“Alien” has all the time been, firstly, a horror franchise. The science fiction side of the movie could shine brighter for these of us extra inclined to that exact style (responsible), however the suspense, scares, and monsters loom bigger than the in depth sci-fi worldbuilding, which tends to occupy the background of the films greater than the foreground. Maybe the explanation why Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” break up the fan base so considerably is as a result of it introduced the extra sci-fi storylines like artificial consciousness, company politics, and historical aliens to the forefront.
FX’s new collection “Alien: Earth” does that as effectively, with the meat of its story specializing in androids, cyborgs, and the experimental “hybrids” of the Prodigy company. Scares nonetheless play a key function, nevertheless it is not till episode 5 — a flashback episode explaining what occurred aboard the Maginot — that we get a full-blown horror story within the type of the films.
Episode 5 is mainly an standalone “Alien” quick movie, and it is one of many present’s finest episodes but. The episode primarily follows Maginot safety officer Morrow (Babou Ceesay) as he works to uncover the id of a saboteur aboard the ship’s crew, all whereas that sabotage begins to let the varied alien specimens out of their cages. Whereas we get loads of basic spooks and gory kills, the actual horror of the episode is within the additional exploration of the present’s company society. With Morrow as our eyes, we see in new element simply how brutal life is below the present’s autocratic company rule, which primarily turns staff into slaves on the whim of their rich overlords. After all, you might have missed a few of these particulars, as they’re included on the letters from Morrow’s daughter — requiring a couple of pauses to totally course of.
Morrow’s tragic life reveals Alien’s company brutality
In the course of “Alien: Earth” episode 5, Morrow takes a second to himself in his quarters, the place he reads over what look like letters from his daughter Estelle faxed by way of house to the Maginot. As a result of it is a 65-year mission, he would have missed most of her life regardless, however the letters reveal that she died in a hearth only a few years into the voyage, shedding some mild on Morrow’s state of perpetual anger. Whereas that is clearly a tragedy, the opposite particulars hidden within the letters are arguably the extra horrifying bits.
“Mother says that Weyland-Yutani can pay for all my faculty,” Estelle writes in a single letter, the place she talks about schools. “That is IF I’m going to a Wey-Yu sanctioned faculty.” In the identical letter, she mentions studying that her classmates solely get partial scholarships, revealing Morrow’s significance inside the firm.
On its face, this will not sound too loopy, however give it some thought for a minute. That is primarily taking the damaged U.S. healthcare system — one the place coverages are continuously denied and the precise care appears to all the time be “out of community” — and making use of it to a different fundamental want: schooling. We have seen within the present-day “Alien: Earth” timeline that medical money owed and work contracts can mainly enslave folks to their respective companies for his or her complete lives. How costly would a school schooling be for somebody whose father hadn’t dedicated 65 years of his life to outer house? What about households who haven’t any company contracts in any respect? It is secure to imagine that housing, healthcare, possibly even entry to meals and clear water are all depending on company allegiance. In spite of everything, when the corps personal all the pieces, why not demand all the pieces from their residents in change?
The Maginot crew are indentured servants, not staff
The letters from Estelle paint a grim image of Earth below company rule, however the crew of the Maginot present a good worse facet of issues. They do not get paid in cash, per se, however in shares of the corporate. And what number of shares, you would possibly ask? For somebody low down the chain of command, one quarter share for 65 years of their life. It is a horrific, nearly laughable compensation, however hey, it is cash, proper?
This is the factor, although: Paying an worker in shares, quite than money, successfully retains them indentured in perpetuity. What good is the worth of a Weyland-Yutani share for those who had been to maneuver to a metropolis run by a special company? It is the last word extrapolation of the corporate city, the place employees are given tokens to spend on the firm retailer and put up in firm housing, however with no actual technique of ever escaping, as Rick and Morty would put it, slavery with additional steps.
As the companies spend trillions of {dollars} attempting to make life artificial, natural life suffers, squeezed out by outrageous prices of residing and a society that has eliminated all margins for upward momentum. It is a cyberpunk dystopia that may really feel a bit extra fantastical if it weren’t so depressingly similar to our current second.
