Alien’s Original Xenomorph Origin (Before Prometheus)

Alien’s Original Xenomorph Origin (Before Prometheus)

Contents

Before Prometheus, the origin of Alien’s Xenomorph had been questioned for decades. However, the real question is, will the answers be enough?

You Are Reading :[thien_display_title]

Alien’s Original Xenomorph Origin (Before Prometheus)

Before Prometheus, the Alien film series had not adequately addressed the origins of the Xenomorph. In the spin-off film series Alien vs. Predator and in the spin-off comic book line Aliens, the creatures have a home planet, known as Xenomorph Prime, where the creatures presumably evolved naturally. However, these origins are still vague, and the spin-offs themselves arguably exist in alternate timelines.

When Alien was released in 1979, the creature’s origin was a mystery, and of course, this was by design: the alternation between brief glimpses of the creature and the characters’ struggles to control an unknown horror creates a severe tension that builds up throughout the film. If a detailed origin story were provided, this tension would likely either disappear or be diminished. The question the film sought to answer was not, where does the creature come from? Instead, it was the age-old question, are we alone in the universe? The answer to this question was a resounding no.

The Xenomorph’s origin was not only a mystery to the film’s characters and its audience, but also to the filmmakers themselves. Ridley Scott claimed in several interviews that no one had ever explored the alien’s origins; this was the impetus for the story in the prequel-like Prometheus, which was then continued in Alien: Covenant, where the film implies that David is the creator of the Xenomorph. While the original backstory that Scott had in mind for the creature was that it was a biological weapon used by the space jockey race, this was never explicitly mentioned in the films.

See also  One Night In Miami True Story & Meaning Behind Sam Cookes Final Song

Why Does Alien’s Xenomorph Need An Origin Story?

The answer to this question is simple: the Xenomorph needs an origin story because that’s what audiences want. Ridley Scott has admitted that the Xenomorph was finally re-introduced in Alien: Covenant because audiences “missed him”. The original intention behind Prometheus was not to provide an explicit origin story for the alien, but to create a film in the same universe that explored a new set of potentially frightening topics, such as creation, humanity’s legacy, and the meaning of life.

Confronting the unknown, no matter how horrifying, is a part of being human, and there is something about it to which every person can relate. The mystery of the Xenomorph’s origins is one of the elements that made the original film so frightening: an unknown horror lurks in the darkness, waiting for unsuspecting victims who have strayed too far from the light, whether literally, figuratively, or both.

As with other highly effective alien horror films, like John Carpenter’s The Thing, this element of the unknown in the original Alien series is not an accident, nor is it lazy writing; it is a part of the fabric of the films. Regardless of how many questions are answered about the Xenomorph’s origins, it is almost guaranteed that new, unanswered questions will emerge in subsequent films and another forty years of debate will ensue.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/alien-original-xenomorph-origin-before-prometheus-movie/

Movies -