (1984) the lead character is a tomboyish woman named Sarah Connor who learns that she will give birth to a messiah-like ruler who will lead the human-race to freedom against the oppressive robots which hold them in slavery. Sarah's tomboyish nature is most notable in her dress and lack of overt sexual desires that contrast greatly with other females in the film.
Sarah's dress in the opening scene of the film displays her at her most feminine, wearing a restaurant uniform consisting of a checkered blouse and skirt. For the majority of the film, Sarah wears jeans, a non-descript shirt, and no obvious makeup creating a costume that serves to minimize her femininity and promote a nd rogynous appearance. Tasker (1993) discussed the impact of costuming more a on the overall gender representation of women in action films stating: The tomboy hero(ines) of the action cinema share with Clover's Final Girl a peculiar gender status, and an ambivalent relationship to sexuality. The sense of a transitional state is sometimes played for eroticism -as if the 'masculine' clothing forms a disguise behind which the 'real' figure of the woman is glimpsed (p. 81 ).
Sarah's "ambivalent relationship to sexuality" is further strengthened in contrast to her roommate. Sarah's roommate and her roommate's boyfriend are hyper-sexualized during their brief appearances in the film, making and receiving lewd phone calls to and from each other. Sarah's roommate's appearance, which is almost a parody of femininity as she is constantly fixing her makeup and hair, also serves to differentiate Sarah's no nonsense dress from traditional depictions of femininity. In addition, Sarah's roommate's tendency towards casual sex is captured during the scene in which she is wearing headphones during sex with her boyfriend. In the tradition of Final Girl horror films, when a Terminator is sent back in time to kill Sarah before she can become pregnant with the human race's future savior Sarah's roommate and her roommate's boyfriend are among the first to be killed.
Luckily for Sarah, her future son sends one of his soldiers (Reese) back in time to try to save Sarah from the Terminator. Reese initially takes over the role of the protagonist rescuing Sarah while saying, "Do exactly as I say" (The  Termm  ' by a man-killing robot and attempts to learn how to make explosives out of household cleaners. By the end of the film a reversal of gender expectations is evident when Sarah becomes the masculine rescuer trying to save an injured feminine Reese from the Terminator. Similar to the gender roles in Final Girl films, in these exceptions in action genre films there exists "something about the victim function that wants manifestation in a female" (Clover, 1992, p. 12) and vice versa.
While Sarah's masculine rescue attempt is unsuccessful (Reese sacrifices himself in a last ditch effort to kill the Terminator), she does succeed in destroying the Terminator thereby saving herself and her unborn child fathered by Reese.
Although Sarah remained strong throughout most of the film she was required for the sake of the plot and the Final Girl formula to remind viewers of her femininess during a sex scene with Reese. Tasker (1993)  However, regardless of their physical differences when both characters are displayed in states of partial undress their appearance is explained by their actions of cleaning their wounds. In contrast, Sarah's states of undress are unnecessary to the storyline unless one assumes that a love scene between her and Reese (with Reese almost completely in the unlit portion of the screen) was necessary to the understanding that Reese impregnated Sarah. The other notable scene with Sarah relatively undressed is one in which she is shown ih a towel, calling her mother to let her know that she is safe. This action seems harmless however, not only is Sarah being put on display she depicted as emotionally weak by breaking one of Reese's rules to not tell anyone where she is.
Sarah being displayed in a towel as she breaks a logical rule that Reese created serves to remind viewers that no matter how tough she has become fighting for her life she is still a fragile female who needs her mommy. In addition, Tasker (1993) suggests Sarah being put on display in such a manner helps to emphasize "her sexuality, her availability within traditional feminine ,, (p 19) Once again mirroring the gender norms present in Final Girl films terms · · where the female protagonist's "tits and scream serve more or less continuously to remind us that she really is female-even as, and despite the fact that, she in the end acquits herself 'like a man"' (Clover, 1992, p. 58).
What is most notable about exceptions to the rule of gender norms in action genre films is that James Cameron wrote and directed two of the major and much debated exceptions, The Terminator (1984) and Aliens (1986). However, as noted earlier Cameron also wrote one of the mainstays of hyper-masculine, socially conservative films Rambo: First Blood, Part II (1985). Therefore, it is unsurprising that Cameron at times appears to "crack under the strain" (Penley, 1989, p. (Weaver quoted in Blackmore, 1996, p. 224).
Even in the horror variant like Aliens ( 1986), the family theme is present when Sigourney Weaver becomes a mother symbol, a feminine and feminist Rambo-like protector of young children against space monsters (O'Brien, 1990, p. 95). 52 Partly because of Aliens' predecessor and partly because of the increasing usage of Final Girls and heroine (Clover), Aliens (1986) was not heralded for its depiction of a female hero and survivor, but was instead criticized for the way its gender representation differed from the original Alien (1979) film. The negative criticism primarily focused upon the creation of a maternal side of the protagonist Ripley (Penley, 1989) and ironically the addition of more masculinized depictions of women (Jennings, 1995). The issue of Ripley's maternal nature was the major point of contention, critics had with Aliens ( 1986) (Flanagan, 1999;Inness, 1999;Penley, 1989) the discussion of gender representation in Aliens (1986) should most likely begin there.
The big story in Alien (1979) was its break away from traditional gender roles and lack of romance between the characters. In contrast the big story with &arru·ly Cameron added this maternal instinct to Ripley's character in order 1 oster 1.
• to explain to the audience why she would conceivably return to face the aliens .,;n Unlike Sylvester Stallone's character in the Rambo series, Cameron didn't ag .... think audiences could relate to Ripley if she returned only in hopes of regaining her career and gaining a sense of closure to the horror she survived in the first film.
Cameron stated, "How is the audience going to relate to this person [Ripley] if they needlessly put themselves in danger?" (Aliens DVD, 1999). The first step in creating Ripley's maternal side was the creation of a previous child for Ripley, Amanda, who dies while waiting for Ripley to return from the disastrous voyage undertaken in the first film.
Aliens ( 1986) begins with Ripley being found after floating lost in space in hypersleep for over 57 years. Ripley discovers that she has missed most of her daughter Amanda's life after promising to be home for her 11th birthday. In addition, Ripley is told that her flight license is being revoked because she destroyed the Company's expensive freighter, Nostromo, for no reason they could see. Although the Company sent Ripley and her crew to find the alien on L V-426 they refuse to believe her story of horror because Ripley lacks proof. The Company has found no proof of alien life on L V-426 and Company representatives argue that they would be aware of any aliens because, in the 57 years Ripley has been asleep, the Company has sent roughly 70 families to the t in order to make the air breathable for others. Ripley is horror struck at the plane ramifications of children possibly being attacked by the aliens that killed her crew and numbly repeats the company representative's words, "families" (Aliens, 1986).
According to Cameron, it is only now when audiences can see Ripley's pain as a mother and her maternal concern for the colonists that they can truly relate to her return to face the aliens. Cameron argues, "The real reason [for returning to face the aliens] is the cathartic psychological reason. There has to be an inner motivation" (Aliens DVD, 1999). Ripley's motivation to face the aliens again is necessary because early in the film she is called upon to serve as an advisor to a group of heavily armed Marines that are going to L V-426 in order to investigate a sudden loss of contact with the planet.
