Two Scenes of Alien-Analysis

Last Supper and Here Kitty Scene Analysis

Alien is a Sci-fi/Horror film directed by Ridley Scott and stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt and John Hurt. It is about a crew of a spaceship called Nostromo, who find a horrifying discovery of a life form that breeds within a human host. The crew have to fight not only for their own survival, but for the survival of all mankind before they get home.

The social-political and historical context behind this film is not completely obvious but it's there throughout. At the time of the film's debut, the Cold War was still going on. The problems and issues facing the nation in 1979 changed the way Alien was received by it's audience.  Feminism and the role of women in society were going though a turning point the 1970s. Roe vs. Wade, the supreme court case establishing a women’s right to an abortion was passed in 1973 and women were fighting for equal rights to men. Therefore making a woman-Ripley-the main character, was a huge risk. However it was successful, but if the film had been released a few years earlier, audiences might not have accepted such a strong women as the lead character. Since the beginning of the Cold War, Americans feared communism and the Soviet Union.  Like the classic science fiction horror movies in the past Alien uses this fear of the unknown. What set Alien apart was they ways it combined this with other types of horror films. Alien was released in May of 1979, a short time after the partial nuclear meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Technology getting out of control is a theme presented in Alien. People could identify with their lives being put in danger by machines that they could not control.

The first scene I am going to be analysing is the Last Supper scene where Kane's stomach bursts due to an alien being inside of it. This is also feminist as it is birth of a living organism which only females can do. The scene is set in the 'dining room' area of the spaceship. It is very high tech for an eating area as there are a lot of buttons and small lights on the wall panels. At the beginning of the scene is a long shot, as you can see the whole crew eating a meal. Everybody is in focus as they are all significant to the scene at that point, however when the shots change to see the individual characters, the characters themselves are in focus and the rest is blurred such as when the shot goes to Ash. 

The first thing you notice is Kane himself as after the straight cut, he is the first to move. After the long shot, the shot keeps switching between close ups of Kane and mid shots of other characters such as Parker and Ash. The majority of the shots are at eye level, however there are some 'over-the-shoulder' shots such as when Lambert is speaking. There is slightly more lighting on Kane as he is the focus of the entire scene. The scene then builds up gradually as everyone is having a laugh. This is diegetic sound as it is in the scene along with the faint spaceship noise in the background. There is then a small amount of tracking before Kane starts to cough and the happiness dies down.  Because of this the concern rises. Everyone is shocked over what is happening and you can see it on their faces. 

The props used in this scene is tableware used for eating with, such as plates and spoons, and the costumes, which does actually run throughout the whole film. The costumes are very similar designs and colours to let the audience know that they are a crew. There is a steady rhythm throughout this scene before the stomach burst and then a fast pace as everyone is trying to make Kane better. This scene evokes disgust and terror in the audience, when Kane's stomach bursts, along with the fear that something similar might happen to them. You also feel horrified at the blood spurting out of Kane's stomach, the fact that somebody has invented this idea and that the alien is capable of many things. Some people may expect something horrible to happen as Alien is a horror and there is a huge build up of suspense too. 

   The next scene I am going to evaluate is the Here Kitty scene where Brett is searching for a ginger cat who is on board the ship. This scene is set in the damp storage part of the spaceship which may be why the alien chooses to hide there and wait for it's pray. At the beginning of the scene we see Brett calling for the cat by 'meowing' and shouting 'Here kitty'. This is a contrast of humor against the dark matter that is about to occur. There is then a cut to see a lot of industrial type materials such as tubes and equipment.

Brett enters the shot from the right hand side and comes into the middle which can be classed as rule of thirds. For the majority of the shot, everything  is in focus until Brett finds the cat and of course, the alien. There is slight panning of the materials before Brett enters too. Tracking is then used to create a mid/long shot. The camera is mostly at eye level or a low angle for when we look up to the alien, to show that the alien has more power than us humans. The shot then changes to a mid shot. We then see a few rays of light coming from the ceiling showing Brett that it is raining inside of the storage room. 

This is a pathetic fallacy, as it cannot rain indoors and certainly can't rain in space. The rest of the lighting is very low-key and this may be to do with the face that Alien also has factors of film-noir in it. There isn't much sound at all in this scene despite constant clanging of chains which is diegetic as you see them in a cut. This scene is again built up-you know something is going to happen but you are unsure where. The producers have used the cat as it's defenseless and they know that the audience will find the cat adorable as it's found it's way onto a spaceship without meaning to. 

This then stops when the cat hisses and we see the alien behind Brett. You then see the alien open it's mouths, as it has two, and then the scene cuts to Parker and the rest of the crew in a separate part of the ship. The audience can only assume that Brett has been killed. This evokes fear as the audience now know how the alien is capable of killing and this is probably intended by the creators.