Rebirth: The Return to the Womb

You might have thought I'd exhausted the subject of Alien (1979), but you were wrong.  I have so much more to say!  Get excited.

I would like to go into part of one of the prompts for the first essay: "While Frankenstein and Alien both attempt to deconstruct gender difference, both texts ultimately reinstate the male/female opposition and give precedence to the values of the feminine. Discuss, with reference to the film and the fiction."  I think that there are some really interesting parallels between these two texts, but I really just want to cover the circular formation of  Alien (1979), and how it serves to both deconstruct and then reinstate the gender roles of its characters.

The conflict is created when Kane, the ship's (male) second-in-command, disturbs an egg on a foreign planet.  The alien attaches itself to his face and he becomes the surrogate for this life form until it rips through his stomach in a twisted version of childbirth.

It is in this reversal the biological roles of man that confirms the deconstruction of gender roles previously hinted at within the film.

Ripley has the more traditionally masculine characteristics of logic and levelheadedness, while Dallas is more inclined to take risks based on his emotions.  He is the one who insists that Kane is let back into the ship, despite the danger this presents to the rest of the crew members.  He violates protocol once again by trying to cut the alien off of his friend's face in an attempt to save his life. 

As they are terrorized by the monster on their ship, Ripley remains cool and collected, fulfilling the kick ass quota necessary to all films of this genre, although generally played by a man.  It is not until she is the last one standing that we are reintroduced to her womanhood.  She strips down to her undies, in what we might consider a predictable fashion for a horror film, however it is so random here because of how unfeminine our protagonist has been throughout.

This reminder of feminine sexuality serves to prepare us for a return to social constructs.  We are completely thrown out of the norm, forced to accept a man giving birth and a woman succeeding in the Darwinian game of survival of the fittest.  Now we must return to reality. 

In order to reinstate "the male/female opposition and give precedence to the values of the feminine," the alien must be reborn in a way that can be considered normal.  Then, naturally, it must be destroyed.  We are given this imagery when Ripley propels the alien from the pod, not unlike the way it originally hatched at the beginning of the film.  The alien hangs from the ship from a pseudo umbilical cord which is eventually cut by explosive flames from the engine.

The alien's rebirth is initiated by a woman and it comes from what is identified as the feminine "mother" ship.  This is a final representation of a return to the accepted gender roles.  Ripley is re-feminized, and the alien is at last born of a woman.  Everything is "right" in the world.