Cameron offers viewers a glimpse at an equal opportunity future in which there are as many women and minorities in a Marine combat squad as there are white men. Penley (1991) states: In attempt to repeat the equal opportunity camaraderie of the first film, Cameron's sequel includes a mixed squad of marines, in which the women are shown to be as tough as the men, maybe tougher. And Ripley is, again, the bravest and smartest member of the team (p. 133).
However, there exists a distinct difference in the type of "equal opportunity camaraderie" present in Scott's Alien (1979) and Cameron's Aliens (1986). In Ar ien (1979) both female characters were treated more or less as one of the guys. t }l owed Lambert and Ripley to be free from any sexual innuendoes or scot a nt ers and consequently created a remarkably androgynous film. encou 55 Cameron's Aliens (1986), however begins to mark differences between the sexes from the first words spoken amongst the Marines when they wake up from bypersleep. In response to a male Marine's gripe that "They don't pay us enough for this shit", Deitrich, a female medic says, "Not enough to wake up to your face, Drake" (Aliens, 1986).
This type of banter continues while the Marines and Ripley dress and eventually leads to the well-cited (Inness, 1999;Jennings, 1999;Penley, 1991) exchange between one male and one female Marine. The female Marine, Vasquez is rapidly depicted as a strong, masculine character. Vasquez is shown doing pullups in a T-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, offering a glimpse at her bulging biceps. The male Marine, Hudson, is depicted as Vasquez's opposite. Hudson introductory shot shows him complaining about the cold floor and jokingly asking the cigar-chewing Sarge for slippers. Then Hudson spots Vasquez doing her pullups and asks her, "Hey Vasquez. Have you ever been mistaken for a man?" to which Vasquez replies, "No. Have you?" (Aliens, 1986).
In order to limit Vasquez's masculinity, Cameron does include a male Partner, Drake, for her who is immediately paired with her following Hudson and Vasquez's exchange. Dietrich is similarly limited in her masculine nature as a gun-toting Marine by the fact that she serves in the traditionally feminine role of the nurse or medic. Perhaps what is more interesting about the inclusion of other W omen in Cameron's Aliens ( 1986) is that these women seem to serve more strong as a foil to Ripley's new-found softer, maternal side than as support for stronger representations of women. Both Lt. Gorman and Deitrich know that this girl is conceivably the last person alive in the colony and has undoubtedly seen her friends and family attacked and killed by the aliens yet Gorman and Deitrich do not seem to understand why Newt would not feel like talking. Deitrich shrugs when Ripley walks in saying, "Physically she's okay, borderline malnutrition but I don't think there is any permanent damage" (Aliens, 1986). Only Ripley the true woman seems to understand and sends Gorman and Deitrich away while she tries to mother Newt with hot chocolate and by cleaning Newt's face and hands.
Newt eventually opens up to Ripley and tells Ripley of the horror that she has experienced since the aliens were discovered. Ripley vows to protect Newt, which some critics argue is done to further fit Ripley into the conservative traditional role of a mother. Doherty (1996)  doesn't come to that" (Aliens, 1986). Then Hicks introduces Ripley to his "personal friend" (Aliens, 1986) his massive gun and asks her to feel the weight.
Then, similar to the cliche bar scene at a pool table, Hicks stands behind Ripley and shows her how to work his gun. This type of overt romantic behavior would have most certainly marked Ripley for death were she in a horror film such as Friday the 13th (1980( ) or Halloween (1978. In contrast, unlike the sexual promiscuity of the women in traditional horror films that marks them as a victim, it is the masculinity of the women in Aliens ( 1986) that marks them as potential victims. Green (1998)

discusses this phenomena:
From that moment of discovery [of Newt] on Ripley is clearly defined secondarily as the best soldier on the screen, but primarily as Newt's mother, the only member of the group who can communicate with a young girl. It is as a surrogate mother that Ripley becomes a whole person, after the trauma of her earlier experience with the hideous aliens (in Alien, in which she is the only survivor and the only wholly effectual member of the spaceship crew as well). It is as both mother and "wife" (to the wounded and helpless marine, Hicks) that she, unlike Vasquez, survives. The 'real woman' lives, for Hollywood can never allow a child to go unmothered. The ambiguous woman must die, for Vasquez is too far gone into "masculinity" to be recuperated for the sexual order (p.62). 59 Therefore, Ripley's budding relationship with Hicks is actually a positive move for Ripley because it tethers her to traditional femininity and saves her from being lost to a seemingly negative, ambiguous masculinity. However, Ripley's new femininity does not come free of charge. When Ripley "adopts" Newt she acquires a new weakness, a soft spot, that undoubtedly will be used against her later in the film. Mccreadie (1990) disagrees stating, "Perhaps most important, she [Ripley] manages to display apparently newfound feelings of nurturing maternal love that in no way undercut her strength or dismantle her armor" (p. 74).
Perhaps Mccreadie' s ( 1990) claim is true when one looks at most of the interaction between Ripley and Newt. Ripley takes the role of mother seriously and censors what Newt can watch on the television (which was displaying the cocooned bodies the Marines found) and Ripley makes sure that Newt buckles her b It before Ripley rams the vehicle through the wall of the aliens' lair. seat e 60 . h r action seems to detract from Ripley's abilities to perform as the hero she is Ne1t e built up to be. That is until Newt is abducted by the aliens and Ripley decides to search for her even though the whole place is going to explode in eleven minutes.
Here Newt replaces the cat, Jonesie, in the first Alien (1979) by becoming a "hindrance at the crucial moment". Penley (1989) states: But this time there is a difference, one that is both improbable and symptomatic. Ripley develops a maternal instinct, risking her life to save the little girl who is the only survivor of a group of space colonists decimated by the aliens . .. Ripley is thus marked by a difference that is automatically taken to be a sign of femininity (we do not see Hicks, for example ... acting irrationally in order to rescue a child who is probably already dead . . . What we get finally is a conservative moral lesson about maternity, futuristic or otherwise: mothers will be mothers, and they will always be women (p. 133). Penley' s (1989) criticism of Ripley's irrational attempt to save Newt is understandable until one reviews the genre formula of science fiction and action films. The formula of these genres all but demands that someone be saved during a pivotal part of the film (Bell-Metereau, 1985) therefore in Alien (1978) Ripley d Sa ve Jonesie just as Luke had to save Leia in Star Wars (1977). Therefore ha to either Ripley or Hicks had to save Newt during the climatic part of Aliens (1986).
Here is an excellent example of how constantly examining gender representation can create certain biases on the part of researchers. Try to imagine Hicks attempting to save Newt while Ripley stayed injured but safe in the spaceship. Hicks would be viewed as a masculine and gallant hero rescuing a helpless little girl from danger after having made sure his love interest was safe.
Instead Ripley is the irrational female who is risking her own life as well as the life of others to save her "daughter" who is probably already dead. Ironically, if Hicks had usurped Ripley in her role as hero film critics would have undoubtedly raked Cameron over hotter coals than Penley did.
Noting the contradictions and biases evident in most gender critiques, it is not surprising that one point that is notably absent from critiques of gender representation in Aliens ( 1986) is the gender representation of the "father" Hicks.
