Alien analysis

Having not seen Alien before, I could not help comparing it to The Matrix, it was mainly due to the spacecraft, shots used, colours and the character of Ellen (in comparison to Trinity). When Kane gets infected by the alien, I naturally believed that he was going to have some sort of reaction later on to it, as this is seen nowadays in films such as Cloverfield and I Am Legend, these two films may have been influenced by Alien. I also, never believed I would get scared by a film made in 1979 but I was genuinely scared when the Alien revealed his face after a suspenseful moment looking for the other astronauts. Building suspense and then following up with a sound-heavy sudden revealing is something that isn't done to often nowadays as I believe directors think this is an overused technique. In films such as Cloverfield, suspense is usually built then decreased, or in I Am Legend, they try to shock the viewer by avoiding suspense altogether. For me, watching Alien, was like seeing where all the more recent sci-fi films got all there scenes from, however I was still able to appreciate the various techniques used. Phil asked us what we thought about the revealing of alot of Ellen's skin towards the end of the film. I believe that this film positively represented the power of females, throughout there are sexual innuendos such as when Kane is attacked by an alien form and then used as an egg to reproduce, it shows how a man is used for reproduction without his consent. When Ellen is being approached by the Alien at the end, the Alien's head is the phalic symbol approaching Ellen, however Ellen gets rid of it again positively representing women.