So far, most posts in this forum have been focused on details in the design of spaceships and the life cycles of the xenomorphs. That’s just fine and not that surprising. But, as my question more than hints, there is also a political aspect of the Alien franchise.
In the films we see female protagonists facing male representatives from The Company. I would say, it’s hard to even imagine the franchise without this specific set of gender roles. In my eyes it’s profoundly political. To me it’s also thought provocing how these themes can be used in game. Actually, I can imagine campaigns with both feminist and Marxist approaches. In a game perspective, it’s a way of describing conflicts and power relations. No, I’m not aiming to reducerade this game to identity politics, just approaching in another way.
Of course, I get that even raising these questions might seem provocative to some, probably partly also because we are both Europeans and Americans in here. But my point is NOT to win any political discussion - several interpretations of what the movies really means are possible. What I’m looking for is more a discussion about the political aspects of the Alien franchise. They are there, no matter what your political preferences. Even if you hate identity politics or other leftist perspectives, it’s still a part of popular culture. You could see it as a question of who is good and bad in a movie. I would say that Ripley is portrayed as a good hero fighting corporate villains. Does it have to be like that? Could the lines between good and bad be more blurred? How and why?
As I see it, Alien uses well established tech noir and cyberpunk tropes known from Bladerunner and William Gibsons Sprawl triology. They were both created in the era of Reagan and the global spreadth of what is called neoliberalism. For example, Gibson has commented this in several interviews.