Hicks was conveniently incapacitated in the final rescuing scene however he did play a major role in stopping the "manservant" Bishop from taking off without However, as Clover argues ( 1992) the Rambo-type man could never survive in anything less than a pure action genre film. Therefore, Hicks' softer form of masculinity perhaps stops him from becoming a victim much in the way Rambo, Quint, or even Vasquez would be and was. Hicks' softer side goes beyond his unabrasive leadership style and humble courage, he also is a caring foster father to Newt. Hicks is ever vigilant and gentle in his protection of Newt, 63 admonishing her when she picks up a grenade saying, "Don't touch that! They're dangerous honey" (Aliens, 1986) (1984). Therefore, it is almost comical that Cameron hired the same actor to play virtually the same role with virtually the same removal from the story in two consecutive films. What is even more notable is that no film critic has mentioned that Michael Beihn is dispatched in a similarly feminine fashion in both Aliens (1986) and The Terminator (1984).
In The Terminator (1984) Michael Beihn's character, Reese, is wounded and is half-carried, half-dragged by Linda Hamilton's character, Sarah, until he convinces Sarah to save herself and let him finish off the Terminator. Reese uses bis last homemade pipe bomb to try to kill the Terminator and simultaneously sacrifices himself. In Alien (1986) Michael Beihn's character convinces Ripley to return to the ship before searching for the most likely dead Newt. However, as they attempt to return Hicks is badly burned in the chest by an alien's acid-like blood. Hicks almost gives up but Ripley won't let him and half-drags, half-carries him to the safety of the ship.
In the ship, Hicks regains some of his masculinity as he is shown tending to his own wounds and promising Ripley that he will not let Bishop leave without her. However, in a reversal of gender roles the injured Hicks who is staying in a relatively safe area asks the heavily armored Ripley to "hurry back" (Aliens,

1986).
In both films Michael Beihn' s character become an odd collage of the traditional female sidekick role and the action hero. Perhaps this is why Sigourney Weaver stated, "I think I actually act for women ... I'm more concerned with how other women respond to what I'm doing than I am that a man should look up at the screen and fall in love with me .. . maybe I'm acting for the women in men -the feminine side of men" (Blackmore, 1996, p. 213).
Apparently Weaver's has succeeded in her acting goals. Rushing (1989) Wrote: Aliens' producer Gale Anne Hurd, regards the movie as a feminist document, and enthuses over its reception: "I really appreciate the way audiences respond. They buy it. We don't get people even rednecks, leaving the theatre saying, "That was stupid. No woman would do that: You don ' t have to a liberal or ERA supporter to root for Ripley" (p. 10).
What is obvious is that James Cameron radically feminized the nononsense Ripley that Ridley Scott had created, which has resulted in an entirely new and much debatable exception to the gender norms viewers in the 1980s expected from their action, horror, and science fiction genre films . 65 The next chapter discusses the similarities and differences between the third film in the series Alien] (1992) and its predecessors. By the third film the Alien series had become a cinematic franchise and therefore 20th Century Fox had become leery of changing the successful formulas that Scott and Cameron had created for Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley. Therefore, this next chapter focuses more strongly upon the business limitations and financial reasons for gender representations than previously done in this study.

Genre:
"Alien3" can only be considered a failure if it is measured by the high standards set by its predecessors. And these are not just standards of 'quality'; there are very specific narrative 'rules' that the third episode does not observe (Flanagan, 1999, p. 167 (Kahn, 2001), and to the two predecessors within the Alien series.
Compare that figure to the $131.4 million (Friedman, 2000) earned by Aliens (1986) and the $201 million (Friedman, 2000) earned by Alien (1979) and the magnitude of Alien3' s ( 1992) failure to produce financially is evident. Sigourney Weaver suggests that the failure of Alien3 (1992) was due to lack of support of 20 1 h Century Fox, the studio that released all of the Alien films (Abramowitz, Unknown). Other critics argue thatAlien3's (1992) primary shoncoming was not its lack of studio support but instead in its lack of innovativeness as compared to its predecessors Alien ( 1979) and Aliens (1986).
The Washington Post's film critic, Hal Hinson (1992), wrote: There are a few narrative twists, but not enough new ideas to keep us guessing ... Also, the butch glam queen she [Ripley] inaugurated in Alien has by now become a familiar type; like the Great Mother Alien in the second film, she has spawned a whole generation of Terminator dames. But in Alien3, the character seems rather old hat and, instead of staking her definitive claim on the archetype the actress joins the ranks of her imitators. These days, she's just another girl with a gun (p. D8).

67
In contrast, Flanagan (1999) suggests that the failure of Alien3 (1992) may have been due to Alien3's overly innovative usage of genre formulas. Flanagan (1999) argues: To bring this dark tale to the screen, the studio selected David Fincher, a director of pop music promos with a highly developed visual sense, but no experience of the demands of features .
Fincher' s inexperience shows not so much in· how the film is presented -it is visually impressive -as in the way that the narrative lacks either the dreadful inevitability of Alien or the textbook buildup of Aliens. The movie aims for something more than the inspired reworkings of established genres that constitute the first two films, but fails precisely because of the absence of a firm generic framework (p. 165).
Pincher's Alien3 (1992) contains all of the ingredients of a blockbuster sequel including a widely popular protagonist [Ripley], a cast of experienced S [S igourney Weaver, Charles Dutton, and Lance Henerikson], and a large actor budget of $50 million (Kahn, 2001). However, the film violates too many of the 68 expectations viewers had come to expect from an Alien film and consequently became a box-office failure. This leads to question: what were the genre formulas Alien3 (1992) was supposed to follow?
Fincher inherited a cinematic franchise that evolved into a collage of the science fiction, horror, and action genres. In addition, Fincher inherited the premier female protagonist, Ripley, who was closely watched by film critics for any signs of change in her tough, no-nonsense demeanor (Jennings, 1999;Penley, 1991). Common sense would dictate that Fincher would closely follow in Alien3 (1992) the genre precedent set by Ridley Scott and James Cameron. However, as the old adage says "Common sense is not common." Flanagan ( 1999) wrote: Taubin (1992) may be exaggerating when she declares that Alien3 leans toward the avant-garde, but it certainly moves too far from the safety net of a recognizable genre to connect with its target audience. The first two films do not disregard or bypass genre in this way, but rather twist it to their own narrative ends (p. 165).
As Flanagan (1999) suggests, Fincher did not truly deviate from the science fiction, horror, action genre formulaic mix that he inherited from Cameron and Scott, he merely diluted the formula until it became unrecognizable. For example, both Scott and Cameron used science fiction to highlight their plot and 69 l ·nes Scott and Cameron used their futuristic settings to arm their characters story 1 · with hi-tech weaponry, spaceships, and computers. In contrast, Pincher's Alien3 ( 199 2) is set on a monastic-type prison world that lacks batteries for a flashlight, nevermind futuristic spaceships or weapons.
Although the New York Times (1992) advertisement for Alien3 (1992) says, "It's edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting time again!" (p. C5), the horror aspect of Alien3 (1992) is diluted too much to even promote staying in the theater. The first half of Alien3 (1992) is the only portion of the film that even hints at suspense.
During this portion of the film, Ripley tries to ascertain whether an alien managed to hitch a ride with her to her newest destination, a prison colony. However, as Hinson (1992)   Basically, she's dinner; if she doesn't get it, it's going to get her" (p. D8).
