Jump to content

Ellen Ripley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Polisher of Cobwebs (talk | contribs) at 03:29, 11 March 2012 (tidy). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Ellen Ripley
Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Aliens.
First appearanceAlien
Last appearanceAlien Resurrection
Created byDan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett
Portrayed bySigourney Weaver
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman
TitleWarrant Officer/Lieutenant (First Class)
ChildrenAmanda Ripley McClaren (daughter)

Ellen Ripley is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Alien film series played by American actress Sigourney Weaver. The character is often considered as one of the bests of all time: it was heralded as a seminal role for challenging gender roles, particularly in the science fiction, action and horror genres, gave world recognition to Weaver and remains her most famous role to date.

The character have been included in many Best Characters lists: In 2011, Total Film ranked her first of their top of the 100 Greatest Female Characters.[1] Ripley as been selected as the eighth greatest hero in American cinema history by the American Film Institute, as 5th coolest hero in pop culture by Entertainment Weekly,[2] the 9th greatest movie character ever by Empire (the highest-placing female of the list), and the eighth best movie character of all time by Premiere,[3] In 2011, John Scalzi called her "Clearly the Best Female Character in Scifi Film".[4]

Weaver's performances was very praised as well: for Aliens, she earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress,[5] which is now seen as a landmark in the recognition of science fiction, action, and horror genres, when the Academy gave little recognition to science fiction. For her role in the franchise, Weaver has also been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, a BAFTA Award for Best Leading Newcomer, and four Saturn Awards for Best Actress, winning one for Aliens.[6]

In the 2000 video game Alien Resurrection, the character is referred as Lieutenant Ellen L. Ripley and is voiced by Lani Minella.

Appearances

Films

Ripley is introduced in Alien (1979) as a warrant officer aboard the Nostromo, a spaceship from planet Thedus returning to Earth. Placed in stasis, she awakens after receiving a transmission of unknown origin from a nearby planetoid. Following their landing, an unknown creature infiltrates the ship, and kills every member of the crew. Ripley is the only member to escape from the Nostromo prior to its explosion, which she deliberately commenced to kill the monster. However, she discovers that the Alien is also aboard the ship's shuttle, but expels it into space before putting herself in stasis for the return trip to Earth.

Aliens (1986), set fifty-seven years later, depicts Ripley, awakening from her stasis. In a deleted scene, she learns that her daughter Amanda (played by Weaver's real mother Elizabeth Inglis) died during Ripley's return trip. Her testimony regarding the Alien is met with extreme skepticism, and she loses her space flight license as a result of her "questionable judgment". However, after contact was lost with the colony on LV-426, the planet where her crew first encountered the Alien eggs, Ripley is requested to go with Colonial Marines aboard the Sulaco to LV-426. They find the planet infested by many Aliens, who kill almost all the marines. Ripley finally escapes the planet with Corporal Dwayne Hicks, android Bishop, and Newt, the last surviving colonist. Back on the Sulaco, they are soon attacked by a surviving Alien Queen, which is finally expelled into space by Ripley. Ripley enters into hypersleep alongside the three other survivors for a new return to Earth.

In Alien 3 (1992), the Sulaco launches an escape pod containing the four survivors which then crashes on Fiorina 'Fury' 161, a foundry facility and penal colony. Ripley is the only survivor of the crash. Unknown to Ripley, an Alien egg was aboard the ship. It is born in the prison and begins to kill inmates and guards, but strangely refuses to kill her. After having rallied the inmates and prepared the defense, Ripley discovers the embryo of an Alien Queen growing inside her, justifying that she wasn't attacked by the creature. After having killed the Alien by thermal shock, Ripley kills herself just as the alien Queen begins to erupt from her chest by throwing herself into a gigantic furnace to prevent the Weyland-Yutani Corporation to use it as a biological weapon.

Despite her death two hundred years earlier, Ripley is "resurrected" by clonage in Alien Resurrection (1997), aboard the spaceship Auriga. The unborn Alien queen is surgically removed from her body to breed Aliens. Ripley, who survives the operation, has been affected by the Alien's DNA: she has enhanced strength and reflexes, acidic blood, and an empathic link with the Aliens. She relearns to talk and interact with humans for some time but soon Aliens escape their confinement and kill most of the crew. She escapes from her cell as well, and later meets and joins a group of mercenaries, developing a close relationship with their youngest member Annalee Call. After being captured, Ripley's human DNA is mixed with Alien Queen, which gives birth to an Alien with human traits, who recognizes Ripley as its mother. After escaping the Auriga in the Betty, Ripley kills the newborn Alien by using her own acidic blood to burn a hole through a viewing pane, causing the creature to be sucked violently through the small hole and into the vacuum of space, saving Call. In a deleted scene, the Betty lands on Earth and Ripley and Call discover that Paris is desolate.

Spin-off media

Ripley's life and career has been extensively expanded on in various spin-off comics and novels, many of which discount her death on Fiorina 161, instead providing a chronology continuing on from the end of Aliens. One version stars Ripley as an advanced synthetic clone, who overcomes her memory problems to help human survivors re-take the Earth from xenomorphs. The Ripley Clone plays a central role in the three-way Dark Horse Comics crossover, Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator.

