Word: alienated
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Cameron knew that the success of the Scott film derived not from any single gimmick -- like the famous moment when the alien, nurtured unawares by John Hurt's character, pops bloodily out of his chest. Rather, the filmmaker, "using all the tools at his disposal," had created an atmosphere in which every shadow spooks and every sound alarms...
...Since Alien had brilliantly exploited this limited form right up to its limits, "everyone said there was no upside to doing a sequel," Cameron says. "The logic was that if we turned out a hit, it was because Alien was a hit; if it was a flop, it was because we did it." He needed to find ways of cross-referencing to it, reminding viewers of a beloved source, which he managed in both small and large ways (they still serve corn bread on spaceships, and Aliens' voyagers do not like it any better than the Alien crew...
...some surprising heroics for the audience to cheer. The other outsider is a different case. Burke (Paul Reiser) is a junior executive in "the company," the monopoly that has all of space to profit from. He has absorbed its corporate culture all too well. In Alien, of course, company leaders, without warning employees of the danger, callously ordered them to bring an alien back alive, hoping it could be domesticated for use in the weapons division. Now Burke, who has the insinuating manner of an inside trader, is trying to do the same thing, but merely to advance his sleazy...
Ripley's bonding with Newt is inevitable, as Hurd says, "because they were both survivors of their own particular group's encounter with extraterrestrial species. They knew what they were up against, and the others didn't. In Alien, people had to fight or die. Now Ripley could save herself but chooses to fight to save Newt." It is, in part, the unexpectedness and depth of her feelings that give the film its propulsive power, fueling the final hour to at least two more heart-stopper endings than the average thriller...
...Frontline decided to add "wraparounds" to discuss concerns about propaganda. (Usually when the subject is Communism, a prudent station operator wants at least one panelist who will argue that Gorbachev is no better than a smiling Genghis Khan.) Which raises another question: Is the American public so susceptible to alien wiles that it cannot stand any direct exposure to reality that does not come carefully wrapped in ideological cautions...