#Lt. Ripley

[johnny-dynamo]

XENOMONDAY!

Art by Travis Charest

[sexyheroes]

Credit :??

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]

Winona Ryder and Sigourney Weaver - Alien Resurrection, 1997.

[horrorfemme1138]

Movie No. 6: Alien

[ivangarciaillustration]

Sigourney Weaver as Lt. Ellen Ripley (signed prints) © Iván García Pencils, markers and digital. My sites site - etsy shop - facebook - tumblr - instagram

[thagomizersshow]

Content warning: blood, gore, sexual content, sexual assault, parasites and body horror

This is a heavily modified version of an essay I originally wrote for a literary theory class and then turned into a script for a video essay that I never finished. 

Enjoy :)

One of the things that really bothers me about the critical conversation around Alien (1979) is the long-running idea that the alien and its various forms are so enduringly horrifying because they break the sexual/gender binary.

The worst example I can find is this excerpt, from Alien Woman: The Making of Lt. Ripley, by Ximena Gallardo and C. & C. Jason Smith:

The Alien species disregards the sexual difference that is so essential to our definition of what it is to be human. The male body is repositioned to correspond to the female body: the male mouth becomes the vagina, the chest the womb. The dichotomy male/female is broken down, as all humanity is female (a womb) in the face of the alien.

I get that this was published in 2004, but Gender Trouble had already been around for over a decade, so that’s not much of an excuse for weird ass gender essentialism in academia.

Art by AlexanDraxleean ↑

The idea that the xenomorph and its various stages are scary because the gender binary is being broken down is comically disregarded by the simple fact that trans people (like myself) ALSO find the damn thing scary. We are living embodiments of a shattered binary, but we aren’t shitting ourselves over our own existence (usually). I contend that the alien is scary not because of a violation of gender or sexual norms, but because it utilizes a much more widespread and visceral kind of horror: that of the parasite.

Most other animalistic horror monsters rely on the fear of the predator: monster wanna eat you → you run away → get caught → get eated. This is an oversimplification, obviously, and if you want a really good exploration of how the fear of predators effects us, read Val Plumwood’s Eye of the Crocodile. For real, my fav ecophilosophy book.

No, instead of the more straightforward horror presented by the predator, the alien uses the inescapable, cloying, and violating horror of parasites and parasitoids. Where the predator hunts, kills and eats, the parasite clings, defiles and tortures. When the predator catches you, you’re dead. When the parasite catches you, you don’t know what is going to happen. Is it going to bury inside you? Is it going to feed on your body? Is it going to lay eggs in you? You literally don’t know, and that’s what makes them so scary. Hell, they could get inside you without you even knowing. It isn’t just the fear of death, it’s the paranoia of violation AND the fear of the unknown. This makes Alien akin to a Lovecraftian horror in many ways, but instead of the fear of race-mixing or disabled people, it is the fear that whatever you do, wherever you go, there are beings that can enter your body and use it against your will.

Hell, the whole premise of the movie, at least according to the screenwriter, came from the thought “what if ichneumon wasps laid eggs in us instead of in worms?” That basic idea is glossed over constantly in analysis of Alien in favour of more Freudian explanations that rely heavily on antiquated notions of gender essentialism. When early screening audiences were throwing up in their seats in 1979, were they thinking about how “this monster really transgresses gender norms :/” or were they thinking “fuck what if that thing was growing inside me?!?!”

The only time I agree with these old school interpretations is when they view Alien through the lens of sexual assault. The fear of sexual assault and the fear of parasites are fucked up sisters in a way. They are both fears of bodily violation that induce a strong paranoia, and their symbologies easily feed off one another. Sexual imagery (e.g. a penis shaped head with a mouth on the end) combined with parasitic imagery (e.g. a creature grabbing a hold of you and doing unknown things to your body) are both niggling at the part of your brain that is repulsed by internal invasion.

However, I’ve seen arguments that Alien specifically targets fears for cis men being sexually assaulted, and I think that’s a very limited approach to the movie. The idea of a creature latching onto you, ignoring your autonomy, and using you as an incubator is pretty universally scary if you ask me, and I think for most people, that idea connects to a primal and often unaddressed fear of parasites far more than sexual violation. Just look at videos of botfly maggot removals and tell me you don’t get the same yucky feeling as when you watch Alien.

