(https://66.media.tumblr.com/ba6b44db34a7bf5ff7ab76140efcb3f8/fc90f75103b81a3f-24/s640x960/874e644eb492d9fac96e3904ae7ebafcd8a4d94c.jpg)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/1EPz9-mXNatCe-VJkGA9GGbZoMunyI2mMom0nrhpWXw6Pcg1E7cqS6swzdKoZMj-3PDHDUGhByzn5shyR7OONZ0Rt4r4EgA9vUWb3Rg0cD9lNzWGNb_WNID6r6nIe4K225MsWrq-qTeFCRnteNbMFTf-dle_OnkGLVUEKA)
https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/alien-covenant-disturbing-sexuality/
Greetings. The above-linked article is a nice primer that looks at the disturbing sexuality explored both subtextually and textually throughout the franchise and how Covenant contextualizes this theme.
Now, for those that subscribe to the interpretation that David did not explicitly create the familiar star beast and is not ultimately responsible for its design, life-cycle, etc, this is valid insofar that he's an unreliable narrator and full of egotism and grandiosity as a creator; he gets the author of Ozymandias wrong and more ironically lacks the self-awareness to recognize how the poem pertains to the inevitable downfall of kings and rulers.
Now Ridley is explicit about David being the designer and maker of the creature, yes, but Ridley also insists on Deckard being a replicant in Blade Runner. Now his view is valid and can be supported by the film but so can the contrary. Covenant is very much the same given that the accelerant is an ancient virus that pre-existed David's machinations. I certainly think it's valid that even the engineers are not the progenitors of this virus and simply came upon it, wielded it with varying success but ultimately were destroyed by it.
David has an advantage in that he's synthetic and super intelligent and thus can wield the technology without the fear of being destroyed by it (thus far, anyway...), so he can unlock its secrets and blueprints more than the engineers ever could. However, one note is off, David's programming is unstable, and his "protomorph" is not quite the biomechanical beast nor is the life cycle he engineered from his crossbreeding experiments in line with the classic life cycle we know. So, it's just as valid to make the inference that the star beast has existed in its original form at some point before it was atomised/liquified, etc, as the tarry accelerant (black goop), for whatever reason. How it originally came to be and where it ultimately comes from remains a mystery.
On the other hand, David as the creator is another valid inference given how resolutely evocative it is of human sex organs. It's a walking, murderous, drooling dong. David's sexual hangups have been touched on by the artist Matt Hatton when he describes his pathos, indeed, David is built to be so close to a human yet cannot procreate; he can experience a simulacrum of human feelings such as love, etc, but cannot exhibit their function for mating. How does an increasingly unstable and satanic A.I. compensate for such conflict and, well, penis envy? Why... you create an organism that is a violent perversion of human reproduction, of course. The facehugger itself is two adult hands fused, a vagina and a phallus and literally rapes the host, before providing it oxygen. This thing is adapted quite wonderfully to human mammals. Themes of cold technology/A.I., sexuality, death and their fusion and transfiguration is something H.R. Giger explored throughout his art and a lot of the masterpieces he painted were visions of the future, not the ancient past. So David as creator has thematic merit and should not be dismissed without some careful consideration of Giger's themes in his body of work.
To whatever view you subscribe to is fine by me and makes the prequels rewatchable, even if we don't get a third installment (I'd love to see it wrapped and how much further the David character can sink into madness.)
Cheers for reading! 8)
UPDATE:
Far meatier exposition of the sexual perversion of the franchise (sans the prequels) right here:
https://plotandtheme.com/2016/05/18/the-xenomorph-and-the-perversion-of-sex-in-alien/comment-page-1/#comment-25294
Excellent synthesis, I do not agree with the article though, it's on point about Prometheus' qualities, but not completely elsewhere, for example the fact the film begins as a traditional Alien film, but warps into something completely unique.
"No one else understands the lonely perfection of my dreams."
Yeah there's a few things I didn't agree with the article, especially towards the end, but thought it was a good enough primer on the subject for those that don't really think about the more sexual elements at play. I love that the origins of the pathogen are still not clear, yeah we know how it works more from David's exposition, but it's nonetheless completely unclear how it came to be in the first place.
I'm fully onboard with David being the creator. Everything expressed here is just digging into the meat of the idea and I love it.
