According to Barbara Creed ("'Alien' and the Monstrous-Feminine"), what is the "abject" and how does it secure boundaries between the human and non-human (monstrous) in Alien? What is the "primal scene" and how does Alien as horror/science fiction represent the primal scene for the spectator? According to Creed, why does the spectator derive fear/pleasure from viewing the horror film?
Friday, October 10, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
20 comments:
Creed argues that the “abject” in Alien is the representation of the maternal figure and how her/it’s sexuality and reproductive functions can threaten man. Boundaries arise over sexual desire, fears, and the idea of both death and birth. All these anxieties are tied to the female maternal image.
Creed defines the “primal scene” as “representation of other forms of copulation and procreation” (129). She goes on to list several examples of this: The “womb-like chamber” of the ‘Mother’ space craft; the crew coming out of hyper-sleep in the opening of the film; entering the unknown ship through a ‘vaginal’ opening; Kane’s mistake of looking into the hatch that held the “face-hugger” alien, etc.
Creed goes on to explain her interpretation of the fear/ and pleasure that is derived from watching a film like Alien. She argues that that through the abject representation of the Mother, the viewer is set up to experience a particular confrontation with death and the “…rise to a terror of self-disintegration, of losing one’s self or ego” (136) This challenges the viewer to continue to witness the horror; however, Creed argues that the “process of reconstitution of self is reaffirmed by the conventional ending…” (137). In the case of Alien, this occurs when Ripley sends the alien out of the escape pod, and she returns to hyper-sleep.
-Joseph Belknap
The primal scene is a Freudian idea that has to do with children viewing or thinking of their parents’ sexual intercourse. This may come from viewing animals mating and can become a monstrous act in the child’s mind. Children are mystified by the reproduction process. Alien represents this primal scene in many ways. The introduction shows the internal workings of ‘Mother’ as she wakes up the crew which represents a birth. Another instances in when the crew enters the unknown spaceship which represents a vagina because the curved sides look like legs and inside is dark, dank, mysterious and contains organic material. Kane becomes a part of the primal scene by looking into the egg. Another primal scene happens when things are ejected from the spaceship. The first one is Kane’s dead body and the other is Ripley trying to escape the hostile ship. The abject is a Kristeva term used to describe the monstrous, something to look away from. By not looking the viewer is able to “withdraw identification from the image on the screen in order to reconstruct the boundary between self and screen.” In Alien the self is reaffirmed at the end when the monster is destroyed but not until each character comes face to face with this maternal figure. Creed suggests that our own fears and desires promote fear and pleasure in horror films. In many horror films, this fear/pleasure comes from the “reworking of the primal scene in relation to the representation of other forms of copulation and procreation.”
Desten Johnson
In the movie Alien, the "abject" is the representation on the motherly figure and how the reproductive cycle can destroy/threaten man as a whole. The idea of horror initially scares the viewer into not watching the film. But as the movie continues on, our own desires and curiosity allow us to keep watching.
The "primal scene" in the movie Alien is depicted in many ways. First off, the alien space craft is shaped like a vagina according to Creed. She distinctly describes the ship as having a vaginal-like opening, along with a legged shape to the space ship. Along with the alien space craft's shape in the movie, the opening scene where the crew is waking up from what appeared to be a good nights sleep, also depicted the "primal scene". According to Creed, the room that they were in was that shaped like a womb. Also, the way the crew awoke from sleeping created a kind of "birth-like" awakening.
-Bennett Litton
In Alien the “abject” is the maternal figure. It sets boundaries in that it does not need a masculine counterpart for survival. It reproduces and unlike the humans is hostile from birth and is able to dominate alone. The “primal scene” is essentially the image of birth and death. The first we see of this is in the beginning shots of the ship. We see it’s interior, which are all controlled by the computer “Mother”, and we are finally taken to the womb of the ship where the crew sleeps and remains dormant during most routine journeys. In this particular journey, the crew is woken when “Mother” detects a signal for help. Creed describes watching horror as voyeuristic in that, the viewer wants to see the blood and guts to acquire a kind of pleasure, but is punished for having these “voyeuristic desires” by the horror images. That is why we turn away during the scarier parts of the horror film.
