Ripley: The Lone Voice of Reason

On the surface, the movie, Alien might appear as if it is solely about dangerous aliens attacking, and given, that is an important of the film. But if you look closely, there are underlying themes embedded in the interactions between the crew members.While watching the film, I noticed a big theme of trust. Although the crew members appear to be "getting along", there is still a level of disunity between them. The theme of trust emerges first when Kane discovers the alien and it attaches itself to him. Ripley insists that they not let him back into the ship because it violated the protocol and could risk all the other crew members' lives. 

On the other hand, the leader of the science division, Ash, insists that they let him back in. Ultimately, the crew unwisely goes against Ripley's wishes. Once the alien "detaches" itself from Kane, Ash decides to keep the species, much to the dismay of Ripley who believes it is another risk. But she concedes again. Subsequently, Ripley has a confrontation with Dallas, in which she scolds him for giving Ash full authority and putting too much trust in him. Ripley stated, "I don't trust anyone."

As the movies unfolds, Kane promptly starts going into convulsions at the dinner table and an alien ends up exploding out of his heart. With this new threat, the crew members are desperately trying to find the alien and prevent more deaths. But the fact of the matter is that all of these events could have been prevented if they listened to Ripley. Realistically, I know that wouldn't make much of an interesting movie, but the level of disrespect to Ripley's insight is appalling and utterly foolish.

As a whole, the cinematography in this movie is amazing! The scene where the alien popped out of Kane's heart almost made me jump out of my seat. I am very excited to continue watching this movie and would like to see if the crew can successfully stop the alien. Specifically, I am interested in Ripley's character development and if the crew members will start listening to her.