Content warning: This article discusses themes of sexual assault. “Alien: Romulus” spoilers ahead.
The crippling hubris of militaristic capitalism. A woman in a sci-fi film who is driven by her love for her brother, not a lover. An alien cocoon with the visual language of a vulva.
Horror is most successful when it preys on the real fears of its audience. Through these seemingly abstract ideas, “Alien: Romulus” calls on the terror of a wilting economy, climate change, losing a loved one and sexual assault.
I saw this film and left the Bohm bristling with fear, bewilderment and inspiration. If you love the “Alien” franchise, then you’ll likely walk away from this film with a similar feeling.
According to Screen Rant, “Alien: Romulus” takes place between the first and second movies of the series – which, for the record, are the best of the set. This is the latest installment in an iconic sci-fi horror series and does what most horror sequels fail to do: honor the themes of the original film.
Capitalism and the Damnation of the Military Economy
Any true fan of this series knows that the true villain of the “Alien” films is not the titular xenomorph, the alien monster of the franchise, but the Weyland-Yutani corporation.
In the first movie of the franchise, the cast is forced to investigate an alien-infested planet or risk losing their investment in the company. In “Alien: Romulus,” the motivation behind the actions of the main cast is even more blatantly anti-capitalist, and, I would argue, environmentalist.
Their home planet is a fiery, polluted, ruthless mining colony – and the film opens with a gut-wrenching scene where a company representative tells the main character, Rain, that the hours required for her to escape to another planet have doubled. She and her friends are thus forced to find some other way to leave before they inevitably die of sickness or the hazards of the mines – like their parents.
None of the main characters have even seen the sun. They don’t want to get rich, they just want to breathe clean air. They are chained to a reality that demands they follow in the footsteps of generations before them, the reward dangled in front of them by the same force that chokes them for the price of being born. Sound familiar?
Not to mention, Weyland-Yutani is in the weapons business – and that business, fictional or not, is evil.
These young, industrious people are forced to scavenge and steal because there is no winning in the system. Capitalism asks exponential costs of the lowest class, demanding your time, dignity, health and ultimately your life. To feed yourself is to feed the war machine.
In reality, our money is worth less by the day, and the greatest determinant for lifespan is your zip code. Can we blame them for gambling a condemned life?
Family and Personhood
Another huge theme in this film was the relationships between characters. In “Alien,” Ripley is never formally given a love interest. Rather, she is driven by her care for her crew, and specifically, the ship’s cat, who she manages to rescue in the end. While some are left ambiguous in “Alien: Romulus,” others are clearly stated, like Rain and her synthetic brother, Andy.
What strikes me about this is the focus on not a romantic relationship, but an often neglected form of love: the unconditional devotion between siblings. Especially as the female lead of a sci-fi horror film, it’s unique that Rain is permitted to exist without a clear love interest in the film. Rather, her will to survive comes from her drive to protect her brother.
It also must be mentioned that Andy is an android, and faces discrimination and violence throughout the film. Rain is one of the few characters that see him as a person. Despite Andy being glitchy, easily manipulated and adorably unfunny, Rain will do anything for him.
As a triplet who is very close to her siblings, the lengths I would go to to see my siblings safe are not outside the bounds of confronting a xenomorph.
Over and over, we see them choose each other in a string of heartfelt and genuine performances by the actors. They have real chemistry – and the symbolism in the name of the film, “Romulus” as a reference to the siblings Romulus and Remus is undeniably cool.
Bodily Autonomy & Gender
In perhaps the loudest theme of the whole franchise, “Alien: Romulus” does not pull any punches in depicting the horrors of physical violation and sexual assault.
In a callback to the original, “Alien: Romulus” has a chest-burster scene, and it is rad. Of course, outside of the disgusting joy of excellently crafted body horror, the reality of this process is horrifying.
Xenomorphs reproduce through face-huggers, who by nature, live to penetrate. It is an iconic part of the alien antagonists’ introduction to attack at least one character this way – making them a vessel for a monster that will kill them when it is born.
It is the ultimate refusal of bodily autonomy – one that becomes a creature that is objectively phallic in form and function. This is also a trend in the work of H.R. Giger, the designer of the Xenomorph. Xenomorphs most often kill their victims with their tail or the second, tiny, skull-crushing set of jaws within their jaws: invasive, penetrative methods.
It’s no secret that Dan O’Brannon, who wrote the screenplay for the original film, wanted to evoke the horror of assault from the audience. But “Alien: Romulus” takes this a step further.
Early in the film, we are introduced to Kay, a friend of Rain’s and a sister to another in the group. Kay is pregnant. She is also a total juggernaut, who manages to survive almost the entire film. But, what’s important here is her role in the ending of the movie and, arguably, what everyone is talking about.
Kay injects herself with a bunch of bioengineered xenomorph goop in a desperate attempt to survive fatal wounds. The result is a disgusting, terrifying birth scene reminiscent of “Prometheus,” wherein Kay births an alien-looking egg, which hatches to reveal a giant, paper-white, xenomorph-human homunculus: the final monster of the film.
As a woman living in a post-Roe world, it doesn’t get much scarier than this. A xenomorph is one thing, but a xenomorph that wears a human face, and smiles while it rips you apart? Nope.
On That Sunny Note… Go Watch the Movie!
This film was so much fun to watch. I was scared, intrigued and genuinely flabbergasted. And as a horror fan, I was truly and thoroughly entertained.
Rain does Ripley justice, and “Alien: Romulus” honors its franchise and the genre of sci-fi horror. Obviously, it’s impossible to talk about everything amazing, funny or symbolic about this film, so my advice? Armed with my lengthy analysis, go and watch it yourself.
Leave a Reply