In the movie Alien, the "abject" is the maternal figure and its strong sexuality. It is free from the confines of needing a mate and is independent from a male counterpart. The computer "Mother" is guiding the crewmates, giving them a place to reside and rest, and giving them information when they need it. It is the ultimate "mother" for all on board.
The so called "primal scene" is that of the space craft that, according to Creed, is shaped like a vagina. The curvature and opening, along with the representation of what seem to be legs.
One unique property of Alien is the spectator deriving fear and pleasure from viewing this film. In some instances, the scenes are graphic, raw, and terrifying. Desire and curiosity keep the viewer watching. Such as the old saying "It's like watching a train wreck. You want to look away, but you just cant." The human curiosity overwhelms the thoughts of the human mind, and we have a desire to see the unseen and discover new things we have never witnessed before. Its an act of "voyeurism" in a sense that we want to experience new things, even if these very things are terrifying and out of the ordinary.
-Brandon Savage
According to Barbara Creed, the abject is the maternal figure. The term mother is reflected throughout the film, from how the crew wakes up to the spaceships name, to the aliens themselves. The alien being born out of Kane secures the boundaries between human and non-human and again ties back to the maternal scene. The Primal scene for the spectator was probably when the crew woke up and possibly when Kane first encountered the alien that stuck to his face. The spectator feels fear and possibly pleasure most likely due to witnessing something awful yet with the knowledge of knowing it’s not real. Although, different people enjoy these movies for different reasons.
Ryan Bender
In Creed’s explanation, the abject is the representation of death/birth and creator/destroyer. The Alien embodies the mother which is essentially the creator and gives birth, but also destroys and causes death. This is horribly threatening to man because the image of the “Mother” is generally associating with the creation and a more peaceful image, which is destroyed by the destructive qualities of the alien.
The primal scene is shown whenever a representation of procreation is shown. Like the womb-like area for Mother on the ship, when Kane first encounters the hatchlings, and whenever bodies or shuttles are expelled from the ship. Whenever the alien impregnates a human and when the alien bursts out of their chest, this is a primal scene as well because it shows the copulation and the birth through horrible imagery.
These movies are both horrifying and intriguing at the same time. Creed explains the horror as when people identify with these kinds of movies too much. Only when they can remove themselves and enjoy the movie as a movie can it achieve its true effect. The images of the Mother and other images relating is what draws the viewer in to identify with. Like when Ripley finally gets rid of the horrible mother figure, the alien, can she return to normalcy.
-Julianna Pierandozzi
In the reading by Barbara Creed it talks about the curiosity of children thinking about reproduction. According to Freud, every child will end up either walking in on his/her parents having intercourse or will at least in some point in time think about the act. This is a natural stage that any child will go through. Some children will picture this act being done by fantasy creature or even animals because it is seen to them as a monstrous act. The act of intercourse is also known as the primal scene. In this reading there are a few representations of primal scene taken from the movie “Alien”. The one I found most interesting was Kane giving birth to the alien. This primal scene was shown as a fairly violent and monstrous act. I found this the most interesting because it related both the human and alien in the act of birth. I would normally only think of birth as being between two of the same kind of creature. Creed says that we enjoy these horror films because we put ourselves in the human’s position. We try to think of what we would do in the situation that the character is in and that gives us pleasure. You will often hear people in the movie theater yelling at the character to do something different because they are so attached to the film. This enjoyment is what makes horror films so popular.