I hear lots of complaints about how the theme of the franchise is cosmic Lovecraftian horror, so not only is it a problem to learn the origins of the creature, but it's even more of a problem that the creature is man-made by extension.
But I've always focused more on the body horror and perversion of sexual norms, and David's story fits those themes well. It's interesting, weird, unexpected, and justifies these prequels existing. We've assumed for years that the space jockeys made the alien. If we'd gotten the "Alien: Engineers" version of the script, it would have simply confirmed that and left the room. Not very interesting. (But at least we wouldn't be left hanging by Covenant's cliffhanger ending.)
If Alien: Awakening officially goes back on the idea of David being the creator to satisfy fans, so be it. I'll accept it. (As stated here, they left enough narrative wiggle-room to back out of it, but I doubt that was intentional.) But until then, David's serving his role by raping fan expectations and making them squirm. That shit's bold.
As I've stated before, I'd prefer the Alien itself as responsible for the eldritch beings responsible for the Alien's existence, going extinct. But apart from essentially Dan O'Bannon's original idea, I'll take "Perfect AI" creating the "Perfect Organism" with the fire of Gods long since gone, over "Engineers" or "Humanity" creating the Xenomorph XX121. It's an improvement on Prometheus overall, yeah the Pathogen's function's now clear, but you're right we don't know it's origins. Although I enjoy Covenant, I enjoy the first three films a whole lot more, and any one of them I place higher in quality over above the aforementioned.
Quote from: David's Creation on Mar 22, 2020, 04:41:24 PM
I'm fully onboard with David being the creator. Everything expressed here is just digging into the meat of the idea and I love it.
I hear lots of complaints about how the theme of the franchise is cosmic Lovecraftian horror, so not only is it a problem to learn the origins of the creature, but it's even more of a problem that the creature is man-made by extension.
But I've always focused more on the body horror and perversion of sexual norms, and David's story fits those themes well. It's interesting, weird, unexpected, and justifies these prequels existing. We've assumed for years that the space jockeys made the alien. If we'd gotten the "Alien: Engineers" version of the script, it would have simply confirmed that and left the room. Not very interesting. (But at least we wouldn't be left hanging by Covenant's cliffhanger ending.)
If Alien: Awakening officially goes back on the idea of David being the creator to satisfy fans, so be it. I'll accept it. (As stated here, they left enough narrative wiggle-room to back out of it, but I doubt that was intentional.) But until then, David's serving his role by raping fan expectations and making them squirm. That shit's bold.
This, basically. I used to be very skeptical of the idea of David being the creator, but really it's sort of brilliant in a way. I still think it's a bit of a shame the mystery is now mostly gone, but thematically it's just too interesting to dismiss it so easily. So I hope they stick to their guns for the next film, but if they do something else with it that's possible too. As long as it doesn't make Covenant irrelevant.
Quote from: Fiendishly Inventive on Mar 22, 2020, 05:06:06 PM
I'll take "Perfect AI" creating the "Perfect Organism" with the fire of Gods long since gone, over "Engineers" or "Humanity" creating the Xenomorph XX121.
It is still an interesting way to look at the prequel lore, no doubt.
Quote from: Necronomicon II on Mar 21, 2020, 07:19:53 AM
Themes of cold technology/A.I., sexuality, death and their fusion and transfiguration is something H.R. Giger explored throughout his art and a lot of the masterpieces he painted were visions of the future, not the ancient past.
This is equal interesting however. Maybe the Giger World is never meant to be a Space Jockey creation, or an ancient Eldritch setting; but something from a distant future where humans are long gone. Maybe humans are destined to become something else. A biomechanical transhumanism where sexual reproduction, in somewhat bizarre ways, is the key to survive or take over. Carbon-based life forms mutating their life cycles and all that shit. Giger's Übermensch so to speak.
Some really cool thoughts and replies here guys, glad there's others that share some of my musings. I'd love to hear John Logan give his thoughts on all this at some point, the guy doesn't seem to have much of a media presence though. Ultimately I think we can have our cake and eat it too - David took a primordial, eldritch - ancient, amorphous star spawn, origins unknown - moulded it into more of a rapey, phallic form, but it's still nonetheless alien in nature and origin.
