Alien

A topic I've focused on for other blog posts has been the comparisons of different androids in other films, like the Replicants in Blade Runner, actual robots in Wall-E, and alien races in Star Trek. The presence of non-human life forces in science fiction films is crucial, because it is hard to imagine a future that isn't primarily influenced by technology. There were two foreign beings in Alien, obviously the Alien and then Ash, the supposed human and then android. I guess because this is another Ridley Scott movie, he technically qualifies as a Replicant, but I digress. I think it was interesting that these two were included in the same film, because the reactions to them are quite different.

As we have seen before, humans do not react well to actual aliens. When represented in scifi films, aliens are not human like at all, and most often have far superior physical abilities. The alien in Alien was referred to as the "perfect organism", and it was treated as a huge threat by the crew, rightly so. It systematically hunted the crew in a very successful manner, and although Ripley seemed to dispose of it, the fact that there are sequels proves it wrong.

Ash is first introduced as a human, albeit an odd one. It is in his lack of reaction to the alien onboard that Ripley realizes something is wrong, and his attempts to murder her prove that he is not in fact human. While I don't really understand the whole rolled up newspaper attack, he clearly had no respect for human life and was far stronger than the crew members that came to her aid. Ash as a replicant did not outwardly harm the crew, but it was clear that he would if deemed necessary.

While Star Trek also introduced both aliens and androids side by side, it was to a very different effect than Alien. Neither the alien or Ash in Alien were peaceful, and therefore their roles in the film were very distinct. I believe the reason Alien was so successful in establishing itself as one of the corner stones of the science fiction genre is because it introduced both alien life force and mechanical humanity as equal threats. Both of these ideas seem to be equally terrifying to humanity: the idea that something we create in our likeness will somehow become more advanced than ourselves, and the idea that other beings exist than are inherently superior to humans.

Sunshine

In a film called Sunshine, it's pretty obvious that the focal point is going to revolve around the Sun in some type of way. Sunshine focuses on a crew's mission to reboot the Sun, in order to sustain life on Earth. This represents a common fear of humans I believe; that such a small variable- a star lightyears away, is absolutely neccessary for life on Earth. This film defintely plays on this universal fear of the Sun failing Earth, but it also turns the introspect inwards on humanity, which in my opinion is a major trope of the sci-fi genre.

The sun itself can almost be considered as a character in Sunshine. It appears in many scenes as the focal point of the shot; it is looming and impressive over the ship, or through the viewing screen. It dominants every scene it's pictured in, especially with the help of the vibrant orange color and the fact that you can see its burning surface. Everything else is shot with a much darker color scheme, mostly shades of black and blue. The ship itself is very shaded, with a sterile feeling to every aspect. Even the room filled with plants, the main source of oxygen, is dark compared to shots of the sun. This is also seen when artifical light is viewed- it is blueish and just seems cold compared to the vibrancy and warmth of the actual Sun.

While the sun is a literally a star, that's what it is in Sunshine in a non-literal sense. The characters all react to the sun in different ways, which is partially what brings me to my conclusion of the sun also representing humanity. Their lives all revolve around the sun, but not just in the sense that it is their mission and that they need the Sun to exist. I think that this film also makes the connection that the sun represents the purest form of humanity and morality. These characters will sacrifice anything to save it. The crew of Icharus II struggle to both save the sun and protect their ideals in the face of it, which brings us to an age old question of philosophy- which matters more, the means to the end, or just the end?