-Logan Lovett
“Observing paternal intercourse as an… unborn baby”(129) poses the origins of sexual fantasy in a child’s mind. The abject or phobia, if you will, slips into the ego of a child and is evolved as time nurtures it. The ships main computer is “aptly named Mother”(129) and to access “Mother” you walk down a long hall, and insert yourself into a “womb-like room”(129) that is incased with a solid surrounding of buttons. Creed compares this to the process of creation. The primal scene in the ‘re-birthing’ scene in the beginning, the astronauts awake from their synthetically prolonged slumber. This is similar to the maternal process when the “subject is fully developed.”(129) Now. This process, as we have seen in this film, is abject to man. Similar to how the replicants in Invasion of the Body Snatchers produce themselves, the aliens only require that a host is present during the birthing process. No male is required, and as Ash says it is the “Perfect organism.” –Tony Lopez
According to Barbara Creed ("'Alien' and the Monstrous-Feminine") the abject is the maternal figure’s fear of feminine castration. She does not want to let go of that which she gave birth. There exist a space between the semiotic chora which the child has been pushed out of and that of the Symbolic order which the child learns and connects with the Paternal. The maternal figure does not want the child to break boundaries from her. The maternal figure is reluctant to let the child go. There is more than a severe need to keep a strong tie to the child.
This is visible in today’s society when a mother just can not let go of the child to run and play and live. Another instance is the mother feeling unbearable pain with the child leaves for the first day of school or waves goodbye to a child leaving to fight for the country in war. Subjects fear the devouring of the self by the maternal figure. This “abject” that is created brings fear to the child. A fear that consist of not wanting to be entirely possessed and devoured by the maternal figure.
In Alien the abject creates boundaries such as the alien monster itself on the spacecraft with it’s womblike rooms and hallways terrorizing the human crew. The alien comes from that of the maternal figure and serves almost as a guard to keep the humans form escaping. The humans are the babies of the “mother” who has decided that they must never leave her. She needs them for her own satisfaction, happiness and basic needs of being. Overall the mother’s selfishness and refusal to let her babies go makes her a bad mother.
The “primal scene” is that in which sexual acts occur and often develop into that of creation of other life forms also know as babies. Alien as horror/science fiction represents the primal scene as a very gruesome act including bodily fluids such as blood and other gooey nasty secretions. The very thought of the primal scene is very intriguing because it answers the question of “where do we as humans come from”. There are other instance on board of “Mother” where the primal scene seems very peaceful such as that at the beginning and end when the crew member/s are situating in the sleep chambers.
One of the most disturbing “primal scenes” include Kane being “raped” by the alien when it aggressively attaches itself to the helmet and face and then shoves it’s phallic-like tail forcefully down the mouth of the crew member Kane. From here fertilization occurs in the stomach and leads to a birth by nawing through Kane’s stomach. I was almost in tears feeling such empathy for Kane. Not only was the boundaries of his body bet in such a vicious way but it was the animal-like way that created a not only a fear to me in what I was seeing but also that if pain which made me look away. His life was taken unfairly but perhaps the fairness has no place in that of the maternal-feminine and her process of the maternal returning the child to the womb.
According to Creed, the spectator derive fear/pleasure from viewing the horror film because it is natural to be inquisitive of where we came from as humans and how we were created. As spectators watch a film there is a separation of the spectator and film but as the horror of the film grows and becomes to a great of horrific images the spectator if forced to look away and take deep breath and realize that there is a separation of reality and that on film. Creed goes on to say that one way for the spectator to gather themselves is by knowing that the conventional ending of a horror narrative will incorporate the death of the monsters or aliens.
By Monica Salazar
I find it quite interesting that every science fiction movie has some relation to human sexuality – as if there is nothing else to take from the movies but that. Creed presents the “abject” as a mother figure, however the actual definition of the word as a noun is a person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway. Combining these two uses of the word, the “abject” in the screening would be the alien creature. The maternal aspects include its desire for survival and reproduction, while fitting the common definition of the word by being a castaway on a cargo ship – outcast and unwanted. Creed’s use of “abject” can be considered quite a play on words in the case of Alien.
