Monsterous Feminine, Alien, H.R. Giger

Text:
Barbra Creeds Monsterous Feminine takes a look at how women are depicted in horror movies. She begins by giving a look at how historically, in different religions and cultures, womens menstral cycles, and vagina are viewed as monsterous and how these ideas have come to play a role in horror flixs. She also discusses various other aspects of the horror film in the soul-less bodies, sickness, terror, desire, etc. in "abjection at work". Creed ties all of these views and concepts in interpreting the film Alien.

Alien takes place deep in space aboard a cargo ship named "Mother". The crew is taken out of there deep sleep pods halfway to Earth to investigate an unknown signal. The crew leaves Mother by detaching a shuttle ship from "umbilicus" in order to investigate the planet, and determine the origin of the transmission. Three crew members come back to the shuttle, after exploring the deserted ship, only to have one member of the crew have an "unknown" alien stuck to his face that grately resembles a vagina with arms and tail. Later the alien falls off the crew members face, after empregnanting him, and allowing the true alien to be born. The movie ends with Sigourney Wiever, and her cat, being the sole servivor.

H.R. Giger is a Swiss surrilist who has created the world and image of Alien. He is also a painter, sculpter, architect (interior), and designer. His work consists of the combination of man and machine.

Key Terms

Demarcation: is the act of creating a boundary around a place or thing
Cathexis: as the process of investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea
Abjection: the state of being cast off

Questions:
Do we conform to the partiarchical sense of viewing women as 'monsterous' in the simplist of forms?
Why have women been historically viewed as evil? what makes women different from men?

Comments:
I enjoyed the movie and the symbolism invovlved. The reading gave a little bit more insite into why we have these female images of being monsterous, but it still left questions as to why we have developed this way.