Aliens, Freud And The Unconscious

Aliens, Freud and the Unconscious: An examination of the film Alien

Introduction

What does one get when they mix the creativity of film-making and the unconscious imagination? Alien, the film. This exciting science-fiction film was directed by Ridley Scott in 1979. This film captures and possesses an array of qualities, all of which contribute to its overall success. In fact, one of the more predominant qualities that exists in this film is the use of suspense and surprises to encompass the illusion of fantasy. Thus, the purpose of this analysis is to describe some of these qualities and illustrate how they, together, create an exceptional mise-en-scene and ultimately provide the audience with endless opportunities to become engaged,
both emotionally and mentally.

Fantasy

It is evident that the majority of science fiction, or sci-fi, films are not actually about science. Rather, these films are usually based upon a science-related topic, for instance Aliens. From here they are developed into an entertaining movie which individuals can than become engaged.

Fantasy, as a genre, has “…four basic categories: horror, science fiction, fairy tales and a certain type of adventure movie … journeys to improbable places and meetings with implausible creatures…” (Hayward, 129). After watching the film itself, one would recognize that both science fiction and the adventure movie apply. The topic of Aliens is of interest to many partly because it is an area that we do not know much about, which naturally leaves more to the imagination. As a director, Scott is able to establish an alien figure, which appears from the halfway point of the film until the end. This ‘creature’ has a profound effect of its audience. For instance, to think of an alien usually leads one to imagine a typical, and very much Hollywood created, image. This commonly includes a petite figure with an enormous head and overly sized eyes who stands on a small-to-proportion body. However, because Scott does not create this expected image and instead supplies his audience with a larger and more frightening creature, one can contend that this acts as one the contributing factors to the outstanding mise-en-scene.

The mise-en-scene, also referred to as staging, is essentially the overall look and feel of the film (Hayward, 2006). The entire film is fully loaded with many design elements, such as space-like props and dark set lighting, all of which allow the audience to become acquainted with the space ship that acts as the main stage for the entire film. Further, the composition is also a determining factor that permits the successful illusion of fantasy. For example, the relationship between the actors on screen is very well done. While aboard the space ship, each actor takes on a certain character persona. One can only imagine that the difficult part in this film would be to maintain a particular persona, even while strange or unearthly events take place. One particular scene exhibits all of the crew-members aboard the ship sitting around a table eating a meal. Out of nowhere one of the male figures begins to cough and choke. His body than begins to shake uncontrollably and so the crew-member rush to assist him. After being forced to lie down on the table a baby alien bursts from his chest! Naturally, the female screams while another male takes the dominant role by directing others. Clearly, Scott has successfully captured the appropriate elements in order to make this fantasy, sci-fi come to life.

Suspense versus Surprise

Barsam and Monahan briefly describe the differences between a suspenseful scene and one that merely surprises its audience. Alien incorporates both of these elements of narrative which is yet another reason why it has been so successful. Suspense is demonstrated with a scene which leads to something enticing (Barsam & Monahan, 132). For instance, as the crew-members begin to search the ship for this dreaded creature they begin in a group formation. Almost immediately something occurs which places one indivudal away from all other crew-members. Thus, it is no shock when the suspense begins to kick in and the alien bursts out from behind a hidden wall. What was most suspenseful for the audience was attempting to guess at which crew-member would be the next to be killed by the alien.

The other element, surprise, also takes place throughout the film at multiple times.
The key difference here is that with suspense comes anxiety, merely due to the fact that the audience is expecting something to happen but they are uncertain as to what exactly (Barsam & Monahan, 132). However, surprise occurs when an ordinary scene is taking place and out of nowhere, unexpectedly something occurs. An excellent example of this is the previously described ‘alien bursting through a crew-members chest’ scene. This causes a very short-lived emotional response which ultimately intrigues the audience and leaves them wanting more future
surprises.

Freud and Alien (1979)

You may be wondering how on earth Freud, the infamous psychologist, has any relation to Ridley Scott’s film Alien.
Well, it is actually quite simple. One of the theories that Freud maintained was in respect to emotions and he never, “…abandoned his central premise that emotions buried deep in the unconscious mind determine the basic motives and behavior patterns of human beings” (Smith, 169). Throughout the film Alien, the audience is repeatedly startled and sitting on the edge of their seat to see what will happen next. Naturally, this triggers emotions. Some may become scared and feel upset, while others become more fascinated and anxious. A good film will allow for these emotions to be felt by the audience as it demonstrates the film’s ability to really interact. What Freud argues is that these emotions lead to certain behaviors, including screaming, clinging to others, hiding behind blankets, crying and so forth. In the 1880’s Freud conducted studies and, “…traced intense fear and anxiety in adults to unconscious apprehensions of infants…” (Amith, 170). He further argues that these behaviors develop from our unconscious mind, meaning that if an individual can watch a film and demonstrate these behaviors it implies that the film has succeeded in fully interacting with its audience. In the case of Alien, this is exactly what takes place and indeed Scott did a great job in directing this film by ensuring that all the right elements were incorporated to create the
illusion of fantasy in this excellent sci-fi film.

Another aspect of Freud that is evident in Alien relates to his theory of the non-repressed unconscious. As mentioned, Freud believes that, “…mental activity can be initiated by stimulation from the outside…” (Shakow & Rapaport, 99). He believes that the way in which we perceive something is based on our internal intuitions. Thus, it is to no surprise that Alien, which is based on the mystery and imagination of a gruesome creature, has this effect on individuals.

Conclusion

This film was clearly successful for multiple reasons. For one, it was able to set the stage with a believable space ship setting. It did this through the use of appropriate effects and elements, such as the use of props, camera angles, escalating eerie music, and either dark, dim or flickering lights. Further, the onstage cast worked very well together to create the illusion of togetherness while the frightening, and non-Hollywood version, of an alien allowed for the appropriate illusion of the otherness. The entire mise-en-scene of the film was excellent, mainly due to the décor, costume design and so forth. In sum, Alien is a very effective film, which Freud would agree is successful because it is capable of encompassing enough elements to really interact with its audience.