While Fincher did deviate from the successful genre formulas employed by Cameron and Scott he did develop more fully an underlying concept in all of the alien films, the concept of the characters being imprisoned. Doherty ( 1996) 1986 ) and The Terminator II: Judgement Day (1991), the powerful female lead · the minds of many. Prompting critics like Hinson ( 1992) to write, " ... she was Ill [Ripley] has spawned a whole generation of Terminator dames" (p. D8).
The increasing popularity of strong representations of female characters 72 was evident in even the pure action genre films such as Lethal Weapon III ( 1992).
The action film series starring Danny Glover and Mel Gibson had until the third film primarily depicted women in the traditional action genre way ... namely as a wife, a victim, a daughter, or a love interest. While the supporting lady, Officer Cole, in the third film was designed to play both Mel Gibson's love interest and eventual "hindrance at the crucial moment" she was overtly tougher than the usual supporting lady.
In a comical exchange with Mel Gibson's character Officer Cole enters in a competition over which one has more, bigger, and impressive scars. While this exchange obviously leads to a romantic interlude, the scene also serves as a reminder that women can be tough too. Officer Cole is even given the opportunity to illustrate her masculinity when she later rescues Mel Gibson. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, Officer Cole eventually returns to the woman's traditional role of damsel in distress and is curiously absent from the film's marketing (see appendix). These facts should not overshadow the fact that Officer Cole's character was a far cry from the nameless and clueless supporting women in earlier action film series such as Rambo.
Interestingly, while many of the female characters in the science fiction, an d action genres were being depicted stronger, smarter, and more horror, eo us than ever before, Ripley was being depicted as weaker, slower, and courag 73 more frightened than ever. Alien3' s ( 1992) marketing offers a glimpse at just how much Ripley had changed in terms of her strength and courage (see appendix). Inness (1999) Inness (1992) argues, "The similarities to a rape scene are unmistakable" (p. 112). Inness' conclusion seems harsh until one considers the meaning of the phrase "Double Y Chromosome." Human sex is noted medically by whether a human has two X chromosomes or one X chromosome and one Y chromosome (Halpern, 2000). To put it simply, a person with two X chromosomes will exhibit (baring no medical complications) the female reproductive organs. While a person with one X chromosome and one Y chromosome will exhibit male reproductive organs.
Along with sexual reproductive organs some researchers believe that a person's biological sex will directly affect their behavior and communication abilities (Anderson, 1998).
For example because of their biological sex women are '"wired' from birth" (p. 88) to be more sensitive to non-verbal cues (Anderson, 1998). In contrast, men are better with spatial visualization enabling them to do things such as parallel-park better than women. In addition, researchers believe the Y chromosome leads men to compete for females and Goldsmith states, " ... This competition expresses itself in various ways, often in aggressive interaction between males ... with males becoming larger and more aggressive than females" (quoted in Anderson, 1999, p. 94).
Having just been informed that the male figures, who are cutting off an Sc ious Ripley's underwear, have not only the usual one Y chromosome to uncon 75 make them large and aggressive but two, Inness' ( 1999)  Well I guess I must make you nervous" (Alien], 1992) and then sits down right across from him. This brief scene is notable because it establishes how the double Y chromosome effected Dillon and the other inmates by causing them to murder and This scene also reestablishes Ripley's tough, no-nonsense demeanor that rape.
was dominant in Alien ( 1979) and Aliens ( 1986). Although, one would think that after spending the last hundred years or so being attacked by eight feet tall aliens with acid for blood, Ripley would not be too intimidated by an average size rapist and murderer. Whether Ripley is scared or not, from the beginning of Alien3 ( 1992) it is evident that she will undergo power struggles reminiscent of the ones she had with Parker and Brett in Alien ( 1979). Therefore, it is surprising that Bowman ( 1998) states, "By the time of Alien3 (1992), Lt. Ripley had become completely defeminized, appearing in masculine attire and with shaved head, and living on terms of near-equality with a crew of 'double Y-chromosome' male convicts" (p.

35).
The only area in which Ripley lives on "terms of near-equality" with anyone on the prison colony is in dress and hair style. Since Ripley's clothing was left on her last ship and her underwear was removed in order to attend to her wounds, she wears the same prison uniform and boxer shorts as the rest of the men. In addition, because of an outbreak of lice, Ripley shaves her head with the rest of the inmates. Ripley's shaved head has garnered most of the attention of reviewers and critics of Alien3 (1992) (Canby, 1992;Doherty, 1996;Inness, 1999;Jennings, 1995;Tasker, 1993). Inness (1999) alone argues that Ripley's shaved head makes her more feminine and vulnerable appearing because Ripley is shown naked in a shower inunediately following her hair cut. Admittedly this would follow Clover's (1992) Final Girl concept that suggests that the audience needs to be reminded of the Final Girl's femininity after she does something masculine. Inness' (1999) knowledge of 20 1 h Century Fox's intentions further supports her argument: When the idea of showing Ripley with a bald pate was first suggested, the studio conveyed to Weaver that she would be allowed to be bald only if she appeared attractive. If she were unattractive, the bald look would have to go. The studio wanted Ripley to be tough, but no so tough that male viewers would not find her sexually desirable (p. 112).
However, many other critics view Ripley's shaved head as a further move towards the androgyny that marks a female protagonist in the horror and action genre films (Jennings, 1995;Tasker, 1993). Tasker (1998) argues: The butch/androgynous/tomboy action heroine brings with her associations of same-sex desire, suggesting a lesbian body ... If the shaven-headed image of Ripley produces her even more as a (butch) lesbian body than before, it is in this film that she has a (hetero )sexual encounter with disgraced doctor Clemens (Charles Dance) who is dispatched fairly shortly after. This equivocal play with gay and lesbian desire and identity has become a defining feature of the genre, though it is handled in diverse ways (pp. 71-72).
While critics like Tasker (1993) and Jennings (1995)  everyone about the alien Andrews merely screams, "Get this foolish woman back to the infirmary" (Alien3, 1992). The words barely leave Andrews' mouth before the aforementioned alien bursts through the ceiling and carries Andrews by the bead back into the airshafts.
In contrast, Clemens, like Hicks before him, is a more sensitive male who is not only able to treat Ripley as an equal but also is willing to help her in anyway possible. However Clemens' sensitive nature is one of the many contradictions Fincher problematically includes in the diluted Alien3 ( 1992). Following an offcamera sex scene with Clemens, Ripley notices that Clemens has a prison bar code on the back of his head. Later, Clemens discloses that he had been released from Despite her lengthy hypersleep, Ripley's last romantic interest, Hicks, had just died along with her foster daughter and therefore one would think there would be a t of mourning for Ripley. Instead Ripley shed a few tears during the roomen Sy of Newt but there was not a single audible reference to Hicks by name in au top the entire film. The only time Hicks' name was on screen was during the opening sequence where his name is ominously typed out followed by the word, "DEAD" (Alien3, 1992). It is as if Ripley was making a conscious effort not to talk about her ex-boyfriend while out on a first date with Clemens.

Most likely Fincher did want to push Ripley's earlier relationship with
Hicks out of the minds of the audience so that Ripley did not seem cold and callous. The fact remains that Ripley did forget Hicks and quickly propositioned Clemens for sex. Doherty (1996) suggests that Ripley's proposition of Clemens was designed with ulterior motives in mind stating, "However, perhaps to salvage some of the feminism of the previous installments, she's not only an object of desire but a subject of one ... " (p. 196).
