Are we ... are we all at screenings watching Prometheus? We're all doing that, right?Cause, Noomi "Cheekbones-to-the-Heavens" Rapace may make bad choices in boyfriends -- DudeBro Charlie (Logan Marshall-Green), an anthropologist/geologist/scientist who can't be bothered to walk alllll the way to a cave to look at some stupid cavemen drawings, but also thinks it's totally cool to take his damn helmet off on a foreign planet -- but excellent and gut-wrenching choices when it comes to fighting aliens. Who may be ancient.
And Charlize Theron, whom I'm writing a check to as we speak for all my monies ever, is HQIC (second week in a row) on a ship seeking answers that we may never need.
Can't say much else, because this one is spoiler-full from the first shot in, but the comments are open for thoughts.
Edited to add: Check out Matt Brunson's concise and informative spoiler-free-ish review HERE.
2 comments:
So ... okay. Because I'm procrastinating, and because I haven't said Hello, Lovely! to you in a while, and because I just read the umpteenth Jezebel article on "forcible" rape in the last month and am now angry all over again ... a question.
SPOILER. Obvi. And I'm about two months late, so I'm hoping everyone's seen it by now. But, still, for the record ...
SPOILER.
Okay.
So how did you feel about Noomi Rapace's alien rape baby?
Because I was pissed off. Predictably, perhaps. But still. Besides the android, she was the most authentic, fully-drawn character in that whole paper-thin plot, and it enraged me that somebody decided that the best way to write a fully realized 21st century heroine was to make her *cut the alien baby to which she did not consent out of her own body.* And then kill it.
I mean, it's not like it's a new theme. See the end to Aliens 3. But somehow as a climactic moment, and as the moment of Ripley's final peace with the Alien queen, it was less ... tawdry? Maybe? A different sort of archetype, perhaps. The enemies who ultimately are each other's reflections, rather than the unwanted and unloved child rejected by its mother. I've always liked the enemy archetype better.
Aaaaand back to work. ;)
Hello to you too, Lovely! Sorry for not seeing this sooner!
Oh, Alien series. We love Ripley, don't we? I mean, who doesn't love butt-kicking oh-this-part-was-written-for-a-man-but-fuck-that-noise Ripley fighting Alien queens. And now here's Noomi! She's got huge shoes to fill! So they make her kill the alien from the inside out, and possibly ignore all the deep fucked-up levels of innuendo that killing could mean in hopes for an underlying "virgin" birth and religion and hey, Jesus symbolism knocking the audience over the head!
So, yes, I totally see what you are saying. But on the other hand, I kind of don't think that the alien baby was from a physical violation so much as the forced continuation of the pregnancy was. Since Noomi's character consented to sex with her long-term partner, the problem here is the forced pregnancy from Micheal Fassbender's character, proving that androids are Republican even in the future (Mitt joke! Rim shot!)
Granted it's been a few months since I've seen it and my memory is foggy, but it seems to prove that even when abortion is illegal, ahem, I mean unavailable through safe medical means, women will do anything ANYTHING to proceed if their bodies are telling them that they cannot handle it -- and that applies to our brains calculating that we cannot afford another child, or our hearts telling us we are not ready or a thousand other personal and thoughtful decisions women make about their health and life choices that are being debated about by men in suits who will never know what we battle. Noomi in this isn't Ripley, but still realized enough to know that this shit isn't right and does what she needs to survive by any means necessary. Noomi fighting for a life-saving abortion is problematic but perhaps the most realistic subtext of the whole movie.
There's plenty wrong with the movie, but I didn't feel like Noomi's character was sexually hurt -- her partner was contaminated and didn't know it, and the alien baby was conceived by a sex act she consented to. Believe me, I cannot stand to watch or support movies where the main female character is sexually abused or hurt. I prefer to research before hand and make sure I'm not giving my money to be triggered. But since the immaculate conception alien baby came from android-planted-alien-seed-through-human-lover I didn't walk out of the theater. I guess that particular element didn't piss me off at the time, but with your comment in mind, I may give it a re-watch and see how I view it.
Too long; Didn't Read Summary: Consenting, adult sex with whoever Noomi's character wants to have sex with: That's OK.
Forced pregnancy after sex because of sneaky android poisoning Noomi's consensual long-term partner: Bad.
And as for enemy archetypes, those are indeed awesome.
In a totally unrelated note, I'm very sorry I was in my summer blog funk when Brave came out because that movie was fodder for so many discussions.
And back to unemployment for me! Thank you for writing! ;)
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