The “primal scene” in Alien, in my opinion would be when the “face sucker” attaches itself to Kane – beginning the act of reproduction. This is also a very graphic visual and almost parallels oral sex in a way. This whole scene employs a technique to hide a comment on sexual pleasures, while itself creating a “primal scene.”
Spectators derive pleasure from horror science fiction simply because the fear is impersonal. The audience cannot relate to a fear of an unrealistic outside source, and thus is not truly scared. Often in horror science fiction films, the “fear” consists of surprises on screen, and both visual and audio techniques to scare the audience. The fear the audience feels is unreal, and instead is a rush of adrenaline form being surprised.
The abject figure in the film Alien is the representation of the maternal figure as a strong and sexual character. It secures the boundries between the human and non-human because the feminine that is shown as an abject figure is one that does not need a masculine presence to remain alive and in power.
The 'Primal Scene' is the scene or scenes in the movie that represent sexuality through a means that is not inherently sexual. The best example of this in Alien is when the scout group go to the unknown ship and the entryway that they walk through resembles that of a woman's reproductive system, and the characters all awakening from the womblike chamber of the 'mother' spaceship.
The spectator derives fear and pleasure from the viewing of a horror movie, such as Alien, because of voyeuristic nature that exists within a human mind and soul. The viewer is initially fearful of what is occuring because it is something that is concieved as being scary, but a good horror movie makes the viewer want to continue to watch to see the unexpected and the gruesome.
I agree with Matteo in the first point he made. It is interesting that science fiction movies have to have some relation to human sexuality. There is so much more to some of these films. When reading Creed's article, I hadn't even thought about any of the points she was making. Until I read it I didn't think the alien ship resembled a vagina or the scene it which they wake up is resembling a birth scene but that is hers and others opinions.
The "abject" is the maternal figure. The primal scene occurs more than once in the this film. There are a few interpretations of it in the film. One is the womb-like room where the crew wakes up in the mother ship to "mother's" message. Another is the alien ship that looks like a vaginal opening.
A spectator derives fear and or pleasure from viewing a horror film because it is a cathartic experience. It is a primal emotion. Fear is an emotional release. People can experience fear and gain pleasure because they don't actually have to experience the terror themselves. As Matteo put it, it is impersonal.
According to Barbara Creed, the idea of the Abject is that of man's hatred, or maybe better put as anxiety, of not having the ability to reproduce. The alien in Ridley Scott's "Alien" is that which threatens the male order of things. We see attacks on the male population of the ship.
The primal scenes in "Alien" are those in which the alien is reproducing in ways that make the audience cringe. The scene for me that most comes to mind is when the alien bursts from the man's stomach and sits there for a minute, its tail "floating" around his blood. I think this is used to help fortify Scott's idea of man against abject.
Kyle Arpke
(something unrelated: Ridley Scott's "Body Of Lies" is an awesome movie. I checked it out on Monday and it is worth your time. Check it out!)
A ponderous thought occurred while I was reading the Creed text, a thought that I tend to conjure when I step beyond the intended 'front' of a film, that being the silver screen: did the director really plan the film out this extensively and was his or her intent that which is seemingly clarified by this third party's translation? I paused more than several times while reading the text to step back and question my grasp of what I was reading. It was as if I was looking away from the horror movie, as mentioned, so that I may remove myself from an undesired situation and reattach myself to my actual existence. I second Matteo's query, but want to add that thus far in class only have the science fiction films contain such sexual themes.
I consider myself a 'deep thinker' and tend to find myself looking too far into a subject, eventually arriving at a self-imposed conclusion. At that point I must ask another the same question, looking for another 'take'. Just as I can't watch 'Rear Window' any more because of my new understanding of the social discourses contained within, I found it difficult to appreciate 'Alien' on the same grounds. I'm taking a 'devil's advocate' stance at this time, I know, and that's not what is desired, so forgive me, but I must raise the topic of my viewing experience as being nothing more than merely a viewer.