Ripley's proposition of Clemens did not have that impact on many viewers such as Hinson who failed to see any strong representations in Ripley's proposition. Hinson ( 1992)  . . ·es with a mix a look of half-pride and half-embarrassment as she replies, mqulfl "You must have been looking in a lot of key holes" (Alien3, 1992).

81
The entire interlude seems to be a problematic collage of what viewers had come to expect from Ripley (strength and aggressiveness) and what viewers had come to expect from traditional female characters such as Princess Leia or even Officer Murtaugh (screams and sex). The presence of Ripley's sexual urges becomes immediately more confusing when one realizes that Sigourney Weaver was the one "who demanded a love scene" (Jennings, 1995, p. 203). Why would a 5 foot 11 inch strong female actor with "liberal political values" (Abramowitz, Unknown) demand to be simultaneously the object and subject of desire?
The answer to that riddle is the question itself. Sigourney Weaver is a strong woman with an imposing physical presence and therefore is rarely cast in anything close to a romantic role. Since Aliens ( 1986) Sigourney Weaver had three major films: Gorillas in the Mist (1988) , Working Girl (1988, Ghostbusters (1989). In Gorillas in the Mist (1988) Weaver portrays Diana Fossey' s real-life struggle to study and preserve gorillas in the wild. Unlike other leading actresses' films set in the wild, such as Meryl Streep's Out of Africa (1985), Weaver was not cast against a romantic male star like Robert Redford. Instead Weaver extended her independent-female type cast by portraying a woman who succeeds virtually on her own. Weaver's shot at romance fared little better in Working Girl (1988) in which she plays a domineering advertising guru whose main form of succeeding is backstabbing those around her such as Melanie Griffith's character. While Weaver's character in Working Girl (1988) is given a handsome boyfriend, Harrison Ford, they do not appear on camera together and the more feminine Melanie Griffith eventually steals Weaver's man.
Ghostbusters (1989) cast Weaver in the closest thing to a sexy woman and even then she is possessed in the end of the film by an evil being which turns her into a woman more strong and terrifying than the aliens she fought in Alien (1979) and Aliens ( 1986). Weaver's bad luck in casting led one interviewer to inquire why Weaver never acts in love stories. Weaver replied, "I'm still hoping that as I mature in this business, I'll be able to play some Simone Signoret parts. I mean, I know its preposterous, but I'm hoping that I'll actually be given a chance to do some love stories, because I find those really wonderful to do" (Abramowitz, Unknown). Understanding Weaver's desire to be cast in a romantic role helps to clarify why she would demand to have a love scene with Clemens. As mentioned earlier, Fincher' s camera angles play with gender expectations and also serve to frame Ripley's face in a way reminiscent of actresses in the 1950s. Jennings (1995) states, " ... given the beautiful way in which her [Ripley] close-ups are litthey conjure up parallels with the likes of Garbo and Dietrich [see appendix], who were two stars who specialized in the head-fetish shot" (p. 203). By framing Fincher' s knee-jerk reaction to confine as Inness (1999) states, "the threat posed by her [Ripley's]  Ever tough, Ripley gets up and punches one of the prisoners, who is already on his hands and knees after being hit by Dillon, knocking him out.
Unlike the scene in Aliens (1986) in which Ripley is rescued by Hicks, in this rape scene Ripley demonstrates no ingenuity or any of the street smarts that bad kept her alive to see this sequel. In Aliens ( 1986), Ripley sees that there is no way out of the medical lab where she and Newt are trapped with two aliens so she sets off the sprinkler with her lighter. In the rape scene Ripley knows that she is similarly surrounded, but rather than think of an ingenious way to call for help, such as screaming, she tries to run. The tough action hero Ripley in Aliens (1986) did not run from the Mother Alien into the other aliens. Instead Ripley used reason and a flame-thrower to get out of that situation. In Alien3 ( 1992), Ripley's masculine ability to reason must have been siphoned into her libido because she does not even try to fight her attempted rapists. Bear in mind that Ripley did have a huge piece of metal, the android Bishop, in her arms and at least she could have swung him around like a purse. In addition, having Dillon show up and singlehandedly incapacitate all of the prisoners, sends a message that one person could have fought his or her way out of danger, but that on· e person had to be a hypermasculine, double Y chromosome male.
Once again Fincher used an odd type of check and balance to insure that Ripley did not stray over the line of appropriate feminine behavior. Fincher' s treatment of Ripley is not in any way novel as seen in Clover's (1992) analysis of Final Girl films. However, the number of times Fincher choose to use Ripley's "tits and scream" (Clover, 1992, p. 58) to remind viewers that Ripley is still feminine is a record within the Alien film series. Fincher's achievement in . tently feminizing Ripley and his dilution of the genre formulas in science cons1s

fi
. n horror and action films combine to create an awkward film that does not 1cUO ' ' quite resemble the preceding Alien films or the traditional representations of gender found in the Rambo or Lethal Weapon film series. Doherty (1996) summarized Fincher' s contradictory achievement in Alien3 ( 1992) best stating: Where Alien unapologetically affirmed Ripley's strength and tenacity, where Aliens developed Ripley's maternal side as a progressive extension of the well-rounded woman warrior, Alien3 can't decide whether it wants to eroticize or de-sex her, to celebrate her for being assertive or chastise her for being uppity (p. 196).
The ending in Alien3 ( 1992) definitely tips the scales in favor of the 86 chastising Ripley "for being uppity" because she is left with little alternative but to kill herself. Having discovered that the evil Company is planning on removing the Queen alien embryo from Ripley's chest and bring it back to Earth to use in their Weapons Division, Ripley decides that she would rather die than allow them potentially to destroy the Earth. Ripley's decision to kill herself further illustrates the extent that Ripley lost her previous masculine ability to be ingenious in a time of crisis.
Ripley was aware of the fact that she was impregnated with a Queen alien embryo for the last third portion of the film and yet she does nothing to try to save herself. Remember, this is the same woman who deciphered an alien distress message in Alien ( 1979); planned a detailed defense against an army of aliens and 11111!1 d a full-body sized forklift to fight the Queen alien in Aliens (1986); and use showed a man with an I.Q. of 85 how to operate a medical scanner in Alien3 87 ( 199 2). Ripley is somehow unable to imagine or plan to remove the alien embryo from her chest using the same medical facility used to diagnose her. The Ripley of old would have certainly considered this more practical option of survival rather than to just give up and beg Dillon to kill her. Unfortunately for Ripley, Dillon still had the masculine ability to reason and would not agree to kill her until she helped him kill the other alien that was already on the loose.
Ripley was forced to kill herself and the Queen alien inside of her before the foolish, capitalistic Company, could try to tame the alien species that had so devastated everyone Ripley had known in the past 60 years. However noble Ripley's sacrifice was meant to be some critics such as Inness (1999) viewed Ripley's death as a political statement. Inness (1999) wrote, "Her [Ripley's] death serves as a warning to women who, like Ripley, might rebel against gender constraints and adopt tough personas" (p. 113).
