https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressa...4813825d56
EXCERPT. . . however, over the years Alien had come to be regarded as one of the best horror and science-fiction films ever made."Alien" screenwriters Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett based parts of their script on various older science-fiction movies and tales, like "At the Mountains of Madness", a science-fiction/horror story published by American author H.P. Lovecraft in 1936. In the story, a team of scientists is hunted and killed by ancient creatures resembling fossil animals. [...] Hans Rudolf Giger, Swiss surrealist artist, architect and industrial designer, was hired to create all forms of the Alien featuring in the film, from the egg to the adult.
[...] The parasite bursts from the chest of its victim and soon the crew has to deal with the fast-growing life-form hiding in the air vents of the spaceship. The design of the "chestburster" and the full-grown xenomorph ("alien-shaped thing") is based on Giger's "Necronom IV", an artwork created in 1976. The surrealist drawing shows a female figure composed of different parts of insects, parts of vertebrates and even fossils. Giger used the fossils of 300 million-year-old crinoids [...] as a source of inspiration.
[...] The skin of echinoderms, including sea cucumbers, sea urchins, crinoids, brittle stars and starfish, is covered with tiny ossicles made of calcium carbonate forming a protective, yet flexible, outer shell. In a similar way, Giger's Alien is protected by a silicon-based external skeleton. This outer shell is also very useful to contain the acid blood of the creature. Concept artist John Cobb added the acid blood as a defense mechanism, making it impossible to kill the Alien without damage to the crew or the spaceship.... (MORE)
The philosophy behind Alien: [...] Unlike many of its galactic fellows, the Xenomorph doesn't fly around in a spotless ship of unfathomable technology. Giger's creature is a filthy, primal parasite whose very survival is contingent on it's continued rape and exploitation of other species. If this sounds like a familiar concept, it's because, at least according to Giger, it was an accurate, if a little pessimistic, reflection of humanity's most basic function. Throughout his career, Giger made a point of highlighting the dark side of the human life cycle so often worshipped as a source of hope and positivity. While we celebrated births and treasured our existence, Giger produced pieces like Erotomechanics VII, which sapped thought and feeling from the act of reproduction and reduced them to what he saw as the truth: the cold, mechanical struggle to survive. To Giger, sex and birth could be pain and even kill. Every life, he posited in his piece Birth Machine, carries the potential for suffering. In Necronom IV, we see the phallus and the monster depicted as one, a fusion of a symbol of life with its inherent potential for pain and trauma. Giger's message was very clear: That thing between your legs is also an instrument of evil.... (MORE)
RELATED: The Case For Not Being Born (antinatalism)
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Sigourney Weaver surprises the cast of a high school 'Alien' play
https://us.cnn.com/2019/04/27/entertainm...index.html
INTRO: The high school cast of a stage version of "Alien" got plenty attention when its elaborate play went viral last month. On Friday night, the young actors got another surprise when the star of the original movie, Sigourney Weaver, dropped by New Jersey's North Bergen High School to congratulate them. "I am representing all of the 'Alien' fans, all over the universe who think what you're doing is so cool," she told the teens in video shared on Twitter.... (MORE)
EXCERPT. . . however, over the years Alien had come to be regarded as one of the best horror and science-fiction films ever made."Alien" screenwriters Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett based parts of their script on various older science-fiction movies and tales, like "At the Mountains of Madness", a science-fiction/horror story published by American author H.P. Lovecraft in 1936. In the story, a team of scientists is hunted and killed by ancient creatures resembling fossil animals. [...] Hans Rudolf Giger, Swiss surrealist artist, architect and industrial designer, was hired to create all forms of the Alien featuring in the film, from the egg to the adult.
[...] The parasite bursts from the chest of its victim and soon the crew has to deal with the fast-growing life-form hiding in the air vents of the spaceship. The design of the "chestburster" and the full-grown xenomorph ("alien-shaped thing") is based on Giger's "Necronom IV", an artwork created in 1976. The surrealist drawing shows a female figure composed of different parts of insects, parts of vertebrates and even fossils. Giger used the fossils of 300 million-year-old crinoids [...] as a source of inspiration.
[...] The skin of echinoderms, including sea cucumbers, sea urchins, crinoids, brittle stars and starfish, is covered with tiny ossicles made of calcium carbonate forming a protective, yet flexible, outer shell. In a similar way, Giger's Alien is protected by a silicon-based external skeleton. This outer shell is also very useful to contain the acid blood of the creature. Concept artist John Cobb added the acid blood as a defense mechanism, making it impossible to kill the Alien without damage to the crew or the spaceship.... (MORE)
The philosophy behind Alien: [...] Unlike many of its galactic fellows, the Xenomorph doesn't fly around in a spotless ship of unfathomable technology. Giger's creature is a filthy, primal parasite whose very survival is contingent on it's continued rape and exploitation of other species. If this sounds like a familiar concept, it's because, at least according to Giger, it was an accurate, if a little pessimistic, reflection of humanity's most basic function. Throughout his career, Giger made a point of highlighting the dark side of the human life cycle so often worshipped as a source of hope and positivity. While we celebrated births and treasured our existence, Giger produced pieces like Erotomechanics VII, which sapped thought and feeling from the act of reproduction and reduced them to what he saw as the truth: the cold, mechanical struggle to survive. To Giger, sex and birth could be pain and even kill. Every life, he posited in his piece Birth Machine, carries the potential for suffering. In Necronom IV, we see the phallus and the monster depicted as one, a fusion of a symbol of life with its inherent potential for pain and trauma. Giger's message was very clear: That thing between your legs is also an instrument of evil.... (MORE)
RELATED: The Case For Not Being Born (antinatalism)
- - -
Sigourney Weaver surprises the cast of a high school 'Alien' play
https://us.cnn.com/2019/04/27/entertainm...index.html
INTRO: The high school cast of a stage version of "Alien" got plenty attention when its elaborate play went viral last month. On Friday night, the young actors got another surprise when the star of the original movie, Sigourney Weaver, dropped by New Jersey's North Bergen High School to congratulate them. "I am representing all of the 'Alien' fans, all over the universe who think what you're doing is so cool," she told the teens in video shared on Twitter.... (MORE)