Alien Woman: The Making of Lt. Ellen Ripley [Paperback]

C. Jason Smith (Author), Ximena Gallardo C. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826415709 | ISBN-13: 978-0826415707 | Publication Date: May 21, 2004

Alien Woman examines the construction of sex and gender in the four science-fiction films comprising the Alien saga (starring Sigourney Weaver). The Alien saga stands alone in presenting an enduring, self-reliant female protagonist, Ripley, who in the first film ends up as the sole survivor of the beleaguered starship Nostromo. Subsequent writers and directors in the 1980s and 1990s, left to grapple with this strong female protagonist, reenvision Ripley to for different social, political, and cultural imperatives for women. Alien Woman focuses on how these writers and directors have re-written Ripley and how each revision informs our understanding of women in science fiction. And by examining the films' creation and commodification of the female hero, the books illustrates how changing attitudes toward women and the female body help us understand broader societal beliefs and relationships, and provides a useful lens with which to understand woman's place in the late 20th century and early 21st century. Alien Woman will appeal to researchers and teachers in film, mass communication, women's studies, gender studies and genre studies (particularly in science fiction and horror).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"By examining the films' creation and commodification of the female hero, the books illustrates how changing attitudes toward women and the female body help us understand broader societal beliefs and relationships, and provides a useful lens with which to understand woman's place in the late 20th century and early 21st century."" www.aliensconnection.com

“…[a] look between the lines and behind the scenes to dissect Ripley and her place in movie history.” –Minnesota Daily, mndaily.com, November 3, 2004

“Doing a transtextual analysis of the films, the authors place the films firmly within the cultural landscape that produced them.…Gallardo and Smith do a good job analyzing the films, especially the alter ones, and setting them squarely and intelligently within their historical context.” –Post Script, Winter/Spring ‘04

About the Author

C. Jason Smith is Assistant Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College-CUNY. A native of Chile, Ximena Gallardo-C. graduated with a Ph.D. in English from Louisiana State University. She lives in New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (May 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826415709
• ISBN-13: 978-0826415707
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,407,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A major contribution to both academia and fandom, June 9, 2004

By 

Kimberly Wells (Shreveport, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alien Woman: The Making of Lt. Ellen Ripley (Paperback)

Gallardo & Smith have written a work that *will be* one of *the* most important books ever for scholars AND fans of the Aliens series of films. This serious and thought-provoking, clearly-written work is immanently readable at the same time as it is insightful and rigorously scholarly. It will promote greater academic understanding of science-fiction and feminism (together and as discrete studies) and those who read it will want to own it, reference it, and read it for sheer pleasure again and again.

The study examines the entire story arc of four movies that made us gasp and wonder, and made us re-examine science fiction not only as more than just "bug eyed monsters against the good GUYS" but also as reflections of the historical era from which each film arose. This seriously well-researched and well documented work traces the history of the movie's compelling images, (for example, giving us "ah ha" moments about the inspiration for the films' artwork, facts that I know I never knew about the reason for the Aliens' form). It gives us intricate close-readings of each film, examining scene after scene with insight and depth, and helps us understand the metaphors of Corporate space and humanity in a post-human era.

One of my favorite parts is the close-reading of Ripley's suicidal leap in Aliens 3, and I had to gloat as Gallardo & Smith reveal the background meanings and imagery of her strongly compelling act of grasping the newborn alien bursting from her chest. I was delighted when I realized that my own feelings watching the film for the first time were right (I knew it!) and had that comfortable feeling you get when having a great conversation with people who share your passion for interesting works of cultural significance.

Never a "publish or perish," jargon-laden ivory-tower read, this work is compelling and fun, at the same time that it contributes important scholarship to a pivotal science fiction franchise and science fiction studies in general. If you are a fan of the series, but not an academic, you will still love this book, and learn something new and worthwhile about your favorite sci-fi. If you are an academic looking for rigorous critical interpretation, you will also find what you are looking for.

