The Big Picture
Alien stands apart from other science fiction films by delivering truly unique and believable extraterrestrial creatures that are not humanoid in form. The costuming and performance of the actors behind the xenomorphs create a seamless work of art, hiding any aspect of the human inside and adding to their haunting appearance. The aliens in the Alien franchise have a deeper level of complexity, with a biomechanical aesthetic and a fully-developed biological cycle that taps into deep fears and anxieties about reproduction and motherhood.
If there is one overall generalization that can be placed upon the science fiction genre of film, it’s that alien life forms are largely humanoid in form. 2 arms, 2 legs, torso. Furry and short like Ewoks, Furry and big like Wookies. And if they’re not, they are a bastardization of Earth creatures a la Starship Troopers, or just kind of lame, like Star Trek’s troublesome Tribbles. Really, the only franchise that has ever truly delivered something believably not of this world is Alien. And there isn’t another franchise that even comes close.
To truly appreciate just how far Alien goes above and beyond its peers, one has to realize just how truly homogenous intelligent extraterrestrials are in other films. Science fiction films have visited planets from countless galaxies, but yet somehow bipeds are the dominant form of life. Everywhere. It doesn’t matter if the terrain on said planets would be better suited to limbless crawlers, or multi-appendaged creatures. Regardless of atmosphere, these bipeds usually breathe the same way humans do. How they process the atmosphere might be different, but it doesn’t look all that different. Even in real life, the concept of aliens as being “little green men” with big heads and huge eyes is society’s go-to default. And they all speak English. Somehow.
The ‘Alien’ Franchise’s Xenomorphs Are Haunting
Image via 20th Century Fox
To a large degree it makes perfect sense. Science fiction is one of the most costly genre of films, alongside fantasy and animated films, at an average production cost of about $60 million. So if a human actor can become a believable alien form through makeup or costuming, that becomes significantly cheaper than CGI or time-consuming practical effects to bring that form to life. Some truly breathtaking aliens have graced the silver screen using this method, but generally they still look like a guy in a suit. And this is where Alien begins to separate from the pack. The xenomorphs in the Alien franchise are, also, guys in suits, but the costuming and the artist in the suit work together to create an actual creature, a seamless work of art where the humanity behind that haunting elongated head is lost. In Alien: Covenant, dancer Andrew Crawford played the lead alien, a man well known in the ballet and dance world as being able to eerily resemble a “specimen from another planet.” The actors behind the xenomorphs are purposely people with the ability to perform uncanny movements (much like Andy Serkis’ Gollum, for reference), and on-screen they’re almost always in the dark, further hiding any aspect of the human inside.
As for the look itself, you can thank renowned Swiss artist H.R. Giger. In preparing to film Alien, director Ridley Scott came across Giger’s book Necronomicon, his first collection of the macabre, biomechanical works Giger is known for. One illustration, Necronom #4, so captivated Scott that he asked Giger to design the xenomorph for the film, which turned into Giger working on the entire production design. As Ridley recalls, “Down the line I realized it made a lot of sense for Giger to design everything that was to do with the alien. That includes the landscape and the spacecraft.” The costume for the alien uses real bones, a human skill at the tip of the alien head, and condoms for the lips, and when pulled together the effect is simply haunting. For a man whose work is already otherworldly, it was a perfect fit.
The ‘Alien’ Franchises Aliens Are Deeper
Image via 20th Century Studios
There’s an even deeper level to the aliens in the Alien franchise that further separates them from others, a biomechanical aesthetic common to Giger’s works that further separates his aliens from the contenders. There’s actual thought placed into not only the xenomorph look, but into its biology. There’s the acid for blood and the “extra” set of teeth that bring additional terror to a beast that’s already pretty damn frightening. The creatures look horrifying, but also have a beauty to them, with every part of their body covered in a black sheen that is captivating. The life-cycle of the xenomorph, though, is especially telling of Giger and Scott’s commitment to deliver something unique. To put it simply, the life-cycle of the xenomorph is a bastardization of human reproduction, a further allusion to the film’s sexual imagery.
The eggs have openings that originally looked very much like vaginas, but was changed to a cross. As art director Roger Christian explains, “The first ones he did looked much more like a woman’s private parts, and the producers all worried,” Christian explains. “Giger said, ‘Well, if it’s a cross, then it’s religious, and people don’t worry about that.'” The facehuggers that emerge look sperm-like, planting a seed into its host, which develop into the xenomorph that literally explodes from the chest cavity of the host. It plays into some of the deepest fears of humanity: Will my baby be a monster? Will there be problems during the pregnancy? What if I’m pregnant against my will?
The aliens of the Alien franchise succeed because they look otherworldly, they act otherworldly, they’re animalistic yet intelligent, they’re dangerous alive or dead, and they terrify on multiple levels. They come with a fully-developed biological cycle, one that mimics the accepted norm but skews it in a manner that’s horrifying to even envision, let alone watch unfold on screen. These aren’t just humans painted green, told to come out on cue and spout gibberish about space treaties, or threaten galactic war if their demands are not met. The aliens in the Alien franchise are fully realized, but with simple objectives: kill, and repopulate. Other science fiction franchises have aliens that kill, aliens seeking to repopulate, aliens simply looking to destroy whatever is in their path. But no other franchise allows their aliens the depth that is afforded those in the Alien franchise, and until another steps up to the plate and does the same, Alien will continue to be the gold standard for aliens on film.
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