Alien Resurrection: Ripley as an "other"

ALIEN RESURRECTION: RIPLEY AS AN "OTHER"

Alien Resurrection offers new visions to traditionally well established conceptions of humanity and systems of reproductions. These new ideas or notions are mainly displayed through the character Ripley. She is a new creation, a hybrid, the result of a cloning process that encompasses genes from an alien queen and the original human Ripley. Because of this new physical mixture the cloned Ripley will experience through out the film divisions and contradictions in her search for identity. This experience of failed identity construction will be reinforced by the fact that Ripley will not find a single species, human or alien, that it could match her genetically and emotionally. The only one who can come close to share with her this experience of identity search is the robot Call. The robot Call, constructed by other robots, has been programmed to act and behave like humans; but being aware of its not human origin also experiences a conflict of identity. Ironically the film ends focusing in the non human characters, Ripley and Call, who have acted and made decisions during the film in order to save humans.

During her identity construction Ripley finds new memories that break the external division between humans and monster. She is located in a point of conjunction, of union or intersection that demands a new way of constructing identity and subjectivity. This new model, which is created by flexible boundaries, is opposed to Kristeva's notion of identity, which is based on a constant struggle to keep its limits or borders from the external.

Within this context of new identity model, Ripley is not only presented as the "other" for humans but also for the aliens. The aim of this paper is to support, through the analysis of several scenes of the film, that the idea of considering the cloned Ripley as the "other" by humans is reinforced during the film. And this paper will not focus in detail on her representation as the "other" for the aliens because the humans are who, in fact, clearly represents structures of power.

We can find two main human structures of power in the film such as: the army and the scientist's of the USS Auriga, which is the spaceship where most of the film takes place. Ripley is presented as the "other" from the very beginning of the film. We can see her in a tube, which separates her from a group of scientists who are amazed observing her. Meanwhile in the tube, at first she is just in an infant stage but then she is shown quickly developing into a mature being. This artificial way of creation and fast development already differentiates her from the established natural process of human birth and a development into adulthood that requires a long time. Then we can see how the foetus of an alien queen, also cloned, is surgically removed from her chest. Therefore she is also different from the other human characters of the film because her body serves as a host of an alien. Once the alien queen, which is what the scientists and army are really interested in, has been removed from her, the scientists decide to keep Ripley because "the host" is alive and "doing well". Ripley is then left isolated on a cell, constantly guarder, whilst she is still growing and developing. She is then shown as breaking through from a see-through placenta that covers her body during her development process. It is now, as she touches the scar in her chest from the surgery and discovers the number eight tattooed in her arm, when a sense of search for identity and subjectivity construction begins. She is shown in the film being treated by the scientists as an animal in a lab. For example she goes through a physical examination meanwhile her hands are chained and as she is referred to as "our number 8" and not by a human name. Therefore she is being treated as a prisoner, as an outsider from the existing structures of power.

This representation of Ripley as the "other" is reinforced in the following scenes when she undergoes a learning process. The scientists' idea is to teach her human language and behaviour through slides, which she learns very quickly, even in an "unprecedented" manner. Also in the teaching-learning scene we find a shot whereby Ripley is almost totally immobilized seating on a chair, in front of her there's a female scientists showing her the slides and just behind Ripley there's a military guard holding a gun. This shot very symbolically represents how Ripley is surrounded and under the control of these two structures of power: the scientific community and the military establishment. And in the following scene there is an argument between the scientists in charge of the experiment and General Perez, who represents the power of the army in the spaceship. On one hand the scientists want to keep Ripley alive and continue observing her because she shows unconventional characteristics that may come as the result of the genetic crossing of two species. But General Perez wants to destroy her because for him "number 8 is a meat by-product", and he even shows more interest on the alien queen, which was surgically removed from Ripley, and its physical development. None of them, scientists and army, take under consideration Ripley as a human, therefore they totally disregard her subjectivity or her issues on identity. She is not considered to be another human but a hybrid product that could be analysed, for future human benefits, or simply destroyed.

Another scene that sets up Ripley as the "other" is found when she is playing basketball and meets the crew of the Betty. In this scene she shows physical characteristics like speed, strength and agility that are well above the human average. Also her blood is not completely human as when she throws to the floor a drop after being hit by Christie, one of the crew of the Betty, it is shown as being somehow acid and corrosive. Therefore this physical aspect also reinforces the idea of her genetic mix between human and alien species. The response by crew members of the Betty to her display of physical abilities is summarized in Joiner's question "what the hell are you?". This question exemplifies how Ripley is also considered by the crew of the Betty as "other", as something undefined and different, but who makes the scientists to be "very proud of". The issues of identity for Ripley are explicitly shown in the scene when Call, the robot, enters into Ripley's cell with the intention to kill her and the alien queen, which Call expected it to be still inside Ripley's body. It is now when Call asks Ripley the reason, once the alien queen has been removed, by which the scientists and army are keeping