This message contains spoilers For the first to two episodes of “Alien: Earth”.
The latest edition of the “Alien” universe is not short of jargon. The series, a prequel linked to the land entitled “Alien: Earth”, begins with a glossary on the substantial screen with an overview of the three types of future humanoids found in this world: “synths”, “cyborgs” and “hybrids”. The titles on the screen do not stop there; Throughout the first episode, they present the USCSS Maginot of the Weyland -Yutani Corporation, a series of dates and measures related to the mission, and a new framework for franchise fans, the research island of Megacorp Prodigy – nicknamed “Neverland” by its creator of a trillionaire.
Finally, viewers are initiated in New Siam, a place that tells us is also called Prodigy City. The city seems immediately familiar, and despite a certain automation, it always has a distinctly human touch which lacks in other areas of “Alien: Earth”. We see colorful and animated streets and a floating transport system which is downright retro when it is contrasting with the advanced surveillance of Prodigy and AI technology. The pre-technocratic name of the region is never pronounced in these episodes, but the context indices indicate that New Siam can only be one place: Bangkok, Thailand.
The prodigy of business leaders has taken over Thailand in Alien: land
Even if you have never seen the undoubted urban landscape of Bangkok for yourself, the origins of New Siam are obvious thanks to its name. Thailand was historically called Siam, in particular by foreigners, and history today notes that the name, originally Sanskrit, has probably gained popularity when used by Portuguese colonizers from the 16th century. In the dystopian vision of Noah Hawley of the future, the region is also colonized, but this time, it is controlled by a company – Prodigy. In an interesting inversion of “Blade Runner” by Ridley Scott, who imagined a future Las Vegas strongly influenced by Tokyo, Hawley designs a world where a brilliant and popular Asian city has been consumed by American greed.
Although the specific government structure of the city has not yet been fully explained, a clever exhibition in the pilot presents the basics of a version of the world governed directly by companies. Prodigy, led by a bizarre bizarre ring-boy, Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), has the possession of the city formerly known as Bangkok. Despite this, the spirit of the city is reflected in the first scenes that show its animated and distinctly human appeal. As Hanh Nguyen of a living room wrote after a defined visit, “the removal of the space of the” extraterrestrial “equation meant that Hawley had to imagine what the earth 2120 looked like, and apparently, part of it looked like Thailand.”
The land of the 22nd century is an infernal capitalist landscape
The new prodigy taking on the city appeared when we were introduced to the privatized military group that Medic Hermit (Alex Lawther) is unable to leave. There is also a reference to a party called “Founder’s Day”, and even if we do not see many festivities, Kavalier is informed that the USCSS Maginot – a spacecraft belonging to the Yutani company rival – broke a building belonging to Kavalier while most of his tenants were at Founder’s Day Festival. To summarize, a white guy who seems to have twelve has one of the largest port cities in the world, an entire army, a pile of skyscrapers, a private island built for Dr. Moreau style experiences and the Blanchis eyebrows of Timothy Olyphant.
Classically at 1%, Kavalier’s limitless riches do not result exactly in prosperity or access to the inhabitants of New Siam. He clearly does not care about the potential victims of the spacecraft accident and wants a glance at Yutani specimens, even if a research and rescue team or a number of civilians must die along the way. In a separate flashback, the hermit and others are also forced to find himself face to face with dusty and hostile treatment machines in a DMV style office in search of nightmare, which seems designed to leave all those who enter while feeling helpless. Under Kavalier’s thumb, Thailand is far from the idyllic nation represented earlier this year in “The White Lotus”.
With only two hours of narration to his credit, it is already clear that “Alien: Earth” has something more scary than a xenomorph: a darkly precise vision of what capitalism could look like in a hundred years.
New episodes of “Alien: Earth” First on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. HE on FX and Hulu.
