rewatching some of the movies in anticipation of romulus, it struck me that in the alien movies we only ever see a tiny glimpse of the universe and have no clear understanding of the world the movies take place in. we know there are powerful corporations and profit is a thing, but really not much more than that. are there still nations? governments? is earth a nice place to live or a giant dystopian slum? how many colonies are there, how much of humanity actually lives in space? we don't even know if there are other aliens humanity might have encountered.
rewatching, i realized this creates a kind of claustrophobia and disorientation for me, upping the horror. aliens probably did this the least, as it showed more than any other movie of the world which seemed pretty much like corporate america of the 80s in space.
special shout-out to alien resurrection, which watching this time felt like it portrait humanitys fall into some kind of banana republic style military dictatorship, without explicitly stating it, leaving one in doubt. also with that ominous line of earth being a "shithole" preferring to stay with the aliens which makes you wonder why (not counting the special edition ending here as canon).
so just like the space jokey and derelict, i feel like the mystery around the actual state of humanity is a plus and likewise should only be expanded upon sparingly. which is a reason i probably won't like the tv show! at the same time the movies managed to create the sense that there IS a larger world and the answers could be given, but just aren't.
anyway, hope someone enjoyed my ramblings! cheers!