Even for people like me who find these creatures fascinating, I still get that skin crawly feeling when I look at images of them for too long. And it isn’t just a short-lived disgust reaction happening, it’s also that feeling of paranoia that it could be happening to you right this minute. This is all a part of what is called the behavioural immune system, which is the brain’s first line of defense against infection and why most people are grossed out by signs of disease on the body (pus, rashes, body odours, etc.).

We really don’t like thinking about parasites, and it shows across our culture. Deadly predators of all kinds have been worshiped all over the world, but is there anyone in history who paid fealty to the tick? Who invoked the name of the roundworm for strength? Are there cartoons about anthropomorphic scabies and their kingdom of flesh? (If any of these exist and I just don’t know it, please tell me.)

I’m not saying that this is an innate feeling in all of us (the human experience is about as diverse as it gets, and I’m sure some people just don’t have this reaction and never have) but I do think it’s widespread enough and so infrequently felt that when this parasite repulsion is triggered it makes for a horror that is far harder to shake than any socialized fear of gender violation. Far more than any Freudian psychosexual imagery, the horror of the parasite is what I believe has made the xenomorph such an enduring cinematic monster.

I wanna leave this post off with one of my favourite quotes about parasites from Annie Dilliard’s book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek:

It is the thorn in the flesh of the world, another sign, if any be needed, that the world is actual and fringed, pierced here and there, and through and through, with the toothed conditions of time and the mysterious, coiled spring of death.

[nickolashx]

Alien Resurrection (2000)

Alien Resurrection is a 2000s Horror FPS game based on the 1997 film of the same name. The game was developed by Argonaut Games and published by Fox Interactive for the PS1.

Following the same basic plot of the movie, the game takes place years after the events of Alien 3 and follows a cloned Lt. Ellen Ripley awaking aboard the USM Auriga and trying to escape from the xenomorph-infested research spaceship USM Auriga along with a crew of mercenaries.

When the Xenomorphs bred from the queen that was extracted from her cloned body escape containment and begin running rampant aboard the Auriga, Ripley must unite with a group of rag-tag mercenaries to escape the vessel

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament: Round 1B

When Suffs opens previews later this month, Emily Skinner (1970) will have ten Broadway shows to her name. Best known (and Tony-nominated) for being attached to Alice Ripley's hip in Side Show (1997), Emily isn't afraid to take bit parts that squander her talents (looking at you, New York, New York (2022)). She made her Broadway debut in Jekyll & Hyde where, during previews, she had her own Singin' in the Rain moment when she provided the vocals for star Linda Eder during her bout of laryngitis.

Another ten-show Diva, Judy Kuhn (1958) is a four-time Tony nominee for tumblr-favorites such as Les Miserables (1987), Chess (1988), She Loves Me (1994), and most recently Fun Home (2015). Booked and busy, she has featured in two Classic Stage Company off-Broadway shows since 2021, and will appear in the Encores! Titanic concert this June. She is the singing voice for Disney's Pocahontas.

PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT:

"Emily Skinner's cabaret act is entitled "A Broad with a Broad Mind" and it's accurate as all hell. She has that bold and brassy voice that's a rare commodity in today's Broadway's climate, and I, for one, want to see more of her in larger roles. New York, New York was a travesty all around, but specifically for how it didn't allow her to do much of anything, much less show off her vocal talents."

"submitting some hopefully not-as-obvious judy kuhn propaganda <3 singing "nobody's side" in 2018 (!!!!) her "meadowlark," an all-timer an astonishing live performance of "colors of the wind" she is literally ill and sounds like this!!!" - Submitted by @phyllisrogersstan

[aliumfungus]

all will be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

Painted this today when I was thinking about what fictional character I'd like to have as a guardian.

Lt. Ellen Ripley, her flamethrower, and Jonesy are looking out for you.

