The Alien film franchise has been one of the most successful ever created in the genre. It has won numerous awards for various elements of each of the quadrilogy's four films, including one for the design of the main protagonist, the Alien, aka the 'Xenomorph'. The term Xenomorph was used to describe the creature in the second film, Aliens, and is Greek for 'strange form/shape'. For the purposes of this case study, the creature will be referred to as the 'Xenomorph'.The purpose of this case study is to analyse the design of the Xenomorph, and break down the elements which have contributed to it becoming one of the most memorable and popular film creatures ever created.
The original idea for the Xenomorph came from H.R. Giger, who had devised a painting called Necromnicon 5 (Fig.1) from which the alien creature concept was based. Ridley Scott, who was directing the first film, loved the originality of the piece, and the sexual imagery that it blended in to create a monster that appeared strangely androgynous, beautiful yet hideously terrifying. Giger was hired to design the Xenomorph and the other creatures for the film after much reluctance from the film studio, who believed that Giger's designs were too horrifying for the average American audience.
Fig. 1, Necronomicon IV
The Xenomorph itself has a complex biology, with the Xenomorph itself the product of a birth cycle similar to that of a bee. The Xenomorph Queen lays eggs which contain 'Facehuggers', small bug like creatures which attach to living hosts and implant Xenomorph embryos down their throats and inside their chests. The embryos inside attach to a main artery, and grow parasitically by feeding from nutrients in the hosts blood stream. When the embryo has developed into the baby form of the Xenomorph, aptly named the 'Chestburster' (fig.2) , it pushes its way out of the chest of the victim, killing them in the process. The Chestburster grows into a full size Xenomorph alarmingly fast (within a few hours maximum).
Fig. 2, 'Chestburster'
The physical traits of the Xenomorph have a few constants, however its final form depends on the host from which is grew. According to the story, due to 'horizontal gene transplant' during the host incubation phase, some of the embryos missing DNA is made up for with the DNA of the host. This allows the Xenomorph to take on elements of the host that were capable of surviving in the hosts natural habitat (for example, the Xenomorphs who come from human hosts are bipedal, plantigrade (walking on the soles of the feet, like a human or a bear), and appear to have inherited some human mental capabilities such as quick learning (Alien: Resurrection) in contrast to the Xenomorph which was incubated inside a dog, (Alien 3) which was digitigrade (walking on its toes and not touching the ground with its heels, as a dog, cat, or rodent), ran on four legs and appeared to be easier to trick than its human spawned counterparts.
However, apart from slight differences in the way the creature behaves and moves, the Xenomorphs from different hosts are fairly similar. (fig. 3) The have a jet black exoskeleton which appears similar to the chitin of a beetle, and has several textured ridges on various parts of its arms and legs, giving it a biomechanical feel. It has an elongated head with what appears to be a humanoid skull but has no visible eyes. It is unclear exactly how the creature sees, but it is speculated during the films that it senses pheromones, explaining why it does not attack and kill humans implanted with an alien embryo. It has sharp, almost translucent teeth and inside its mouth lies another, smaller mouth. This smaller mouth shoots out when the main mouth is opened and acts as the Xenomorphs main close combat weapon, capable of smashing through metal and bone. This process is kept lubricated by the copious amounts of saliva like substance that drip from the creatures maw, which is also used to transform the surrounding environment into one that suits the aliens better. This environment that they create allows them to become camouflaged and also gives them an area in which to store potential human hosts. The Xenomorphs long range attack ability comes in the form of its large tail, which is made up of spines with a large sharp blade like point. The tail is extremely strong and appears to serve no other purpose than for attack/defence purposes (e.g balance) as it is capable of lifting a fully grown Predator off the ground and raising it to eye level. This would mean that the tail is too heavy to be used for the purposes of balance. Also worth noting is that the Xenomorph has a highly acidic yellow substance for blood. This substance is capable of burning through almost any surface it comes into contact with, with the exception of the aliens own chitin like carapace.
Fig. 3, Xenomorph
The elongated head shape, humanoid body shape, and long spiny tail make for a distinctive and recognisable silhouette (fig.4) . Although the creature is not seen much during the first film in the quadrilogy, it is much more abundant in the second film 'Aliens' directed by James Cameron as there are multiple creatures instead of just one. The swarm like behaviour of the Xenomorphs is displayed much more clearly in the second film, as is the entire life cycle from the Queen laying the face hugger eggs, to the 'impregnation' of the host, and finally the 'Chest Burster' releasing itself and growing into a full sized Xenomorph.
Fig. 4, Silhouette
Given the genre and target audience of the films, the purpose of the design is clearly to shock and terrify the audience. This is achieved through both excellent design but also skilful filming. The air of mystery surrounding the Xenomorph in Ripley Scott's Alien adds to the sense of terror; we fear what we do not know. The camera play which gives just glimpses of the creatures slavering maws, jet black carapace and deadly tail get the audiences imagination working with the story, as they anticipate the creature in its entirety (fig.5). However, in the second films when the creatures are much more visible they still manage to evoke a sense of fear.
Fig. 5
The acidic blood gives a plausible way for the creature to essentially be 'unkillable'. The protagonists of the films are generally unable to kill the creatures using conventional means, as being set in space they are usually on a spaceship or pressurized area, and the acid melting through the hull would have disastrous consequences. We are happy to accept that the xenomorph has acidic blood, which is both a cool idea and makes the creature a lot more scary and dangerous.
The fact that the Xenomorph creates its own environment is an interesting and scary idea. The idea that humans could 'terraform' other planets into a more earth like planet that we could inhabit has been around for some time. The Xenomorphs ability to do transform any environment into one that suits it in terms of camoflage and incubation makes the creature essentially able to thrive in any environment. (Fig. 6)
Fig. 6, Hive Webbing
Any implausibilities regarding the design of the Xenomorph are mainly explained during the story and are generally acceptable, such as the 'horizontal gene splicing' of the alien embryo which allows it to take on attributes of the host. Whether such a thing is possible or not, the film plays on the general populations cognitive estrangement from such subjects to encourage them of its plausibility.
In conclusion, there are a lot of different elements which make the creature a success, including the originality of the design, the story context within which it is set, and the way it is presented in the films.
(The pictures on this post are not mine and have been sourced from google images)
