Favourite Alien Movie?

[Kradan]

@Cocolyte Then I honestly don't know what to say. As SiL said, Alien's ending isn't presented as being a downer one - Ripley peacefully sleeping in a cryotube while melodic score plays over the closing credits. On the other hand, you have more of a case with Alien 3's one - we get the shot of empty cryotubes with Ripley's message from the first movie being re-played one last time - to juxtapose the moments when she survived and when she died, beginning and ending

[SiL]

Nihilism is the rejection of a moral code on the basis that nothing really exists or can be truly known.

That we make our own meaning is a rejection of nihilism - to say that even if nothing exists, I will still act with morality for my own purposes.

Ripley goes back to save Newt because she believes it is the right thing to try to do, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. It's perfectly consistent with her character in every other film.

[BlueMarsalis79]

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-nihilism-5271083#toc-five-theories-of-nihilism

Go down to existential nihilism.

[Cocolyte]

Nihilism is the rejection of a moral code on the basis that nothing really exists or can be truly known.

That we make our own meaning is a rejection of nihilism - to say that even if nothing exists, I will still act with morality for my own purposes.

You may be right about nihilism, but I'm not sure. Don't know enough here. I'll have to look into this more and discuss it again later.

Ripley goes back to save Newt because she believes it is the right thing to try to do, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. It's perfectly consistent with her character in every other film.

I think we're at an impasse here, though. I believe Ripley wouldn't believe that's the right thing to do, you believe she would think it's the right thing to do. I'll think about that and see what I come up with later. Need to digest the concepts if that's okay.

@Cocolyte Then I honestly don't know what to say. As SiL said, Alien's ending isn't presented as being a downer one - Ripley peacefully sleeping in a cryotube while melodic score plays over the closing credits. On the other hand, you have more of a case with Alien 3's one - we get the shot of empty cryotubes with Ripley's message from the first movie being re-played one last time - to juxtapose the moments when she survived and when she died, beginning and ending

I'll also have to rewatch Alien 1 and digest some of this before I dig more into it if that's okay. We've reached the limit of what I can say on all this I think. Anything past here and I'd just be making stuff up. Nobody wants that hahaha


@SiL @Kradan ping me next time all this stuff comes up. I'll probably have more to expound on by then. (if you want)

[Kradan]

Alright then, have a good evening (or whatever time of day it is where you live). I enjoyed our discussion, I hope you did as well

[SiL]

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-nihilism-5271083#toc-five-theories-of-nihilism

Go down to existential nihilism.

existentialism deals with the ways to address the lack of intrinsic meaning in the world. In contrast, nihilists do not, due to their rejection of their being, there isn't any meaning to be found.

The Alien films are if anything existentialist, not nihilist, as the characters find meaning in a meaningless universe.

Ethical nihilism contains moral subjectivism though.

@Cocolyte

think we're at an impasse here, though. I believe Ripley wouldn't believe that's the right thing to do, you believe she would think it's the right thing to do. I'll think about that and see what I come up with later. Need to digest the concepts if that's okay.

Certainly!

[Cocolyte]

Alright then, have a good evening (or whatever time of day it is where you live). I enjoyed our discussion, I hope you did as well

More than you might expect lol. Loves discussing medias

The Alien films are if anything existentialist, not nihilist, as the characters find meaning in a meaningless universe.

Ethical nihilism contains moral subjectivism though.

I thought that WAS nihilism. Hmm. Will look into this.

@Cocolyte

think we're at an impasse here, though. I believe Ripley wouldn't believe that's the right thing to do, you believe she would think it's the right thing to do. I'll think about that and see what I come up with later. Need to digest the concepts if that's okay.

Certainly!

<3

[SiL]

Ethical nihilism / moral subjectivism.

But the films don't really seem to play on the idea that there's no objective right or wrong. They're pretty clear the greedy corporatists are morally wrong and the working class schlubs just trying to get home and party are morally right.

[City Hunter Yautja]

For most of my life I would have answered ALIENS. It's an excellent film, a rare film that is as strong as it's predecessor, a structurally brilliant film. There's almost nothing you can fault it on. But ...

But for me, really, it's ALIEN. It's a standalone film -- not "a franchise" -- about encountering something profoundly alien and strange and dangerous. Scott paints with the camera, shows a universe that's huge and unsettling and shows how small we are in it. It's scott and Ron Cobb and Giger and Moebius and all the other designers that just gave it energy and vision and life, and the ensemble cast is strong, and ... it's just brilliant.

I always think with this kind of survey, the real interesting question is not your favourite (I guessed ALIENS would top out the poll and then yeild declining returns before I voted) but which is your second favourite. I think then we'd have a really interesting distribution.

As for my second favourite, I'd pick the rather unloved Prometheus.

Alien is a masterpiece, a Beethoven's 9th that is the "Perfect Organism" in every way. I rewatched it recently, and it enchants me. I never tire of it, from the opening credits to closing credits I am be-spelled, transported, and enraptured.

By the way the credits symphony is Howard Hanson's Symphony 2. A perfect final score to the tense, brooding, intense, esoteric, and eery music that proceeded it. 

[Local Trouble]

Alien also operates on everybody being an idiot. Much more explicitly. I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue.

Why Kane sticks his face into an alien egg ? Why Dallas and Lambert bring him back on board ? Why don't they make additional scans of Kane's body ? Why Brett goes to look for a cat all by himself ? Why Ripley goes to MUTHUR room all by herself ? Why Parker spends precious fuel on burning a robot ? Why Ripley spends time looking for Jonesy ?

Most importantly, why did Parker and Lambert get themselves killed gathering coolant for the air support system if the shuttle had three cryotubes?

[BlueMarsalis79]

Hahaha

[Crazy Rich]

[Local Trouble]

Honestly, if the company just wanted their little specimen brought back to them safe and sound, why not freeze Kane right then and there?  Maybe the company also wanted to see what would happen if Ash allowed the lifecycle to run its course, but that was never stated in SO937.  Did Ash go rogue?

[City Hunter Yautja]

Alien also operates on everybody being an idiot. Much more explicitly. I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue.

Why Kane sticks his face into an alien egg ? Why Dallas and Lambert bring him back on board ? Why don't they make additional scans of Kane's body ? Why Brett goes to look for a cat all by himself ? Why Ripley goes to MUTHUR room all by herself ? Why Parker spends precious fuel on burning a robot ? Why Ripley spends time looking for Jonesy ?

Most importantly, why did Parker and Lambert get themselves killed gathering coolant for the air support system if the shuttle had three cryotubes?

And why was there a room full of leaking water and chains?

[SiL]

That's the landing gear, leaking condensation.