[galadhir]

Tagged by @aintgonnatakethis and @judgeverse

Thank you! :)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

88

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

802,066

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I'm a serial monogamist as far as fandoms go, concentrating on one at a time until I move on to the next. Over the past 15 years I've written

Star Wars (Prequel trilogy - all about Qui-Gon Jinn)

Tolkien fandom (all about Celeborn)

Pirates of the Caribbean (started off with Commodore Norrington/Jack Sparrow, couldn't make it work for me and jumped sideways into Norrington and Lt. Gillette)

Marvel - (the Thor movies reactivated a nascent fascination with Loki, so I dragged a whole bunch of mythology into the MCU fandom.)

Stargate Universe (all about Colonel Young)

Star Wars (Sequel trilogy - all about General Hux)

The Untamed (all about Jin Guangyao)

I've also done a couple of little shorts for Torchwood, Motive and Talented Mr Ripley

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A Kindness Repaid - in which Loki and Captain America become friends

Supervillain Honeymoon - someone wrote a fic in response to A Kindness Repaid in which Loki and Steve got married, so I had to write a fic in response to that, in which I figured out how the Asgardians and the Avengers would take the news

The Same Last Name and the Same Coloured Eyes - in which Jin Zixuan decides to be a good big brother to Jin Guangyao, and averts most of the tragedy of The Untamed as a result

Defying His Doom - in which Doctor Doom inspires Loki to improve his public image, and they end up winning a Nobel Peace Prize.

Stepping Stones - an epic Stargate Universe fic I wrote with @seekingidlewild, in which an accident with the communication stones leaves Rush and Young bodyswapped and all communication from Earth cut off

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Of course I do! I've met all my best fandom friends by chatting with them in the comments of fic (mine and theirs.) Also who doesn't love talking to people about their writing?

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I tend to avoid angsty endings if I can. That said, it's probably Battle of the Golden Wood which ends with Galadriel and Celeborn saying goodbye, as she leaves Middle-earth and he refuses to follow.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hard to say - I tend to make them all as happy as possible. If I can save the world at the same time, I'll do that too. Maybe Seeds of Old Trees, which gets Celeborn and Galadriel back together and sets Tolkien's elves on a path towards a future of exploring outer space.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have had some rude and entitled comments. People trying to convince me that my blorbo is actually a terrible person who should be locked up (SGU) or that my understanding of the lore is faulty (Tolkien) and therefore I should have written a different story from the one I actually wrote. But I wouldn't really call that hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Heh, it's funny. I came into fanfic repressed and writing gen. Then I unpacked the repression, had about ten years writing slash, during which I discovered the queer community, wrestled with God and came out as an asexual queer Christian. Then I leaned into the asexuality and ended up writing gen again.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

In general I don't, but the craziest one is also the only one I've written - Strange Meetings in which Qui-Gon crash lands in Middle-earth and meets Legolas. They were going to go to the drowned ruins of Doriath and recover a Silmaril, but I lost interest after a couple of chapters.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

The same last name and the same coloured eyes has been translated into Russian, and I think one of my Tolkien fics was translated into Chinese, but that was on a non-Ao3 site.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Absolutely! I wrote a number of Elu Thingol/Celeborn fics in the Tolkien fandom with Mirien, and Stepping Stones (where Rush and Young are bodyswapped, and Skipping Stones (where Young is age-regressed into a child) with @seekingidlewild

I loved it! It's a great experience writing with someone whose writing you already enjoy. Lots of bouncing ideas off each other and excitement - and of course it's half as hard and twice as fast as doing it all yourself.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

I don't think I have one. I'm honestly a single blorbo at a time writer, and I will read and write fics in which that blorbo is paired with just about anyone. I'm not particularly bothered which ship they're in.

I do have a soft spot for Rush/Young though, because they have such in-your- face dysfunctional obsessional chemistry on the show. And in contrast I also love Xiyao (Lan Xichen/Jin Guangyao) because they are so obviously in such a gentle, radiant sort of love, that I choose to believe would have survived the revelation of Jin Guangyao's multiple murders.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I would have said Do Not Bear Grudges, which was going to be my JGY resurrection fic, but it fought me so hard that I ended up deleting what I'd already written and I'm glad to have it gone.

