Was Lambert raped by the Alien?

[Elmazalman]

The Alien was curious by nature,we got a sense of that with Brett's alternate death,the way it reached out to him while he was trying to scream.Lambert's clothing might have been removed by the Alien-not for the purpose of rape,but to examine the human female form,of which she was the first to be encountered by the creature.The creature's curious habit of removing crew member's clothing wasn't just reserved for females,Capt Dallas was also missing his jacket,sock and shoe ( cocoon scene ).

[PsyKore]

I remember on the Quadrilogy DVD somewhere Ridley Scott says the Alien does something more "heinous" to Lambert. However, I think it's open to interpretation. The rape thing is appealing, though, because it adds another disturbing layer to the horrific creature.

[Russ]

Also, didn't O'Bannon say in one of the documentaries that the Eureka! moment was when he mate said to him "what if it f**ks them?"

At the time, there was no back-story, no legion of fans and all that stuff - I can imagine them saying "let's make it look as though its going to rape her - that'll freak the shit out of people." "Let's do it!"

Retrofitting reasons into the stuff we see is great fun, but I reckon these guys just wanted to think of the sickest stuff to scare our parents (OK, my parents) in the 70s. Everyone on this forum knows that the inherent horror of "Alien" was the fear of our bodies being violated - I guess this scene is just more overt?

That said, the evidence below would contradict that - she got stuffed in the locker and died of fright: But I don't believe 'em! I really think that was their intent - amping up the horror, amping up the horror, amping up the horror.

Blanking our mind's canvass of what we know about the Xeno now compared to that first movie - Facehugger impregnates Kane, Kane "hatches" the Xeno... there's no more facehugger, so... what is that Xeno doing with its tail thing that's going up between poor Lambert's legs.

I'm actually grossing myself as I type - which, as I say, I feel was their intent back in the day.

[SiL]

The "What if it has sex with one of them" was the face-hugger, not the adult.

[irn]

It would definitely fit the psycho-sexual imagery of the alien better.

[SM]

Everyone on this forum knows that the inherent horror of "Alien" was the fear of our bodies being violated - I guess this scene is just more overt?

How overt can it be when we never see what happens to Lambert or what's left?

[Russ]

How overt can it be when we never see what happens to Lambert or what's left?

Something vaguely phallic heading up between her legs? Overt's the wrong word, though - It's implied. I just think they wanted to freak people - and that was all part of it.

The "What if it has sex with one of them" was the face-hugger, not the adult.

I'm not sure the full lifecyle had really been thought out at stage of the game, so as I say above, I think that they may have wanted to imply that something had happened.

Or, you can just go with what you see. Lambert got scared and off camera the alien took her trousers and shoes off and hung her up, killing her in the process somehow. Maybe she wasn't even dead, maybe the tail was supposed to be like a scorpion sting that paralysed her ready to be cocooned. 

Or ,as Elmazalman points out, it might just have been curious.

[LastSurvivor92]

Everyone on this forum knows that the inherent horror of "Alien" was the fear of our bodies being violated - I guess this scene is just more overt?

How overt can it be when we never see what happens to Lambert or what's left?

I agree with SM here. Without seeing factual film of Lambert falling to her fate we won't ever REALLY know what happened to her. Her dieing of fright is extremely possible but I like to be a little more creative in my thinking and assume she was violently raped in some way or attacked brutally. Lambert seemed the most afraid of the creature and I think that building up of fear led to one of the most brutal attacks left on a crew member. Its one of the death scenes that will always be left up for interpretation. And if you think about it, Lambert is the only crew member that doesn't have a complete death scene where we actually see her death. Its left for us to create the nightmare in our own heads.

[Gash]

I think, what with the tail heading where it's heading, and the grunting of the alien, it's certainly implied to be something of a sexual assault. Her scream seems to fit with that better than dying of fright as well.

But that's why it's off screen, so you can use your imagination and conjure up the worst. The bare legs and dripping blood are all you need to see to know that Lambert probably suffered more than anyone else, 'cept Dallas.

[Valaquen]

I wonder what the threads would be like if Scott kept the Alien tail clip in its original place.

Did the Alien rape Brett?   

[Russ]

Possibly  - "what if the alien f**ks them?" doesn't have to apply to just the facehugger. Or the girls. That's why its so horrid and scary, I guess

[wmmvrrvrrmm]

Ridley's actual view of what was going on with Lambert when he talked about it in the Alien Quadrilogy commentary, where he seems to suggest that he accepted the implications of the sexual ambiguity of the scene and if he's changed his view since then, well, that's up to him.

Ridley Scott: I mean we didn't know how she died but er, the implication that there was a kind of sexuality to this androgenous male/female who could give birth itself, it could also impregnate, so it's like a , there are insects like that, we based that on a , you know a little bit of good old mother nature and erm, was that some dreadful ending, was that some terrible you know invasion of her body, a rape and therefore would there be a version of the Cartwright character. There'll certainly whatever happens, there'd be more humanoid aliens now on board this craft and that's what she's now got to destroy.

[LastSurvivor92]

I think, what with the tail heading where it's heading, and the grunting of the alien, it's certainly implied to be something of a sexual assault. Her scream seems to fit with that better than dying of fright as well.

But that's why it's off screen, so you can use your imagination and conjure up the worst. The bare legs and dripping blood are all you need to see to know that Lambert probably suffered more than anyone else, 'cept Dallas.

I agree man and I think it makes sense for the Alien to be 'somewhat' sexual considering how sexual Giger's art is. To assume that she just died of fright is rather blaze. I think anyone with an imagination would think up something much darker than "Oh! she just died of a heartattack." The way she was dangling and screaming should indicate to anyone that she was being attacked or violated in some way, shape or form.

[Valaquen]

Ridley also said in the commentary:  "She's always like, two steps from a heart attack, which I think she finally does at the end – have a heart attack."

It's really not meant to be obvious what happened. You're not meant to be able to say 100% either way.

[LastSurvivor92]

Ridley also said in the commentary:  "She's always like, two steps from a heart attack, which I think she finally does at the end – have a heart attack."

It's really not meant to be obvious what happened. You're not meant to be able to say 100% either way.

Wouldn't you rather assume though that she was just scared and was brutally attacked by the Alien. To say she just died of a heartattack doesn't really make the Alien frightening. To assume the Alien actually did something to her makes that scene wayyyyyy more scary.