The sexual themes apparently present in 'Alien' did indeed mirror much of what Creed mentioned on Freud's theories on the phallus and it's role with all aspects of motherhood, or the sexual curiosities apparently present in children. To me it's all instinct, merely a natural reaction and curiosity of what should be considered 'normal' rather than 'taboo' within the human world, if not animal kingdom. The aliens, once again to me, should be considered a plant, in most regards, a monoecious organism, specifically the face-attaching being. I say this because there was no need for a traditional germination, or fertilization. All that was needed was another living organism. Typically, reproduction in the animal world requires a male and a female, the female giving birth to what the male has inseminated her with. But tradition is apparently shattered when in space.
Because of this absence of normality, or lack of the mother figure, I would determine the "abject" within 'Alien' is when the alien and the host of choice are conjoined. This to me would be considered the "primal scene" as two different species are utilized to copulate and produce an offspring.
Jim
The film alien is a violent film with death to many of the characters. The main characters are on a ship in the future and accompanying them on the ship is a vicious alien that keeps killing them one by one. The abject part of the film is that the alien is physically supreme to the rest of the crew that is on the ship. It keeps killing them when ever they try to kill the alien. No human has powers like the alien does. The alien also has a very different physical body frame. It has a large area in the back of its head that extends backwards. It also reproduced in a very different way than humans reproduce. It invaded one of the characters body, and hatched itself from their stomach. Being reborn would be considered the primal scene. This is because when the characters awoke from their sleep it was like they were being reborn. Someone watching a horror film gets a fear/pleasure experience because it might be a scary film to watch, while it is exciting to watch.
In the reading of Creed's article it seems that the “abject” is the horrific moments or the "place of death" within parts of the film/movie. For example, the moments of face-huggers fertilizing in a human's stomach or when an alien rips a person apart. These moments which cause the viewer to choose to either look or not look. It isn't the creature itself or what it represents. It is the actions it takes to create those despicable moments. The boundaries, being suggested in the question, is that the viewer will look at the screen in the moments of human interaction or comfortable viewing. Yet, it is when the horrible, monstrous, or non-human moments come into view it becomes a moment for the viewer to choose whether to cross that mental and emotional boundary to watch as the “place of death” comes into play. The spectator though is brought back to security when the monstrous or the monster itself is “named or destroyed.” Thus making the boundaries legitimate again within themselves with respect to the images on the screen.
The primal scene, to be succinct, is the the theory of Freud of which the child actually watches or fantasizes of his/her parents in the act of sex and whether the child views it as horrible. The primal scenes theorized within Alien have many moments referenced. First, the camera floating thru the human ship or “Mother” and the crew waking up in their pods. It is even suggested that the mis-en-scene of the Alien spaceship's design as in its horseshoe shape as legs, its interior being referenced as “vaginal opening(s).” An example looked at is the scene of Kane being lowered into the egg incubation room and his displacement of the father/man into mother/women by the insertion of the face-huggers phallic member onto Kane's throat. There by his birthing of the actual alien by naturally chewing its way out into life. Other references are made to the ships themselves, specifically the human ship, with “smaller crafts or bodies” being ejected or connected by a proverbial umbilical cord. One example is Kane's lifeless body being propelled into deep space.
The spectator derives the fear/pleasure reaction from the “viewing structures” of the horror genre in a unique fashion when compared to the “classical text” of the most other film/movie genres. Whereas in the most other genres the film/movie is continually moving the viewer along in a very intentional pattern to keep them watching and associating. This is created within the spectator's own perspective, or identification of the self, in the participation of the viewing process. The horror film, according to Creed, is different by actually baiting the audience to keep watching. If the audience doesn't look away the horrible moments that take place cause the viewer to be “punished for his/her voyeuristic desires.” In the end, it will create an innate instinctual reaction of either fear of pleasure which, of course, depends on the person's own particular unique psychological makeup.