I still vaguely wish that I had finished The Stolen Ones however, which was about Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi and was jossed by the Jedi Apprentice books. (I still think mine was better.)

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty good at description/settings/worldbuilding, and I often have an unusual take on things due to my non-neurotypicalness.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm not great at giving each character their own unique voice, so my dialogue can get a bit samey. Also I forget that characters can lie - all my characters pretty much tell the truth all the time, which makes it difficult writing the kind of sneaky characters I so love, like Loki, JGY later movies!Hux and even Rush.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I could not do it. Massive respect and kudos to anyone who writes in a second language. It is beyond me.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, when it first came out. The internet was on dial-up and fandom was on yahoo groups. It was the first time in my life I'd ever been able to speak to other sci-fi geeks like myself. An amazing experience, and good times!

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

I know it's cheating a bit to choose more than one, but these three hang together as a series, telling the story of Celeborn and Galadriel from first meeting, to tragic parting and final reunion Oak and Willow, Battle of the Golden Wood, and Seeds of Old Trees. At about 140,000 words, it's a good size novel. And of all the characters I've stanned over the years I still feel Celeborn needed me the most. (Though Colonel Young comes a close second there.)

tagging @seekingidlewild @darthlenaplant @darthnostra @wyomingnot @gamebird

and anyone else who wants to have a go! :)

[ellen-ripley-official]

Hello there, this is Lt. Ellen Ripley! Since surviving the tragedy on the Nostromo, I’m still managing to stay alive with my cat Jonesy and adoptive daughter Newt. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

I may not always be available to answer right away, but I’ll get to them when I can. 💙

(This is an RP side blog for Ellen Ripley from the Alien quadrilogy series. The mod of the account is @thespookybean14).

[sexyheroes]

Lt Ripley by Tim Grayson

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]

[fortunatetragedy]

five fandoms, five pairings

The lovely @aintgonnatakethis tagged me. Let's gooooo!

My Top 5 All Time Ships:

STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE

(L) Maj. Kira Nerys/Lt. Jadzia Dax; (R) Dr. Julian Bashir/Elim Garak

You could not tell 10-year-old Jamie either of them weren't fucking.

2. PATHOLOGIC (Classic HD + 2)

Artemy Burakh/Daniil Dankovsky

They are actual dolls played with by children. They fuck up each others' plotlines. They are totally going to run away together instead of compromise their principles or die of Sand Plague at the end of the fic I'm going to write.

3. BLACK MIRROR: SAN JUNIPERO

Kelly/Yorkie

Fuck this entire episode.

4. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Poussey Washington/Brook Soso

Fuck this entire show I bounced after they did my girl the way they did.

Uh oh I did five ships in four fandoms.

Here have a bonus sunk ship:

ELLEN RIPLEY/CPL. DWAYNE HICKS

I refuse to acknowledge any Alien films as canon past Aliens and you're well within your rights to fight me on this CORPORAL HICKS AND NEWT ARE ALIVE OKAY.

Did you scroll all the way to the end of this post and keep reading? Tag!

[dynamitehq]

hello fam ! admin e here !

i hope everyone enjoyed my little event i planned out.

we have some more big events coming up !

a lantern festival at the end of the month.

a wrestle dream / fastlane after party (me and admin a are still working on this. )

the monster mash bash ( halloween party ) *hosted by the micevski siblings*

the wedding of rhea ripley and cathy kelley.

as always if you want to plan or host an event let one if us know ! so i can make a promo banner for the event if needed.<3

we love you all so much !

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Just for fun, if “Aliens” was made today (I picked actors who would’ve been around the same age as the original 1986 cast):

1) May Calamawy as Ellen Ripley

2) Josh Hutcherson as Cpl. Dwayne Hicks

3) Violet McGraw as Rebecca “Newt” Jorden

4) Michael Fassbender as Bishop

5) Amber Midthunder as Pvt. Vasquez

6) Thomas Mann as Lt. Gorman

7) Dacre Montgomery as Carter Burke

8) Joe Keery as Pvt. Hudson

9) Omar Sy as Sgt. Apone