Why the Alien has not return in more dramatic grotesque forms: CENSORSHIP

[acrediblesource]

So the question i pose to you is clearly : Why the Alien has not return in more dramatic grotesque forms
'The answer is simple' : Censorship or being X-Rated

Now people wonder why Ridley hasn't exploited a new genre of Alien/human horror is the fact that there is one thing that is generally understood and that film makers CAN NOT DO: Defamation of the human form that crosses the border of what is tasteful and what is profoundly a desecration of the human form for the purposes of entertainment.

For instance: To place a Penis is front the viewer is completely outrageous. IT AUTOMATICALLY changes the rating to NC-17.Or X-rated.
Not that the alien is a penis, but the idea is not just a penis. There are things like heads exploding, defaming the human form with abstractions that are deemed too sick or disturbing for adult viewers. Then you change the association of the film to something that is more along the lines of SNUFF films. So unless things like this change in the industry, I don't believe Alien films will ever see the light of day. We will get however, half baked Aliens in more intelligent stories that contemplate existence and GOd..ect ect ect ect ect.......

Consider this, The Last of Us is SORT of surpassing censorship but it still has some way to go as it were JUST A GAME.  You are not going to find a zombie film that exploits a face becoming some deformed mash for the entire film, but it would appear in shoddy 3 second poorly created practical effect.

HR GIGer is a prime example as his works depict things inwhich we would NEVER see in film unless certain censorships would move aside for it to be done. For example, photorealistic babies diseased and in weird molds and such.
Something like that on film would disturb the crap out of people and would probably be censored out to get a PG rating.


So my point is not to be entirely angry at this reason but its just to hold a light to the legal ramifications of why we haven't gotten a truely HORRORIFIC Alien film lately.  Prometheus did do a good job at keeping things fresh and nodding to Gigers legacy of work. I just would like there to be more of that. Otherwise, there is going be a mess of shoddy Alien Covenant sequels.

[Paranoid Android]

I disagree with your argument mainly because the things you describe as "too sick or disturbing for adult viewers" really isn't so outrageous nowadays:

Showing a Penis to a viewer is becoming pretty common, with the latest example being David Simon's series The Deuce, which depicts the prostitution business in late 70's New York.

Showing exploding heads is also pretty common, with the most recent example that comes to mind being Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOkRuuejR9s

Exploding heads were featured in films since at least the early 80's, with David Cronenberg's Scanners being probably the most notable example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Lnz64vXB8

[SM]

Alien has made a habit of 'defaming the human form' right from the start with the Aliens using humans as incubators then violently exploding out of their chest.  Then when they grow up they rip the front of your brain out.  This has continued to an autopsy of a little girl, and a chestburster popping out of someone's head.

What was considered over the top 30 odd years ago however, isn't so shocking these days.

[acrediblesource]

Yes they are doing it, but they AREN'T DOING IT deliberately for the films premise.  Its just a shock moment in an action flick.

Difference is :

We EXPECT it from an ALien film.

By ALIEN I mean an expectation from a large franchise with visuals based on the shocking ART of some surrealist painter with fairly good story telling.

point end.

[SiL]

...what point?

[whiterabbit]

An erect penis is a no-no I thought? Just flaccid or alien monster penis look doesn't warrant the x-rating, right?

[SM]

...what point?

Yeah I think I'm missing it too.

[Baron Von Marlon]

I guess he means that there's gore present but it's used the wrong way at the wrong time, decreasing the impact.

Like how in Game Of Thrones they allow terrible things happen to lead characters, often good people, characters we care about.
And that, let's say in Covenant we care less because we have less interest in the characters, thus delivering something gory or brutal but in a context that makes it seem average.

I do think the franchise should be darker. The ending of Covenant is one of its good points imo.
But I want darker. Like The Mist or Seven. Those are just... Pow!

[Scorpio]

HR GIGer is a prime example as his works depict things inwhich we would NEVER see in film unless certain censorships would move aside for it to be done.

I totally agree with this.

He has always had his hands tied by hollywood.

Case in Point:

H.R.Giger: So I build up this egg with a top like a vagina. But when the producers turned up in my studio, they exclaimed, "Oh that's too specific! We can't show such things in Catholic countries. Can't you change the egg just a little bit?" So to satisfy Catholic audiences, I modified the egg, and made the opening a cross on the top. (Cinefantastique vol 9, no 1, p35)

Original Alien egg design (note the vaginal like opening):

[SM]

Nonsense.

Giger spent his entire career painting exactly what he wanted.

Movies are a different beast where you have to work as a team and that means compromise.

[Paranoid Android]

Yes they are doing it, but they AREN'T DOING IT deliberately for the films premise.  Its just a shock moment in an action flick.

Difference is :

We EXPECT it from an ALien film.

By ALIEN I mean an expectation from a large franchise with visuals based on the shocking ART of some surrealist painter with fairly good story telling.

point end.

I am not sure what you mean by this. If we are to use Game of Thrones for comparison (one of the most popular TV shows in the world), are you saying that we don't expect beloved characters to encounter gruesome deaths in that series? Because if you are, I'll counter by saying you've never watched Game of Thrones.

Killing/hurting beloved characters in such ways is a staple of the show, used in order to undermine classic fantasy conventions. Oberyn Martell's head crushing death is hardly the first outrageous moment in the show. The show has featured people losing limbs, girls getting burned alive, pregnant women getting stabbed in the gut, people losing limbs and heads, people sowing dead animals' heads to corpses, people getting castrated, raped, poisoned and flat out squashed like insects. How is it even possible to argue that there's no expectation of grotesque visuals from that show? More importantly, where is the censorship you were talking about in the original post that supposed to stop future Alien films from presenting gore?

[acrediblesource]

This is not about Game of THrones.
ANd Please jesus, i stated NOT about short shocking moments. I'm talking about CONTROVERSIAL themes, monsters, etc. that make it difficult for directors to get past censorship and asked to change things in order to make it a lowered rated movie.
I doubt TV does any of that considering the amount of corporate involvement as appose to a film director.

and could you please stay on topic. ALot of movies out there with the same affliction, i was hoping more people here would already know about.

[Paranoid Android]

What controversial themes, monsters etc? Give me one example to what you mean, cause everything you gave as an example up until now has been used many times in both mainstream Hollywood cinema and on prime time TV.

[SM]

I'm talking about CONTROVERSIAL themes, monsters, etc. that make it difficult for directors to get past censorship and asked to change things in order to make it a lowered rated movie.

Such as?

[SiL]

Vaginal lips on the egg weren't a rating issue, for example.