The “abject” according to Barbara Creed is the maternal figure (especially the archaic mother). The archaic mother is viewed as the mother as the origin of all life, the woman as the source of life, and woman as sole parent.
The maternal figure represented in many ways in Alien. It is represented by the mother ship (Nostromo) and it’s computer nicknamed, “Mother”, the womb like interior of the alien ship and Nostromo. The Alien creature, its egg form, then the creature attached to Kane’s helmet, it’s phallic like creature that eats it’s way out of Kane’s stomach, and the adult alien’s razor-sharp teeth (teethed vagina).
The “primal scene” according to Freud is when a child sees their parents in the act of sexual intercourse or the child fantasies about the act. Also, a child fantasies about seeing their parents in the act of sexual intercourse while the child is still in the womb.
The “primal scene” is represented in various forms in Alien. The first primal scene is at the beginning of the film with the long tracking shot down one of the corridors of Nostromo that leads to a womb-like chamber where the seven-crew members are waking up. The second is the three-crew members entering the alien ship through the vaginal opening. Kane is lowered into a womb-like chamber full of alien eggs. He looks into one of the eggs, which then attaches itself to him. Another example is when the alien eats its way out of Kane’s stomach, which gives the impression of Kane giving birth. These are just a few of the primal scenes in Alien.
The spectator when confronted by monstrous image looks away from the screen to be able to momentarily to withdraw identification from the image on the screen.
Sebastian Juarez
Barbara Creed says that the abject is the representation of the maternal figure. The way that the boundaries are made between the human and non-human are through its manner of reproduction. The abject is independent of the the male figure and is able to reproduce on its own. This reproduction is usually through hostile means and in a way completely different from humans, like how the alien busts from Kane's chest.
The primal scene, as Freud describes it, is the act of the child watching or fantasizing about their parents having sexual intercourse. One scene that Creed notes that describes this is when Kane is looking into the egg that the face hugger comes out of, which he is eventually made a mother out of.
Pleasure is derived from viewing the horror film because of the voyeuristic tendencies of humans. We think we want to see the violence and the blood, but when it actually comes on the screen it is too much and we have to turn away in most cases.
Barbara Creed viewed Alien in a very different manner than I did. She makes reference to an “abject,” the primal scene, and how many moments of the film you are in fear yet derive pleasure from viewing.
The “abject” I got out of Creed's reading was the moment in a movie when you want to look away. The horror of the moment has captured you and you feel fear as if you were in the film. When discussed we found that this “abject” could also be seen as the maternal mother. The primal scene was more interesting to me in this reading.
Creed states that the primal scene is when we see the birth or death of someone. She states that Freud thought that individuals dealt with the primal scene in thinking of their own creation, or being there during conception of themselves. I found this to be a bit confusing and didn't really agree with it. The process Alien takes to show the primal scene is something I found powerful. The opening sequence can be considered a primal scene as it shows us the ship, conveniently named mother, and its occupants awaking. Kane, fore instance, looks especially like a new born when awakening. Kane plays an important part in the movie and in the process of the primal scenes. To maybe bring up Freud's point of view with the primal scene, Kane becomes apart of the primal scene when he curiously looks in at the egg on the discovered space ship. His curiosity could be a form of ones curiosity of own conception because shortly after he is attacked by the alien face-hugger and then becomes the host. Becoming the host begins the next primal scene for Kane, a two part one you could say. Kane is killed by the alien but also gives “birth” to the thing in the same scene. This is the turning point in the movie as from now on the alien is a hunter, only living to survive and grow. This brings in the horror aspect of movie, and Creed's final point on why you derive fear and pleasure from viewing the movie.
Creed states that viewing a scene in which you are afraid puts you in a voyeuristic feeling as you feel like you should look away but you cannot. You derive pleasure from the “I shouldn't be watching this” as it makes the scene more appealing.
Post a Comment