“Alien” has always been, first and foremost, a horror franchise. The scientific aspect of science fiction of the film can shine further for those of us more inclined to this particular genre (guilty), but the suspense, fears and monsters are looming greater than the construction of extended science fiction, which tends to occupy the history of films more than the foreground. Perhaps the reason why Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” divided the basis of fans in a significant way is that it has put more science fiction scenarios such as synthetic consciousness, corporate policy and ancient foreigners in the foreground.
The new FX series “Alien: Earth” also does so, with the meat in its history by focusing on the android and the experimental “hybrids” of the Prodigy Corporation. Fear always play a key role, but it is only during episode 5 – an episode of Flashback explaining what happened on board the Maginot – that we get a full -fledged horror story in the style of films.
Episode 5 is essentially an autonomous “alien” short film, and it is one of the best episodes of the show to date. The episode mainly follows the security officer of Maginot Morrow (Babou Ceesay) while he works to discover the identity of a saboter aboard the crew of the ship, all while this sabotage begins to leave the various extraterrestrial specimens of their cages. Although we obtain many classic infantrymen and bloody killed, the true horror of the episode is in the more in -depth exploration of the company company of the program. With Morrow as our eyes, we see in detail how brutal life is under the autocratic rule of the program, which essentially transforms employees into slaves according to their rich suzerains. Of course, you may have missed some of these details, because they are included on the letters of Morrow’s girl – requiring some breaks to treat fully.
The tragic life of Morrow reveals the brutality of Alien’s companies
In the middle of episode 5 of “Alien: Earth”, Morrow takes a moment for him in his neighborhoods, where he reads what seems to be letters from his daughter and faxed in space to Maginot. Because it is a 65 -year -old mission, he would have missed most of his life despite everything, but the letters reveal that she died in a fire a few years from the trip, throwing a light on the state of perpetual anger of Morrow. Although it is obviously a tragedy, the other details hidden in the letters are undoubtedly the most horrible bits.
“Mom says that Weyland-Yutani will pay for my whole school,” wrote Estelle in a letter, where she talks about looking at the colleges. “It is if I go to a school sanctioned by Wey-Yu.” In the same letter, she mentions the apprenticeship that her classmates only obtain partial grants, revealing the importance of Morrow within the company.
On his face, it may not seem too crazy, but think about it for a minute. This essentially takes the broken American health system – the one where the covers are constantly refused and the good care always seems to be “out of network” – and apply it to another fundamental need: education. We have seen in the current “Alien: Earth” calendar that medical debts and employment contracts can essentially enslave people to their respective societies throughout their lives. How much would a college education cost for someone whose father had not committed 65 years of his life in space? What about families who have no business contracts at all? It is prudent to assume that housing, health care, perhaps even access to food and drinking water all depends on the allegiance of companies. After all, when the body has everything, why not demand everything from their citizens in exchange?
Maginot’s crew is contract under contract, not employees
Estelle’s letters paint a dark image of the earth under the domination of the company, but the Maginot crew shows an even worse side of things. They are not paid in money, in itself, but in actions of the company. And how many actions, could you ask? For someone who lowers the chain of command, Sharing a quarter for 65 years of their lives. It is a horrible, almost laughable compensation, but hey, it’s money, right?
Here is the thing, however: the payment of an employee in shares, rather than in cash, effectively maintains them under perpetuity contract. What is the value of the value of Weyland-Yutani if you were to move to a city led by another company? It is the ultimate extrapolation of the company’s city, where workers receive tokens to spend in the company’s store and set up in company housing, but without any means of escaping, as Rick and Morty would put it, slavery with additional steps.
While societies spend billions of dollars trying to make life synthetic, organic life suffers, projected by the scandalous costs of life and a society that has removed all margins for momentum upwards. It is a Cyberpunk dystopia that might seem a little more fantastic if it was not so depressing comparable to our present moment.
