Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Imprinted On My Psyche

Although I love most genres - erotica and erotic romance and all its subdivisions, horror, literary stuff, action, drama comedy etc - there's one in particular that has the power above all other genres to make me excited just because it is what it is. And by that I mean: if I see a trailer at the cinema for a sci-fi movie, I'll automatically be excited because it's sci-fi.

Some drab drama about gritty things happening in political situations? Nope. The latest gore-fest installment in the Mutilation Is Orsum franchise? No excitement from me. Some comedy starring what's his face and a cut-out love interest? I was too busy rooting through my pic and mix to be interested.

But give me some spaceships and aliens and other worlds and time travel machines and I will at the very least pay rapt attention to the trailer.

And to this day, nothing affects me more strongly, film-wise, than the Alien franchise.

No movie has invaded my dreams more intensely than the those three films have. No movie has informed my idea of what a strong heroine should be as clearly as those three films have.

And I know all of this now, more than ever, because of my response to the trailer for the new Alien movie, Prometheus.

I swear to God, summat happened to me when I heard that music. When I heard some woman saying we're sorry, we were wrong, so wrong. I'm not even sure why that voiceover resonates with me so strongly, and reminds me so definitively of the Alien movies.

But try as Ridley Scott might to deny it's not really a prequel, those things tell me it is. It's like the DNA of a true Alien movie has imprinted itself on my psyche, and everything about that first trailer awoke that DNA inside me. I watched it over and over, greedy for more details, for more of the iconic imagery I so love - the horseshoe shaped ship, the agony of that obscene birth, the space docks and the confined spaces and Noomi Rapace's beautiful face.

I hope they don't waste her, in it, because they couldn't have picked a better woman to take up Ripley's mantle. As Lisbet Salander, Rapace cut a jagged swathe through Dragon Tattoo, and all while maintaining a kind of gentle woundedness behind her eyes.

That's what I want. I want my heroine, fierce and sharp and still a woman all at the same time. I want the true Alien movie of my childhood again, to remind me of why I started loving science fiction, in the first place.

I love it because of Alien. And when I see that sci-fi trailer on the big screen, that's what I always dream and hope for: Ellen Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.

7 comments:

  1. I love those movies too. Going to see The Girl w/the Dragon Tattoo over the holiday. Hope it's as good as the books.

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  2. Charlotte - I just read your story in Aluring Tales: "O The games We Play"! I found it totally by accident.

    The Army has a huge ebook/audiobook online library that I have access too. I had Alluring Tales on hold for weeks because ti seemed like so many people were in line to read naughty stories. And then I finally got it and there you were - the lead off story. That means that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been getting off on your work. that is seriously cool.

    I remember Alien as being one of the very few movies that actually scared me. THere's like 3 of them. And the "chestburster" scene actually echoes real phenomenon that occurs in nature, mostly among those poor insects who have a much harder life than
    we imagine.

    Garce

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  3. There's actually four movies, and Sigourney kicked butt in all of 'em!

    I remember watching 'Alien' and being on the edge of my seat the whole time. Also hoping against hope that they wouldn't kill Ripley too and some jock would be the last man standing. Sometimes hope works!

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  4. Susan - I thought the Swedish versions were way, way better than the books. Am curious to see what this American version is like!

    Garce - really? That's so cool! Didn't even know I was in summat called Alluring Tales!

    Widdershins - come on, now - I'm the biggest Alien fan ever. You think I don't know there are four movies? I just don't count the fourth as in that had an impact on me category. In fact, if I'm honest, I don't count it full stop - in the same way I don't count AVP.

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  5. Oh yes, Alien is a great series, grim as it is. (Luckily, in my experience, giving birth is slightly less painful & life-threatening than the Alien version.)

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  6. I saw some of these movies. Enough to know I never wanted to see them all the way through. They were absolutely terrifying. I had trouble sleeping afterward. I'm not a horror fan, but scifi sometimes has horrific concepts. I loved Hellboy 2, which has many horror concepts in it, and have watched it many many times. Aliens and its sister films are out of my league. I get the impact of them on our collective psyche and society, and respect it. Noomi Rapace will be incredible.

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  7. Hmm. Am I the only person in the universe who has never seen Alien?

    I've seen clips, but I'm quite sure I've never sat through a whole flick. Possibly because, like Kayelle, I'd probably be up all night afterwards.

    But next week's topic, "Horror", should be fun...

    Oh, and having seen all three of the Swedish "Dragon Tattoo" movies, I'd hesitate to see the remakes. It's a Swedish book with Scandinavian sensibilities. I think some of the motivations might not really transfer.

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