Even though I was disappointed with David being the creator, I like the idea of a robot creating life, life that is made of sex organs and rapes you because david can't and may lack a penis.
Right on. It's gloriously twisted and Giger-esque.
Really enjoyable article, I've seen a lot of discussion where people refuse to even acknowledge the sexual nature of all the films and the titular creature (which boggles my mind).
I really enjoyed A:C after seeing it at the theater but hated the idea of David creating the Alien. Since then I have warmed up to the idea more and am now okay with it (even if I still hold out some small hope that the black goo is alien to even the engineers and that the original alien derelict is not Davids handy work). Anyway I think Covenant is a flawed but beautiful and interesting film. For me it's Alien, Aliens, and both Alien3/Alien Covenant are #3 for me.
Love the backburster scene in particular but the alien on the ship at the end is the weakest part for me. I love David as character and love the dark/cruel ending where he wins. Most of the lore violations like the facehugger/impregnation times don't really bother me much anymore.
Quote from: Necronomicon II on Mar 21, 2020, 07:19:53 AM
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/ba6b44db34a7bf5ff7ab76140efcb3f8/fc90f75103b81a3f-24/s640x960/874e644eb492d9fac96e3904ae7ebafcd8a4d94c.jpg)
(https://media.giphy.com/media/11gC4odpiRKuha/giphy.gif)
:D ;D
Quote from: Necronomicon II on Mar 21, 2020, 07:19:53 AM
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/ba6b44db34a7bf5ff7ab76140efcb3f8/fc90f75103b81a3f-24/s640x960/874e644eb492d9fac96e3904ae7ebafcd8a4d94c.jpg)
Spoiler
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fehealth.eletsonline.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F06%2Fthumb_Up.jpg&hash=c31e58dce1795ee069a32d69e2be0f9f26c27fec)
Very juicy.
David's drawings are like a Hipster porn magazine :laugh:
Just beautiful.
Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Mar 22, 2020, 05:42:12 PM
Maybe humans are destined to become something else. A biomechanical transhumanism where sexual reproduction, in somewhat bizarre ways, is the key to survive or take over. Carbon-based life forms mutating their life cycles and all that shit. Giger's Übermensch so to speak.
Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Sep 27, 2020, 07:10:26 PM
Quote from: Immortan Jonesy on Mar 22, 2020, 05:42:12 PM
Maybe humans are destined to become something else. A biomechanical transhumanism where sexual reproduction, in somewhat bizarre ways, is the key to survive or take over. Carbon-based life forms mutating their life cycles and all that shit. Giger's Übermensch so to speak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WVDcxrRJ_M
(https://i.ibb.co/9Vj51YV/tenor.gif)
Spoiler
When I thought Mother was turning into a scifi vampire...surprise! She is not just the last hope of mankind, but also, she seems to be evolving. Her child is carbon-based after all.
I checked out the article and I have a very different take on sexuality in the Alien franchise.
* I didn't find David's attraction to Walter to be very disturbing considering what I have seen before in Alien movies.
- The horror in "Alien" is fundamentally based on rape. The facehugger makes that clear. And Ash trying to shove a rolled up magazine down Ripley's throat just adds to that.
"Aliens" and "Alien 3" don't have much creepy sexual imagery.
- But "Alien Resurrection" definitely does.
The licking of Ripley by her huge hybrid baby and Ripley falling into the Xeno womb so to speak, in AR is definitely creepy.
- On top of this, artificial intelligent life forms having heterosexual relationships was already established in "Blade Runner". I realize they were genetic clones but still, they were designed.
If heterosexual replicant sex had already been established, I don't think it's very shocking that androids might be interested in homosexual relationships. Why not?
* As for who created the Xenomorph, I have realized for several months that Ridley is not making another Alien movie. Disney doesn't want that.
- This means the David story is over because I don't think Disney is going to continue that.
The Alien franchise is limited to the movies that we have.
So, all the plans that the Fox studio had for several prequels and what Ridley said during the press coverage for "Covenant", no longer applies.
- Instead, the Canon explanations for the origin of the Xenomorphs, made before & during the release of "Prometheus", are the ones which are valid.
* The Space Jockeys/Engineers created the Xenomorphs as weapons. They are related to the Deacon which we saw in "Prometheus".