Although Sigourney Weaver initially expressed interest in reprising this character in further installments of the Alien franchise,[7] the releases of Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem have led the franchise on to a different path away from the central story of Ellen Ripley.

An Audio-Animatronic Ripley appears in the Alien scene of The Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World.

Reception

Best Characters lists

Ellen Ripley is now seen as one of the best characters in film history: in 2008, American Film Institute ranked her as the eight best hero in American film history in their list of the 100 greatest heroes and villains.,[8] the second highest ranked female character after Clarice Starling. In 2009, Entertainment Weekly ranked Ripley 5th on their list of The 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture,[9] calling her "one of the first female movie characters who isn't defined by the men around her, or by her relationship to them".[2] The same year she was ranked #9 on Empire magazine's compilation of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters,[10] being the highest ranked female.

She was ranked eight on Premiere magazine's list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time,[3] with her Defining Moment being "Ripley's nervy refusal to open the ship's hatch so that Kane (John Hurt) can be admitted - with a thing attached to his face". She was the third highest ranked female of the list, after Annie Hall and Scarlett O'Hara. She was ranked 57 on Fandomania's list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters.[11] In 2009, MTV selected her as the second Greatest Movie Badasses Of All Time,[12] the only women with Sarah Connor, ranked sixth. In 2011, UGO Networks ranked her the 75th Hottest Sci-Fi Girl of All Time.[13] and website Total Sci-Fi ranked her first on their top of the 25 Women Who Shook Sci-Fi, stating "one of the most iconic characters in cinema history" and "one of the most critically analysed characters in the history of cinema".

In 2011, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America president John Scalzi called her "Clearly the Best Female Character in Scifi Film".[4] He stated as the reasons: "She's not a sidekick, arm candy, or a damsel to be rescued", "She isn't a fantasy version of a woman", "The character is strong enough to survive multiple screenwriters", and "She was lucky enough to be played by Sigourney Weaver".

Feminist view

Feminist Susan Faludi writes of Ripley in Backlash that, "The tough-talking space engineer who saves an orphan child in Aliens is sympathetically portrayed, but her willfulness, too, is maternal; she is protecting the child - who calls her 'Mommy' - from female monsters."[14]

Awards and impact for Sigourney Weaver

For her performance in Alien, Weaver was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Leading Newcomer and a Saturn Award for Best Actress.[6][15]

Despite her performance was already acclaimed in the first film, Aliens gave worldwide recognition to Weaver: she was the second horror actress in history (after Ellen Burstyn for The Exorcist) to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.[5] She also receives a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama, and won the Saturn Award for Best Actress, the first award in her career (except a minor award, the Mystfest Award for Best Actress, won for Half Moon Street).[6]

Following her acclaimed performance in Aliens, Weaver starred in two very successful films of 1988: a lead role Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey and a supporting role in Working Girl. At the 61st Academy Awards ceremony, she receives her second (and currently last) nomination for Best Actress and a nomination for Best Supporting Actress . She won the Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama and Best Supporting Actress at the 46th Golden Globe Awards, becoming the first person ever to have won two acting Golden Globe Awards in the same year.[6]

Weaver was also co-producer of the third and fourth films of the franchise: although they was less successful critically, Weaver's performance was praised: she receives her third and fourth Saturn Award for Best Actress nominations for both films and a nomination for a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Sci-Fi for Alien Resurrection. Although she didn't won officially won awards for Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, she won Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Award for her acting work durint the 1997 film year, including Alien Resurrection, The Ice Storm and Snow White: A Tale of Terror.[6]

Weaver won a DVDX Award for Best Audio Commentary (New for DVD) for her audio participation, among numerous other members of the cast, in the audio commentary of Alien in its 2003-reissue in Alien Quadrilogy.[6] On his presentation speech about Weaver before rewarding her for her overall career with the Heroine Award at the 2010 Scream Awards, Aliens director James Cameron stated her main participations in film history as Alien, Ghostbusters, and Avatar.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "The 100 Greatest Female Characters". TotalFilm.com.
  2. ^ a b "20 All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture". Entertainment Weekly. March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
  3. ^ a b "Premiere's The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Filmsite.org. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
  4. ^ a b "Ellen Ripley Is Clearly the Best Female Character in Scifi Film, and That's a Problem". Scifi.
  5. ^ a b "Aliens Award Wins and Nominations". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Awards for Sigourney Weaver". The Internet Movie Database.
  7. ^ "Latino Review". Latino Review. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
  8. ^ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains" (PDF). afi.com. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
  9. ^ "Entertainment Weekly's 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
  10. ^ "Empire's The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Empire Magazine. Retrieved 2010-05-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ "The 100 Greatest Fictional Characters". Fandomania.com. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
  12. ^ "Our Greatest Movie Badass Of All Time Is ..." MTV.
  13. ^ "Hottest Sci-Fi Girls". UGO Networks.
  14. ^ Susan Faludi, in Backlash, Chatto & Windus, 1992, p. 145
  15. ^ "Alien Award Wins and Nominations". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2010-05-21.

References

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ellen_Ripley&oldid=481266465"