A must read for fans, scholars, and anyone interested in the "post-human" subject and Ripley's compelling character. Plus, a heck of a lot of fun and hard to put down.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very, Very Solid!, June 8, 2004

By A Customer

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This review is from: Alien Woman: The Making of Lt. Ellen Ripley (Paperback)

Thank heavens-close reading is not dead. Too many books on film sacrifice accuracy to a particular theoretical take, but these guys do not. And they write really clearly without all that unnecessary mumbo jumbo academics seem to like these days. I went right out and rented the movies and watched them all over again back to back and I have to say these writers really know the films inside and out and continually show us what actually happens on the screen (which is often contrary to what I remembered happening, but when I watched them again, these guys are always right, at least as far as I can tell). Best yet, the theory is not "on top" so to speak and seems really rooted in the films; they subtly shift the theoretical approach based upon what the films actually seem to be saying.

The first chapter on Alien is really nice coverage of all the stuff already written on it (and there has been a lot of it) but they also manage to weave it all together into a nice, historical, narrative of how one of the best sci-fi movies ever came to be and how different cultural theorists read the character of Ripley. Everyone seems to remember her tiny white panties, but who now remembers the furor over her "trash mouth"? Even more, who remembers that Ripley was the first female protagonist (ever?) to kill the monster on her own?

The second chapter kind of rags on Cameron a bit for the "Reagan-era" plot of the film, but these guys are right on with their reading of Ripley as remade into a "mom" and the hard-bodied Vasquez as a really new thing on the screen. This has always been my favorite of the films and it was really interesting for them to show me why I like it so much! (Lets just say is not as scary as Alien on a LOT of levels).

I never liked Alien3 but I think I understand it now. The film was not really intended for an audience like me. I don't like to see my heroes die, female or not, and the ending was really a downer. The context the authors give the film, however, makes a lot of sense: Ripley really does land in a "feminist hell" where she is raped, gets "pregnant," and, surrounded by right wing religious jerks, has to step up and take charge to save the human species again. The ending is really a big "F-you" to everyone (typical David Fincher-but this was the first time he did it).

And then there is Alien Resurrection. I hated this film when it came out. However, I just watched it again and almost died laughing. How could I have missed the fact that a film written by Joss (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Whedon and Jean Pierre (Delicatessen and Amelie) Jeunot had to be funny? I just thought it was a grumpy, boring film, but I had really missed the boat on this one. From the very first shot-two guards chewing gum, guns aimed at each other's heads, fingers on the triggers-these writers took the blinders off my eyes and the whole film changed. I swear I must have seen a different movie altogether. I didn't even remember Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder being so good on screen together. (Personally, I think the sound track may be a problem with Alien Resurrection, but that's just my thinking). Ron Pearlman is even funny doing a rip-off of earlier characters on TV and in movies. If you remember the film Ice Pirates-and these guys certainly do-then you know what I mean.

Which brings me to another great thing about the book: they really make connections to a lot of other movies and some of them were BIG movies at one time that have sort of been forgotten. I now have a whole second list of films to watch again. Molly Ringwald was in Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone?

This was a really great book about women and men in science fiction film.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I read the whole thing during my flight back home., June 7, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Alien Woman: The Making of Lt. Ellen Ripley (Paperback)

Ripley is my hero for all time, so I was more than interested when I saw this book displayed at the Popular Culture conference in San Antonio about two months ago. I loved it! I have read it three times already, and I keep finding new things to make me think, or even better, chuckle. The section on H.R. Giger's face-hugger as a perverse monster that forces its victims into an act similar to cunniligus/fellatio is wicked! Giger would love it, so much of his work is brilliantly sexually perverse.

There are many, many pearls in this book, most of them about the way women characters are written about and filmed, things I had not noticed though I have been a complete fan of the ALIEN movies for years and I have the them on video and DVD. I learned about the dangers of Vasquez being the best of the Marines. I now appreciate Winona Ryder's robot more, though I hated her character in Alien 4. But best of all, I fell in love with Ripley all over again. The chapter on Alien 3 was awesome-I actually watched the movie again after reading the book the first time, because I could not believe I had missed so much of the meaning of Ripley's character or her connection to another of my favorite women, Madonna (who worked with David Fincher, the director of Alien 3, and so...oh, just read the book). Obviously the authors watched the movies very carefully.

If you are an ALIEN fan and think you already know everything about the movies, this book is for you. It'll be dog-eared by the end of the year.