There is a Xenomorph egg in the wall sculpture from "Prometheus".
- What did David do? He re-created what the Engineers had already done many years before.
;)
He got closer to re-creating big-chap due to the advantage of being synthetic, however one note is off, he's missed some things in the recipe/method.
I found the article kinda "meh" to be honest.
As to Aliens and Alien 3 lacking in the sexual imagery... I mean as J.C. himself said, the sequels by nature of being sequels and retaining the designs will always include that imagery on some level. The aliens exist to rape and destroy all life that they encounter. If it can be used to breed, it will be bred, if it can't, it will be killed, and likely used to construct more hive. (As we see in Aliens, body parts are used in the walls of the hive... Xeno and human alike.)
As to David being the creator or not... I went hard and heavy on my feelings about that many years ago on these forums. I do think Covenant offers enough wiggle room with the fact that David demonstrates that he's malfunctioning on some level. And as someone else pointed out above... The OG egg is in that painting. Meaning that the xenomorph predates the events of Prometheus.
I still hold to the idea that the Engineers are just pretenders, just as David himself is a pretender. The real ancient horror is lurking out there in space.
Also, to be perfectly honest, there is nothing in Covenant that really touches on the sexuality side of the Alien, either. No more than any of the other sequels. A few scant innuendos in the dialogue and the implication that Shaw's barren womb was repurposed for the eggs... Ehh? Which is more-or-less a reuse of an idea we already saw in Prometheus, basically.
I think Requiem had more on the subject of rape visa vi the Alien and being violated than any of the other films since the original.
The only exception might be the extremely bi-polar Newborn who's behavior only began to make sense to me when I realized it was supposed to be a boy. Can't f*ck the queen, so he kills her. Can't do the nasty with Gediman, so it kills him.... Gets curious about Call... Can't do it with Distephano so crushes his head... Then Ripley... Yep. I can totally tap that. That's about it though. That's more overt implications of sexuality... But is it any good? The answer is no, because nothing about Resurrection is any good.
I will say this though. The artwork done for/"by" David is pretty damn good. Captures the spirit of Giger, quite well.
Quote from: OpenMaw on Sep 26, 2022, 10:44:43 AMI found the article kinda "meh" to be honest.
As to Aliens and Alien 3 lacking in the sexual imagery... I mean as J.C. himself said, the sequels by nature of being sequels and retaining the designs will always include that imagery on some level. The aliens exist to rape and destroy all life that they encounter. If it can be used to breed, it will be bred, if it can't, it will be killed, and likely used to construct more hive. (As we see in Aliens, body parts are used in the walls of the hive... Xeno and human alike.)
As to David being the creator or not... I went hard and heavy on my feelings about that many years ago on these forums. I do think Covenant offers enough wiggle room with the fact that David demonstrates that he's malfunctioning on some level. And as someone else pointed out above... The OG egg is in that painting. Meaning that the xenomorph predates the events of Prometheus.
I still hold to the idea that the Engineers are just pretenders, just as David himself is a pretender. The real ancient horror is lurking out there in space.
Also, to be perfectly honest, there is nothing in Covenant that really touches on the sexuality side of the Alien, either. No more than any of the other sequels. A few scant innuendos in the dialogue and the implication that Shaw's barren womb was repurposed for the eggs... Ehh? Which is more-or-less a reuse of an idea we already saw in Prometheus, basically.
I think Requiem had more on the subject of rape visa vi the Alien and being violated than any of the other films since the original.
The only exception might be the extremely bi-polar Newborn who's behavior only began to make sense to me when I realized it was supposed to be a boy. Can't f*ck the queen, so he kills her. Can't do the nasty with Gediman, so it kills him.... Gets curious about Call... Can't do it with Distephano so crushes his head... Then Ripley... Yep. I can totally tap that. That's about it though. That's more overt implications of sexuality... But is it any good? The answer is no, because nothing about Resurrection is any good.
I will say this though. The artwork done for/"by" David is pretty damn good. Captures the spirit of Giger, quite well.
This is a meatier analysis of the sexual perversion of the franchise, sans the prequels —
https://plotandtheme.com/2016/05/18/the-xenomorph-and-the-perversion-of-sex-in-alien/comment-page-1/#comment-25294