“Alien” has all the time been, initially, a horror franchise. The science fiction facet of the movie could shine brighter for these of us extra inclined to that individual style (responsible), however the suspense, scares, and monsters loom bigger than the intensive sci-fi worldbuilding, which tends to occupy the background of the films greater than the foreground. Maybe the rationale why Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” cut up the fan base so considerably is as a result of it introduced the extra sci-fi storylines like artificial consciousness, company politics, and historic aliens to the forefront.
FX’s new collection “Alien: Earth” does that as nicely, with the meat of its story specializing in androids, cyborgs, and the experimental “hybrids” of the Prodigy company. Scares nonetheless play a key function, however 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 principally an standalone “Alien” quick movie, and it is one of many present’s greatest 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 assorted alien specimens out of their cages. Whereas we get loads of traditional spooks and gory kills, the true 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 underneath the present’s autocratic company rule, which primarily turns workers into slaves on the whim of their rich overlords. In fact, you’ll have missed a few of these particulars, as they’re included on the letters from Morrow’s daughter — requiring just a few 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 seem like letters from his daughter Estelle faxed by means 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 fireplace 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 pays for all my college,” Estelle writes in a single letter, the place she talks about taking a look at faculties. “That is IF I am going to a Wey-Yu sanctioned college.” 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 likely 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 always denied and the fitting 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 principally enslave individuals to their respective companies for his or her total 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 don’t have any company contracts in any respect? It is protected to imagine that housing, healthcare, perhaps even entry to meals and clear water are all depending on company allegiance. In spite of everything, when the corps personal every thing, why not demand every thing from their residents in change?
The Maginot crew are indentured servants, not workers
The letters from Estelle paint a grim image of Earth underneath company rule, however the crew of the Maginot present a fair 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 if you happen to had been to maneuver to a metropolis run by a special company? It is the last word extrapolation of the corporate city, the place staff 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 firms spend trillions of {dollars} making an attempt to make life artificial, natural life suffers, squeezed out by outrageous prices of dwelling 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 akin to our current second.
