Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 15, 2019, 12:06:12 PM
Hicks makes it through the end of Aliens. Morse makes it through Alien 3. Johner, Vriess make it through Resurrection. David makes it through Prometheus. Tennessee makes it through Covenant (and David, but he's antagonist by this point).
So that's 5 out of 6 films where male characters have made it through until the end. That's the exact same number of movies where a female character has also made it through to the closing credits.
It's not like these are films that are entirely male casts and one female. Both sexes die plenty in these films and we've also had men surviving until the end in most of the films actually.
Like I said earlier, for me the main problem is to do with the marketing showing us who the leading lady is and spoiling that she'll be one of the ones to inevitably make it through to the end. Leading lady = a final survivor.
I think you missed my whole entire point by counting vaginas and penises (sorry David) and seeing who made it through to the end.
Case in point, if someone wished that in the next Predator film, to freshen it up, the main hero role would be female, I wouldn't point out Anna or Leona made it through the end of P1 and P2.
I also wasn't referring to franchises where you have a reocurring hero like Ripley... which by time Aliens came out, Ripley is the star, she's the returning hero, and Hicks is just a side character, as is Bishop as is Newt. We all know Ripley is the hero going in. We came to see her. So take those first four films away.
What I was getting at is, if the Alien model of the future becomes like Predator where there is no returning hero, the predictability of your main hero always being female.. Shaw, Daniels, the 6 short films, and beyond, making them all female as a rule, will be a detriment to establishing horror and become predictable in my opinion. This is Alien. This is horror. They have a real opportunity here, to make horror films like the first Alien, where no character is safe. But you're not going to get there strictly by declaring Alien is a "female led franchise" and by doing so, telegraphing who's going to likely overcome beyond the others in each installment. That was my point.
Now, if they go back to a reocurring main female hero like Ripley, then we're not having this conversation.