ALIEN COVENANT: Why I Can’t Stop Hearing the Poetry

I went to see Alien Covenant. How could I not? The fact is I love sci-fi, but, I will confess, I don’t jump up from my sofa for just any old, new or re-booted film franchise. But honestly, any reference to a new Alien film is like poetry to my vintage ears. It calls to me, as Ariana Grande’s singing now calls to millions of 21st-century girls and young women, the lyrics of her Dangerous Woman, a poem on female empowerment.

 

My fascination with the Alien story is such that I keep a box set of the original four films, the Quadrilogy. So, yes! You guessed right! After watching the latest installment at a cinema, I went home and started re-watching Alien (1979)  and Aliens (1986).  I wanted to remind myself of why I had gone to see Alien Covenant. And the answer was: RIPLEY!

 

The character Ellen Ripley: A young woman who shakes and sweats out of fear but keeps it together and keeps moving forward, using what she knows, pushing her slim body to the breaking point. A woman who cares for an orange Tabby, even though these cats, mostly male, are known to be particularly condescending to humans. Ripley, a woman who fiercely protects an orphan girl against an Egg-Laying-Mother-of-All-Monsters! YES! That fight was personal for both Mothering-Ripley and the Queen-Bee-Alien. PERSONAL!

 

It was personal to me too. Ripley, embodied by a young Sigourney Weaver,  appeared early in my life. Ripley was a natural leader, tough, willful, energetic, a compassionate survivalist, not consumed by superficial concerns about her looks, and to top it all, she worked in outer space! She had, literally, reached for the stars! I didn’t know it yet, but after watching the first two Alien films, I had adopted Ripley as a mentor. That was back in the 80’s and, after 30 plus years, I’m still trying to keep up with her.

 

But who conceived Ripley, gave her a backstory, and got her back to outer space after her initial return home? Most immediately the directors and writers of the first two films: Ridley Scott, Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett, James Cameron,  David Gilerhttp, and Walter Hill.

 

And who or what inspired this group of men? Alien Covenant does point us in the right direction when newer Artificial Person Walter corrects the older model David about who is the author of Ozymandias:  “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Romantic English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) is the author, and not, as David says, Lord Byron (1788-1824). Byron nicknamed himself “the limping devil” partly because of a club foot and partly because of his enfant terrible personality. No doubt that nickname plus everything else that went attached to it, might explain why David identifies with that royal celebrity. Think about it, David “limps” on as a non-organic machine hampered by complex human feelings.

 

On the other hand, David is attracted to Ozymandias because let’s face it, this poem sounds grand, especially when read by Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston.   And yet the poem is a warning to the power-hungry… everything that rises must fall. And it will. Time and death is the equalizer for all humans. Except David is not human and presumably has no expiration date. If you would like to know more about the origins of Ozymandias and its interpretations, take a look at the documents related to the poem gathered by the British Library. 

 

But let’s get back to Percy Bysshe Shelley. So who had this young poet’s back and in a way conceived him? His second wife and first editor, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, author of Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). After Shelley’s untimely death at 29 by drowning in Italy, it was Mary who edited and published his work, and thus, established his literary reputation. Shelley’s father, Sir Timothy Shelley, was against anything that would remind people that Shelley had ever existed as among contemporary British society his son was considered, as writer Philip Hoare puts it, a “vile creature.” In fact, when Mary started the work of editing and publishing Shelley’s work, she nearly lost the little income she and her son were receiving from Shelley’s father as he threatened her to take it all away if she went on with her project. Only when Sir Timothy had a foot in his grave did he allow Mary to continue without reprisals. That’s when she told her publisher Edward Moxon about the manuscripts left by her late husband:

 

“scraps of finished or unfinished poems – half illegible…. fragments of paper which in the hands of an indifferent person would never have been deciphered – the labor of putting it together was immense.”

 

If you would like to know more about Mary Shelley, it’s worth listening to Hoare and biographer Daisy Hay speak in a series of videos made when Frankenstein was adapted in 2011 for London’s National Theater by Danny Boyle and Nick Dear.  Also take a look at the exhibition Shelley’s Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family  Another fascinating source for Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, including articles about the state of science during her lifetime, galvanism, graveyards, and body-snatching, is available at the British Library.  And NYC’s Morgan Library owns a copy of the 1818 first edition of the novel thoroughly annotated by Mary Shelley. Will this library fascinate us with a special 200-year anniversary exhibition on Mary and her Creation? We hope so! In the meantime take a look at the annotated edition at Morgan‘s website.

So David, when you go on acting as Dr. Frankenstein, iconic usurper of the female womb and its mysterious creative power, and go on with your violent patriarchal experiments in a dirty lab in a dark, isolated space-castle surrounded by unnameable things in glass jars which you have convinced yourself are beautiful, as I’m sure you will, don’t forget Ripley. And please don’t forget Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, i.e. Mary Shelley. And never, never forget Ariana Grande’s truly beautiful fans. The life-giving force of these women will come back to haunt you!