The idea that Ripley was just too tough or had too many masculine traits and abilities to be allowed to live in the 1990s is perhaps a valid concept in light of how films with strong female leads or co-stars end. Films such as Lethal Weapon III 0992) and Terminator II: Judgement Day (1991) end with the strong female characters firmly in their traditional places of committed romantic partner and rehabilitated yet loving mother. Doherty ( 1996) Doherty's (1996) point concerning the lack of imagination on the part of the filmmakers of Alien3 (1992) is perhaps more credible than a concerted effort on the part of 20th Century Fox to send a "warning to women" as Inness ( 1999) suggested. Sigourney Weaver, as discussed previously, played a larger than normal role in the making of Alien3 (1992) and it was Weaver who decided to kill off Ripley. Weaver said, "No, I was very happy to die off. First of all, I had heard they were going to do this "Alien Versus Predator," and I wanted to get as far away from that as possible" (Thompson, 1997). Therefore, the filmmakers of Alien3 (1992) had a larger burden than the previous directors and writers of Alien films because they were given the challenge of how to kill off the archetypal female hero in a way that would not alienate viewers. Considering this fact, the filmmakers did a decent job of meeting the challenge. Although the overall impact of Ripley's death was a further weakening of what was once an abnormally strong character in the science fiction, horror, and action genres. When Alien3 ( 1992) ended with Ripley's death the Alien film franchise seemed to be at an end. To many, including Sigourney Weaver, the death of Ripley and the aliens was a relief. Weaver stated: ... one of the reasons I died was really to liberate this series from Ripley, 'cause I didn't want her to keep waking up, "oh my god, there's a monster on board." I didn't want her to become like this figure of fun that no one ever listened to and kept waking up in one situation worse than the next. So for the sake of the series and also because I heard they were going to do "Alien vs. Predator", something that I thought sounded awful, I wanted out (Author Unknown, 1997). 90 Weaver's determination to bring the Alien series to an end before she and the series began to become a "figure of fun" was not shared by others within the 20 1 h Century Fox corporation. Roughly five years after Alien3 (1992), Weaver was lured back to 20 1 h Century Fox by a new script written by Joss Whedon, the acclaimed screenwriter of Toy Story (1995). Weaver related, "It was a good script because this regime at the studio is very committed and they're very proud of the Alien series and they weren't going to just rip-off the Alien series and make a lot of money" (Author Unknown, 1997).
In addition to Whedon's strong script, Winona Ryder had also agreed to act in the fourth installment of Alien thereby insuring a bit more credibility for Sigourney Weaver and the film. While relatively young (29 years old) Winona Ryder had established herself as a serious actress in dramatic roles such as How to Make an American Quilt (1995) and period pieces such as Little Women (1994).
Ryder's tendency to lean towards serious films led even the studio interviewer to inquire as to her motivation for acting in an Alien film. Ryder responded, "I tend to go more towards period pieces because they happen to be better scripts. But I've always wanted to do a great sci-fi ... I'd never read a good science fiction script, or a good action type movie script. They're always so incredibly bad and especially the female parts" (Author Unknown, 1997).
Ryder's comments suggest that the fourth Alien film intended to offer a strong representation of the female characters. How well the filmmakers succeeded in transferring those intentions onto the silver screen will be discussed later in the chapter. However, it is clear just from following the money that Alien: Resurrection (1997) (Kahn, 2001). Female actors in contrast earned significantly less. Demi Moore was the highest paid actress in 1997 with $12.5 million for her lead role in Striptease (Kahn, 2001). With $12.5 million being the high in 1997 for female salaries, Weaver was undoubtedly appreciative of her $12 million salary and perhaps a bit bitter.
This examination of the financial aspect behind the making of Alien: Resurrection ( 1997) leads to the curious question of why 20th Century Fox was willing to put so much money behind a film series whose last installment, Alien3 (1992), was so unprofitable (see chapter 3). Clearly 20th Century Fox was impressed by Whedon' s new vision for the Alien cinematic franchise. Alien: Resurrection's Producer Bill Badalato went on record stating, "This particular Alien has reinvigorated the genre and reinvigorated the franchise" (Author Unknown, 1997). While there is little doubt that Whedon's script "reinvigorated the franchise," that was previously killed by Weaver, Whedon's ability to reinvigorate the genre is questionable primarily because the genre category Alien: Resurrection's ( 1997) belongs to is questionable.
Genre: 93 Thompson quoted Weaver as saying, "If the movie is perceived as a horror film then that's not very satisfying .. .If it is perceived as a provocative sciencefiction piece, we have done our jobs" (1997). This particular quote is helpful in understanding the genre intent of the filmmakers of Alien: Resurrection ( 1997).
However this statement also raises some questions in light of other statements Weaver has made. Weaver said, "And I think so much of it [Alien: Resurrection] is original while the spirit of it is very much a cross between the first and second" (Author Unknown, 1997).
If Alien: Resurrection ( 1997) was as Weaver suggested "a cross between the first and second" Alien films, then Alien: Resurrection (1997)  Call' s humaneness far surpasses that of Bishop in Aliens ( 1986) and Alien3 (1992) in that she wishes to destroy the aliens and save the human race while Bishop is programmed to respect life so deeply that destroying anything living is reprehensible. An important realization is that Bishop could similarly place the second and third Alien films within the science fiction genre if applying Kawin's (1986) reasoning. Although, unlike the previous three films, Alien: Resurrection (1997) does create a new understanding of the aliens and their society.
Unfortunately any understanding of the aliens gained by the characters in the fourth Alien film is quickly pushed aside by the characters desire to survive.
Therefore, like the first three films, Alien: Resurrection ( 1997) leans toward the horror genre in its treatment of Ka win' s (1986) third step "closing vs. opening" (p. 2 47). This step determines whether the film tries to create a learning community with the new lifeforms or whether they try to kill the lifeforms. Given the vicious nature of the aliens it is easy to understand why the characters in Alien: The remaining characters merely wanted to escape from the aliens or kill them.
Therefore, the fourth Alien film leans once again into the horror genre. However, it is notable that this fourth film, which Weaver wanted to be viewed as a "provocative science fiction piece", is the only one film in the entire Alien series that truly blurred the line between the horror and science fiction genres. Alien: Resurrection's (1997) predecessors were primarily horror films in space and while Whedon, Weaver, and Jeunet did not entirely change the genre of the Alien franchise, they certainly "reinvigorated the [science fiction] genre" portion of the genre hybrid that controls the Alien franchise.

Gender Norms ofGenre(s):
The science fiction/action hybrid genre's gender norms in 1997 did not differ greatly from science fiction's gender norms in previous years with females overwhelmingly being represented as weak and males being represented as strong.
The one major difference in 1997 science fiction/action hybrid films was a new tendency to base the film's storyline around female characters and then create a male protagonist to either save or kill the female. Luc Besson' s The Fifth Element (1997) and Roger Donaldson's Species (1995) are good examples of this new genre trend and incidentally were two of the highest grossing science fiction films in the late 1990s (Kahn, 2001).
Besson's premise for The Fifth Element (1997) is that every 5,000 years a door opens between two dimensions: our existence as we know it and an existence filled with an anti-life force. The only weapon against this anti-life force is a temple with spaces for four inanimate blocks representing the elements of earth JOO (earth, wind, fire, water) and a space for a fifth element that will animate the four elements into an undefeatable weapon. This fifth element is a super-being that has been lost for almost 5,000 years. Earth's scientists discover a single cell of the super-being and clone it into a female human form named Leeloo.
