Alien

When beginning to watch the film Alien, the viewer is automatically forced to think of the limitless possibilities that the plot of the film will take. The vertical line strokes, along with the diagonal line strokes, eventually turn into the work ALIEN, but it creates curiosity from the viewer wondering what its going to turn into, just like the plot of the film. As the beginning of the film continues, the camera shows the stillness throughout the mechanically enhanced ship, with no human interaction or movement. "it is mechanical, devoid of human significance" (Mulhall 14). Not until later do you see the first flicker of human movement when the crew of seven people are awaken by "mother" from their sleeping pods. "The crew appears to be undergoing a kind of rebirth. They emerge like seeds from a pod, as if extruded by the ship itself, almost as naked as the day they were born" (Mulhall 16). This makes human life seem unimportant from the very beginning, since the humans are hardly exerting themselves at all, it seems as though all of the technology on board is doing the work.

The beginning of the film also depicts how you later find out that the humans were insignificant and disposable for this journey and mission. They seem like very important roles in the mission they are trying to accomplish, but in the end, they are only there to carry out the task that the company intended them to. "The subsequent goals [the crew] conceives- finding the source of the transmission, getting rid of the alien- are thrust upon them rather than initiated by the crew members" (Scott 287). The crew are disposable elements in the whole process of getting the other life form back to planet earth.


Another part of the movie which is discussed in the article, is the scene where the alien bursts out from Kane's stomach after everyone thought he was better after the species detached from his face and throat. The scene is very chaotic at the time, with everyone screaming and trying to hold him down, but as soon as the alien bursts out from his stomach, everyone stands still, quiet. The article expresses its understanding of the scene with being a type of sexual intercourse, pregnancy, and then birth process. This idea is something I had not really noticed while viewing the film, but after reading their theory, it makes good sense and it seems to possibility be the reason for the symbolism. "The monster itself is the incarnation of masculinity, understood as penetrative sexual violence; but as such, it threatens the human race as a whole with the monstrous fate of feminization, forcing our species to occupy the sexual role that women are imagined to occupy in relation to men" (Mulhall 20). This to me also explains how the women in the film were overpowered by the men. When Ripley says to not open the air chamber, but the men overrule her and do it anyways. Also, when the other women is out searching around the unknown planet and she continuously says how they should go back and get out of here, but they continue searching against her suggestion. This film has a variety of hidden messages in it, with the use of many different forms of symbolism.



Scott, Ridley, dir. Alien. 1979. Twentieth Century Fox, 2009.

Mulhall, Stephen. "Kane's Son, Cain's Daughter." On Film. London: Routledge, 202. 12-32. Print.

Thompson, Kristin. "Alien." Storytelling in the New Hollywood. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1999. 283-306. Print.

Pan's Labyrinth

When watching Pan's Labyrinth, many elements are seen by the use of symbolism. Sound effects, Cinematography, and Lighting were the three types of symbolism that I noticed the most throughout the film. The sound effects throughout the film enhanced the intensity of the scene where it occured.

The watch that the Captain carried with him, which was his father's watch previously when he was in war. It was shattered by his father when he got shot and was about to die, because he wanted his son (the Captain) to know exactlly what time his father died. When the Captain was in battle in the forrest, he carried the watch with him and when he was hiding behind the tree before he turned around and shot at a man, he held out the watch and the music in the background got quiet. The ticking of the watch gradualy got louder as he stared at the watch in remembrance of his father. This change of sound effects emphsized this moment and made the audience also remember his father just as he was. At a time in the film where his father was not being mentioned, the audience thought of the memory of him and it made you think about the potential fear that the Captain had of dying while in battle, just as his father did.

Another part of the film which held substantial evidence of having symbolism was the parts of the film which had Ofelia walking alone on her excursions. The scenes would start off with her wandering off alone towards the woods, with interesting, intreging music playing in the background. Then the music would die down when Ofelia began to get nervous and scared because of the situation she has put herself in. Her breating would get louder and louder as the time went on, and everything else would become close to silent. This occurred a few different times throughout the film, and it depicted her curiosity of exploring and of this second life she has the possibility of having, but it also depicts her fear of the possibility of it not happening, and
her just getting in trouble and making things worse for her in the present.
The cinematography in this film also held substantial weight in the effects this film had on the audience. The proximity that the camera had on the characters in the film created the illusion of certain places and certain moments in the film being more intense and scary then other moments. When Mercedes was in the room alone and she
was bent down to the floor retrieving papers from a hole in the ground to take to her brother, the focus was on her and the task she was doing, the music was intense and progressively getting louder, and all the sudden the camera view moved further up and you see a blurred image of a man in the background, just as the music gets to
its most intense. Mercedes gets startled and jumped up, but it only ended up to be the doctor. Moments like these create a sense of fear in the audience because you fear for the people in the film that are in danger.

All of these kinds of symbolism were shown throughout the flim and they all play their seperate roles in making the film what it is. They all create a sense of mood and intensity for the audience.

-Melissa


Pan's Labyrinth. Dir. Guillermo Del Toro. Perf. Ivana Baquero and
Sergi Lopez. Esperanto Films, 2006. DVD.