Alien (1979) Review

Introduction

This review examines the art and production design of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and how it’s capable
develop a striking atmosphere and mood. I analyse and compare the clashing styles concept artists
Ron Cobb and, more so, H.R. Giger and deconstruct the latter’s work with how it is able to evoke
emotion in the audience through the appearance and art of films environments and main antagonist.
Throughout this review I support my claims from a various sources including, web articles,
documentaries, Alien Archive, a book documenting the production of Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien
3 (1992), and Alien Resurrection (1997).

Fig 1. Poster for Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) centres around the motely crew of the Nostromo, a cargo and mining ship
heading back toward Earth. The crew are awakened to find that their ship has changed course – they
are now moving towards a distress signal on a seemingly uninhabited moon. Upon further exploration
they a discover something strange and disturbing – an alien ship, home to a savage being unlike
anything else with a complex life cycle and a hideous, otherworldly appearance. The crew of the
Nostromo soon find themselves in a life or death situation as terror strikes the vessel.

The design of the human world, the Nostromo and much of its technology was designed by artists Ron
Cobb and Moebius. There’s more of an emphasis on geometric design and more vibrant colour, there’s
a principle of orderly symbols and lights; much of its interior looks and feels sterile – pristine from
grime. However, its also very cluttered, claustrophobic, almost everything in its form follows function
(Cobb, 2015), a design choice made by Ron Cobb. For the most part the world of humans is visibly
mechanized and because of the used future aesthetic where the technology is intentionally outdated
and dirty it’s also most familiar to the audience.
 Fig 2. Nostromo’s Interior

In contrast to Ron Cobbs and Moebius’ highly angular and mechanized art style, H.R. Giger presents
us with a disturbing mix of inorganic and organic forms to create very otherworldly visions of an alien
world, disconnected from anything recognisable. There is no stark contrast for us to determine what
is unliving machine and untainted flesh. There’re the tessellated patterns akin to lengthy, plastic pipes
that intermix with the bending, organic forms of bones, especially rib cages. The space jockey, as it
was called by the film’s crew, a large being that appears to be sitting in a chair looking through a
biomechanical instrument, yet it’s hard to tell if the three components are all separate or connect to
form a singular creature. Unlike the Nostromo and its cramped mechanical composition, the alien
ship, both from the exterior and interior, appear as one singular organism with of all its vital and non-
vital components graciously interconnected. H.R. Giger in an interview in the book Alien Archive recalls
having thought of making the ship look “organic – something that could grow, even”, “an aerodynamic
bone with a little technical stuff all over it” (Salisbury, 2014). This is supported by the curving and
tangled composition of the ship’s interior and exterior, resembling bones and guts. The fusion of meat
and metal that is so well intertwined that it becomes disconcerting for audiences in attempts to
determine what is exactly alive.

Fig 3. Interior of the Alien ship, showing the Space Jockey

The xenomorph, as it would be known in later films such as Aliens (1986), the main antagonist of the
film, was designed by Giger having been derived from his book The Necronomicon – a collection of
Giger’s finished artworks. Ridley Scott himself brought Giger on board after looking at the book. The
creature like its home, the alien ship, appears in the unique biomechanical art style of Giger; also, like
the ship it succeeds in being a highly disturbing because of its design – it is truly something alien, at
least when the film first came out. However, the aberrant being seen on screen has even more familiar
yet horrific implications towards much of its final appearance thanks again to Giger’s peculiar style.
H.R. Giger’s art is argued by some to have some very explicit sexual connotations. Upon further
investigation his artworks contain various innuendos and sexualized imagery, forms such as tubes and
ribs appear to create a forced composition; long and slender textures and shapes suggestive of sexual
organs. As suggested by Anthony Gramugliam on the website Futurism, when discussing Necromon
IV, the piece that the xenomorph was derived from, the creature depicted has its lower half transition
“into a serpentine shaft that curls upward into a phallus”, “that resembles an uncircumcised penis”
(Gramuglia, 2017). This point becomes very relevant when it appears that both the former art work
and the final iteration of the xenomorph have a sleek, elongated head reminiscent of a penis. The
suggestive imagery also occurs within the mise-en-scene of the alien spacecraft with entrance ways
reminiscent of vaginas.

Fig 4. Necronom IV

There suggestive and perverse appearance of the xenomorph extends to its lifecycle, especially the
facehugger as it is popularly referred to by some. Initially hatched from an egg, which itself was going
to be more sexualized with a single slit like a vulva (Salisbury, Alien The Archive, 2014), The creatures
sole purpose appears to insert a proboscis down the mouth of the host which then becomes
impregnated with an embryo of the xenomorph. The sequence of events from the moment the
facehugger leaps onto the character Kane’s face to when the fully-grown embryo burst from his chest,
has been argued to be reminiscent of rape. In the 2002 documentary Alien Saga the screenwriter for
Alien (1979) Dan O’Bannon stated “I’m going to attack the audience. I’m going to attack them sexually”
(Alien Saga, 2002).

Fig 5. The xenomorph in Alien (1979)

Conclusion

The film manages to invoke feelings ranging from dread to apprehension to discomfort in the audience
by subjecting them to bizarre and otherworldly imagery. H.R. Giger’s maddening mixture of organic
and inorganic textures and compositions to create a bio-mechanical world utterly dissimilar to the
sterile, contrasting mechanized and familiar world of humans helps establish an unsettling
atmosphere. Furthermore, the sexualized and suggestive imagery and the implications of sexual and
horrific acts hammer home a hideous threat with a dark and twisted mood. The familiarity of the
forms, phallus’, bones and tubes to the human psyche and the repugnant way they are perverted
invokes fear into the minds of viewers.

Bibliography
Cobb, R. (2015, June 26). ALIEN NOSTROMO. Retrieved from Ron Cobb.net: http://roncobb.net/05-
Alien_Nostromo.html

Gramuglia, A. (2017, June 22). Best H.R. Giger Illustrations. Retrieved from Futurism:
https://futurism.media/best-h-r-giger-illustrations

Salisbury, M. (2014). Alien. In M. Salisbury, Alien Author (p. 47). Rochester: Titan Books.

Salisbury, M. (2014). Alien The Archive. In M. Salisbury, Alien The Archive (p. 59). Rochester: Titan
Books.

Zacky, B. (Director). (2002). Alien Saga [Motion Picture].

Illustration List

Figure 1. Poster for Alien, 1979 (1979) [Poster] At: https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Movie-Poster-24-

x36/dp/B00J91YNCW (Accessed on 10th November 2018) Created: 2018

Figure 2. Interior of the Nostromo (1979) [Image] At:

https://alienseries.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/narcissus/ (Accessed on the 4th February 2013)

Created: 4th February 2013)

Figure 3. Interior of the Alien ship, showing the Space Jockey (1979) [Image] At:
https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/33592/what-happened-to-the-alien-that-came-from-the-
space-jockey (accessed on 17th November 2018) Created: 28th March 2013

Figure 4. Necronom IV (1976) [Artwork] At: https://psmag.com/social-justice/horrible-philosophy-

behind-star-alien-h-r-gigers-xenomorph-81641 (Accessed on 17th November 2018) Created: 15th May
2014

Figure 5. The xenomorph in Alien (1979) [Image] At: http://wolfbaneblooms.com/quiz-how-much-do-

you-know-about-alien-1979/ (Accessed on 17th November 2018) Created: 27th April 2017