During the process of cloning Leeloo, Earth discovers that an unknown flying object is quickly approaching the planet and can not be stopped by the  (1995) can be explained by the psychoanalytical theories discussed in Chapter one. Sobchack ( 1990) wrote, " ... in their repressed and potent combination as a sign evoking male fear and desire -sex and women figure significantly, if covertly, in shaping the basic structure of the genre and initiating its major themes" (p. 104). Therefore, unlike Leeloo's evolution from a superbeing into the submissive role as a "hindrance at the crucial moment" (Bell-Metereau,1985, p. 209) in The Fifth Element (1997) Sil evolves from a incredibly bright young girl into a monstrous symbol of "male fear and desire." Either way the status quo for gender norms in the science fiction/action hybrid genre is held steady and "imbedded like concrete in the Eisenhower era" (Doherty, 1996, p. 194 (Clover, 1992, p. 58) arrive early and frequently in G.I.

Species
Jane (1997). and her character on display is to remind viewers that "she really is female-even as, and despite the fact that, she in the end acquits herself 'like a man"' (Clover, 1992, p. 58 (Clover, 1992).
Secondly, Scott's genre accomplishment was ignored or missed by many.
G.I. lane (1997) did worse than Alien3' s (1992) dismal box office sales with only $ 4 8.2 million tickets sold domestically (Kahn, 2001) or $51. l million accounting for inflation (Friedman, 2000). The lack of ticket sales does not necessarily indicate that viewers could not relate to the films message or the genre formula used. However employing Baktin' s notion of genre evolution suggests that something in G.I. Jane (1997) did not meet the audience's expectations of the film based upon it's genre formula (Flanagan, 1999 , Scream (1996), Scream II ( 1997), and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997. Wes Craven, the creator of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, created a parody of the horror genre films titled, Scream ( 1996). Scream ( 1996) is set in a small, affluent, community filled with teenage horror film fans . Craven introduces viewers to the obvious Final Girl with the androgynous name, Sydney, whose mother had been brutally killed a year prior to the beginning of the film and the sudden murder of two local teens. Craven includes numerous horror film cliches and also many remakes of Nightmare on Elm Street's scenes and costumes. The most interesting portion of Scream (1996), in terms of this study, comes when a group of teens are watching Halloween ( 1978) and discussing why Jamie Lee Curtis is always a virgin in her horror films.
One teen proceeds to give the others an impromptu lecture on the rules of the horror genre films . Randy says: There are certain rules that one must abide by to successfully survive a horror movie. For instance, number one you can never have sex ... sex equals death. Number two, you can never drink or do drugs -the sin factor. It's a sin -it's an extension of number one. And number three, never say "I' 11 be right back" cause you won't be back (Scream, 1996).
Craven proceeds to play with this horror film genre formula by depicting  (Kahn, 2001) or $112.6 accounting for inflation (Friedman, 2000).
Craven's film was so profitable that it was made into a sequel the following year titled, Scream II (1997) and managed to gross only $1.5 million less than its predecessor (Kahn, 2001 (Kahn, 2001) or $76.6 million accounting for inflation (Friedman, 2000). ), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997 deviated from the Final Girl formula by allowing the lead character, Julie James, to lose her virginity and still survive. Unlike Craven's addition of Sydney's sex scene in the middle of the film to supposedly add suspense and doubt as to whether Sydney will survive, Gillespie adds Julie's sex scene in the beginning moments of the film. In addition, Gillespie does not return to Julie's overt sexuality until the final moments of the film when she is on the phone with her boyfriend.

Similar to Scream
In all other aspects, Julie is represented as the true Final Girl. Julie is the only one of the four teens who can see the big picture of their danger and discovers the identity of the killer. Julie remains androgynous, as a law student prone to wearing overalls, when compared to her friend, Helen, the winner of a local beauty contest and girlfriend of the town's star football player. Therefore, Julie is the only one that can find "the strength to either stay the killer long enough to be rescued (ending A) or kill him herself (ending B) (Clover, 1992, p. 35 The changes in gender norms for the science fiction/action hybrid, pure action, and horror genre films were evident but not exceptionally ground breaking lane (1997) and an increasing acceptability for leading· females to have sexual relations as seen in Scream (1996) andI Know What You Did Last Summer (1997).
"Alien: Resurrection" Compared: Comparing Alien: Resurrection ( 1997) to any of the aforementioned films is and arduous and depressing task for any fan of the Alien series. Joss Whedon said: "There's stuff I'm proud of, but some really big disappointments, Alien: Resurrection being first and foremost among them" (Lee, 2001). The most depressing aspect of Alien: Resurrection (1997) can be found in an examination of the films ticket sales.
Whereas Species' (1995) domestic gross was $60.1 million (Kahn, 2001) or $67.3 accounting for inflation (Friedman, 2000) and The Fifth Element's domestic gross was $63.5 million (Kahn, 2001) or $67.4 million accounting for inflation (Friedman, 2000), Alien: Resurrection (1997) only grossed $47.7 million domestically (Kahn, 2001) or $50.6 accounting for inflation (Friedman, 2000). To Alien: Resurrection ( 1997) is unable to get past the first 15 minutes of the film without some reference to sex or sexual desire. Elgyn, the captain of the space pirate ship Betty, says to his co-pilot Hillard, "You know, no matter how many times you see it -the sight of a woman all strapped up in a chair like that" (Alien: Resurrection, 1999). Then Elgyn just shakes his head in apparent admiration for the sight and asks Hillard to land in the military ship to which Hillard replies, "Darling, it is done" (Alien: Resurrection, 1999). Elgyn is an appreciative master and thanks Hillard saying, "Good girl" (Alien: Resurrection, 1999).
No where in any of the previous Alien films has there ever been such a blatant display of sexual desire or sexual overtones, not even in Alien3 ( 1992) when Ripley is almost gang raped! Later in the film it is insinuated that Elgyn and Hillard had a romantic relationship but that insinuation comes in the form of a scene depicting an almost entirely naked Hillard laying on her stomach, moaning while Elgyn, wearing a shirt and shorts, rubs her feet. Considering the confusion that the creation of an off-screen sex scene involving Ripley and Clemens in Alien3 (1992) caused amongst loyal viewers and critics of the Alien series (Hinson, 1992;Jennings, 1995), this scene alone turns the Alien series on its head.
Scenes such as the aforementioned were the standard in Alien: Resurrection ( 1997) and they involved almost every major character in the film. impression." Which prompts Elgyn to say, "She is severely fuckable ain't she?" (Alien: Resurrection, 1997).

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The reference to females in the Alien series as girls or little girls is far from a new experience (see chapter 3). Generally, as in the case of Superintendent Andrews in Alien3 ( 1992) the lack of respect for women denotes a rapidly approaching death. However, never before has the lack of respect for Ripley or any other female in the Alien series been taken to the extreme of overt discussions of sexual intercourse. Therefore, one may assume, as is the case in most horror films (Clover, 1992), that these hyper-sexualized males will be killed quickly, and in the case of Elgyn and General Perez that is true. Interestingly, Hillard is also killed early in the film.
