Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 25, 2015, 03:57:37 PM
I know the feeling, Russ.
HuDa is completely right. Hicks and Newt are no more vital to the over-arcing story of the Alien than Morse or Johner. They maybe more likable (Newt is debatable) but no more important. Hicks and Newt are important to Aliens because the theme of Aliens was the atomic family and maternity.
That theme wasn't present in any other Alien film. Morse is just as vital to Alien 3 because that was a film about desperation and hopelessness. What's more hopeless than the dredges of humanity flung out into space.
I think we may be getting to the heart of the matter, Hicks (it only took 45 pages). The second two films are lesser than the first because of the changes written to Ripley. We (the Aliens fans we) know that A3 went through a gazillion rewrites, sets being built with no script in place... all that stuff.
But here's the thing: "most people" need to connect with movie characters on an emotional level. I was blown away with PO's post because this really just occurred to me (in this context) when he wrote it. Morse might be funny in a deranged way, Johnner might be a "cool" anti-hero but we don't really give a crap about them. We don't
connect with them, we don't care if they live or die.
The crews of the Nostromo and Sulaco on the other hand, we do care. And Ripley cares about
them (in 3 she cares about killing the alien, in 4... actually, I don't know about 4).
We (general public we) especially care about Hicks, Ripley and Newt and we hope that they will end up happy ever after (they hint at all the time. The way Hicks is looking at her when she's doing her opening speech, the "I can take care of myself" piece, the "See you, Ellen" bit... the way Ripley deals with Newt's hot chocolate issues, the way she sleeps under the cot... all that stuff.
Now, I get that A3 wasn't supposed to be like that - it is all the things you say it is. But perhaps it fails because, ultimately, we can't connect with anyone in that movie. It's dark and depressing, a "fitting end" all that stuff. But it's a flawed movie as everyone acknowledges both in technical terms (rewrites etc) and in emotional terms.
Whereas 1 and 2 win on all levels because of the characters and the attachment we and Ripley feel towards them to a greater or lesser extent. She has a relationship with all of them to a greater or lesser extent - even Parker and Brett who she doesn't like particularly (or perhaps vice versa).
So no, Hicks and Newt aren't important in the story
as we have it - but they are important to the character and I'm thinking that PO has nailed why 3 and 4 are widely regarded as forgettable and / or crap by Joe Public, whereas 1 and 2 make onto every list of "Best Sci-Fi Movies" since lists of Best Sci-Fi movies started coming out. The themes of 3 (and 4) are wrong for the character established in one and two and they failed because of it.
What do you think?