Hillard's death is eerily reminiscent of Chrissie's in Jaws (1975) in that she is grabbed under water by a partially unseen alien and dragged to an unseen and presumably horrific death. Therefore, like Chrissie, Hillard's role in Alien: Resurrection (  what marked him as a victim in Alien: Resurrection ( 1997). More likely, Christie's death was due to the fact that he is an African American and no African American has ever survived an Alien film. While the Alien series had created strong representations of female characters, the films continued to exclude African Americans from the list of survivors. This race issue is dominant in numerous other genres and film series (Tasker, 1993) and unfortunately is outside of the scope of this particular study.
In terms of gender norms, Christie's death is an unexpected phenomena for a film that relies upon the horror genre formula. Christie's death is made more interesting because of the similarity, yet distinct differences, between his death and Hillard's. Clover (1992)  So boy, he must be feeling really vulnerable" (Alien DVD, 1979).
Overall, Johner is represented as a hyper-masculine, lust-filled, intellectually challenged male that should have for all intensive purposes been killed off early in the film or late in the film in an exceptionally gory way. Johner did not even play an active role in rescuing, killing, or protecting anyone in the final scenes in Alien: Resurrection (1997) and consequently his survival is an enigma. Johner's survival is even more curious than that of Christie's because Christie's death at least has a precedent whereas Johner' s survival is a novelty in the Alien series, horror, science fiction, and action films where he is not the hero.
Perhaps Joss Whedon's creation of Johner was meant to push the genre envelope I 18 or perhaps expand the gender norms in the hybridized Alien series. It will be interesting to see if other hybrid genre films began to permit their form of Johner or Rambo to survive in future films.
To see how the much commented upon relationship (Hunter, 1997;Maslin, 1997) between Call and Ripley evolves in the inevitable sequel to Alien: Resurrection ( 1997) will be interesting. This curiosity is based primarily on the point of whether Ripley and Call will continue to interact in a way that critics suggest contains "a titillating whiff of a lesbians-in-space thing with Sigourney, but that certainly goes unrealized in the actual picture" (Hunter, 1997, p. B. 14).
In the first scene together, Call sneaks into Ripley's cell to kill her before the scientists can harvest the Queen alien embryo inside of her. Before Call stabs Ripley she notices a scar on Ripley's chest, peaking out from her low-cut tank top, and realizes that the embryo has already been removed. Ripley finally nonchalantly asks, "So are you going to kill me, or what?" (Alien: Resurrection, 1997 Let's see, I think that only thing feminist about Alien: Resurrection is that it's a big-budget picture with two strong female leads. And that's good enough for me. I don't see the Alien films as sociopolitical statements at all. What I think is horrifying is that in 1997, we're still talking about stuff like that. To consider that having a woman in a lead of a picture automatically makes it a feminist statement is appalling in itself (Thompson, 1997). 121 Weaver does have a point regarding the horrific aspect of immediately labeling a film starring a female as a feminist film, however as long as there are so few films out there with strong female leads critics and viewers alike will have a tendency to read more into them. Fortunately for Weaver, with the complete revision or destruction of the strong representation of women in Alien: Resurrection (1997), she will most likely not be subject to any more critiques of strong female protagonists. Unfortunately for viewers and critics alike, without major changes in storyline any future Alien film will most likely be merely an average Hollywood film filled with crass sexual innuendoes aimed at furthering the objectification of the females in the film while building up the masculine egos of the males.

Conclusion
This study employed a detailed examination of and comparison between and among each of the four films within the Alien series to explore and demonstrate distinct differences in gender representation in the series. This study has also determined that there exists a relationship between these differing gender representations and concurrent changes in the gender norms of films created for the primary target audience the United States with secondary international audiences. This determination was aided by a detailed examination of the gender norms in multiple genres including science fiction, action, horror, and hybrid mixtures of these three. In addition, gender representations in other films contemporaneous with each film in the Alien series were examined in order to provide an additional basis of comparison for the gender representations within the Alien series. In all cases, each of the Alien series films was compared to films made during the same historical timeframe.
Chapter one examined the first Alien film in lerms of the genre formulas the film followed and the gender representations within the film. In addition, chapter one detailed the purpose of genres and discussed what the gender norms were for the horror and science fiction genres. These examinations yielded a better understanding concerning the novelty of the gender representations within Alien (1979) and how the film conformed to the standard gender norms applicable to each of the genres extant [or present] in Alien.
Chapter two discussed the lack of changes in the gender norms for the horror and science fiction genres during the period of the making of Aliens and introduced the action genre's gender norms. Chapter two also discussed the impact and possible reasoning behind the addition of a third genre to the Alien series and found a significant difference between the gender representations within the first and second films in the Alien series. Through comparison with Aliens' (1986) contemporaries within the horror, science fiction, and action genres, this chapter illustrated that the changes in gender representation between Alien ( 1979) and Aliens ( 1986) mirrored the gender norms during the mid-1980s.
Chapter three similarly illustrated how the gender representations within Alien3 (1992) mirrored the gender norms within the horror, science fiction, and action genres present in the early 1990s. In addition, this chapter focussed upon possible financial motives for the major differences between and among the gender representation in Alien3 ( 1992) and its predecessors. Sigourney Weaver's statements concerning her career aspirations were assessed in order to discuss her role in the dilution of the strong female representations within the Alien series.
Chapter four further discussed the financial motivations for the dramatic changes in gender representation in Alien: Resurrection ( 1997) as compared to its predecessors. Chapter four revisited the discussion in chapter one concerning Kawin's formula for the assessment of the genre of a film and applied those findings in order to assess the genre(s) of Alien: Resurrection (1997). After determining that Alien: Resurrection ( 1997) employed the genre formulas of the horror, science fiction, and action, the gender norms of those genres during the late-1990s were examined. Chapter four concluded that Alien: Resurrection (1997) will not only be likely to lead the way for future Alien films, but also that this fourth film of the series marked a complete transition away from the relatively androgynous gender representations that made Alien ( 1979) a best-selling film.
These findings represent a contribution to the academic community as a baseline examination to assist future scholars in studying the complex relationships between gender representations and gender norms. However, there are limitations to the findings of this study in terms of scope and the extent to which the findings can be generalized to other films within comparable time periods and genres. As mentioned previously in the introduction, this particular study addresses only one film series and therefore is not representative of the treatment of gender in all films made during this period. This study also purposefully narrowed the scope of discussion to focus solely upon issues of gender, gender representation, and gender norms. Therefore, this study in no way encompasses an exhaustive review of the cultural or film production issues present in the Alien series.
The Alien series is rich with possibilities for future research in areas such as representations of race, technology, and religion. Future studies should also examine the possibility of applying other theoretical perspectives to the Alien series such as psychoanalytical, post-modern, semiotics, or Marxist theories.
Future scholars may find the conclusions and observations in this study to be worth revisiting as well, particularly as our understanding of the complex relationship between film and gender evolves and grows in complexity. Scholarly work with yet to be evolved perspectives could be applied to this study to yield an entirely new interpretation of the Alien films and their depiction of gender norms and genres.
By that time the Alien series may have grown in terms of the number of sequels and will offer an even greater opportunity to study changes in gender representations and gender norms over time. Fan maintained web-sites are currently monitoring rumors concerning a fifth Alien film in the planning stages (Schmitz, 2000). Sigourney Weaver has fostered such rumors by stating, "I don't feel quite finished [with the Alien series]. So its funny. At this point I don't think any of us are on fire to do another one, but I wouldn't rule it out completely" (Head, 2001).