“I’m a Stranger Here Myself”: Forced Individuation in Alien Resurrection
Alien Resurrection provides a unique perspective on identity, that of the hybrid. As opposed to being a normal human as in previous Alien films, through technology Ripley has become a mixture of both human and alien DNA. This is interesting because classically the “other” is seen as an outside evil with no or very few similarities to the protagonist element. This film incorporates the other with the self and acknowledges the connection between what we are and what we fear.
“Alien Resurrection attempts to address the concern that if God is dead, where do we seek our salvation?”
In the film, Ripley is a clone and a hybrid of her former self as well as the alien queen that was in her stomach at the end of the third film. Man and technology, playing God, bring her back to life. The new Ripley comes into existence conflicted between her two halves, and must find resolution. Ripley then goes through the process of individuation, reconciling the split within herself. This reconciliation is what the author finds most interesting, as it is symbolic of an alternative type of individuation which is unique to the individual, and cannot be secularized.
“The religious significance of the film lies in its subverting of a secularized spiritual endeavour (i.e., humanistic individuation) that once itself subverted formal, organized religions—an ironic reversal.”
I think this idea is more developed than the majority of organized religion, and shows how we are evolving as a society. In the past, it was much more important for large communities to work together, and organized religion made it possible for groups to have structure. In American culture today, this is hardly the case. Not only do we have a government that provides structure, everyone is expected to be their own independent producer, and community interaction has become less and less necessary. I think this individualized approach to spirituality might be where we are headed. As Ripley has to come to terms with being something no one has ever been before – half human and half alien, we too have to make the connections between what we are and what we experience. Being that each person is a new life that has not existed before, they are like Ripley. Organized religion provides a shortcut for the process she undertakes during the film.
As far as I know, secular religion works best when societies are homogeneous, and since America is the mixing pot of the world, religions are constantly adapting to include philosophies and groups that otherwise had no place. So, at the extremes, as a society we can either allow religions to become so vague and general as to include the entirety of the planet, or we can take our spirituality personally and create our own identities.
“Hybridity is shown as a dangerous and uncertain, albeit effective, alternative to human individuation. When jacked into a computer port hidden within a Bible, Call echoes Nietzsche, “Father is dead,” further signifying the end of traditional religion and possibly sacred spiritual practices. While it is not the first choice, this individuation may become the only option in confronting the future’s spiritual degradation.”
Religion and Popular Culture: An Analysis of the Present and Near Future
What is culture? This is a difficult question to answer, but on a basic level culture implies a shared context within which a certain group resides. This could be anything from the culture of waiting in line at McDonalds to the culture shared between the members of the next shuttle mission. Individual, specialized culture can be found within any sort of group or loose alliance of people. Popular culture, then, is the culture shared by the majority of the population. Popular culture is difficult to define on a person-by-person basis. Any single person will not be acquainted with everything in popular culture. A survey of 100, 1000, or more, however, should begin to illustrate trends that reveal what does and does not have the majority of the public’s attention.
With this in mind, religion is an interesting context cross-examine popular culture, especially in America, due to it’s widespread existence – 89% of the country is religious and 82% of the country is Christian, according to The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA).i This is a substantially large group, while Christianity has many different denominations the overall philosophies only differ enough to be of minor concern, as they all follow the same basic ideology. With 82% of the country behind it, Christianity itself could be called a popular culture, but does Christianity influence popular culture, the other way around, or both? This paper will attempt to answer these questions as well as any others that may arise along the way.
One particular means to examine this question is by looking at the Evangelical Christian’s foray into popular music. As Romanowski explains to us, Christian rock did very little to influence secular music of the time, however at the same time the Christian record labels – established to spread the faith, not produce a profit – were hardly able to help themselves from becoming as business oriented as secular record labels, and still struggle with the issue today.ii Another example, the film The Passion of the Christ, extremely successful in the box office and supported by both Catholics and Protestants.iii Here, popular culture acts as mediator, bridging two philosophies together that consider themselves different.
As a third example, one simply has to look at the development of Christianity over time. It’s fairly apparent that the church has always had to adjust itself to accommodate the ever changing popular culture, such as Vatican II which, among other things, allowed Masses to be said in the vernacular as opposed to Latin, in order to increase it’s appeal. To view it from the other direction, whenever Christianity attempts to place restrictions on popular culture, it is met with resistance, even when it succeeds. Television and radio that is censored is constantly pushing the limits of this censorship, attempting to get the audiences attention through shock value.
It would seem that even though Christianity makes up an overwhelming majority, it still does not hold enough influence to direct the mainstream culture of America. If anything, it would seem Christianity is currently acting as a safety net, attempting to protect us from ourselves. This follows with the philosophy of Christianity, and one of the reasons why the religion may be so popular. Believers of Christianity accept that they are the lowest of the low, and this allows them to not take responsibility for their actions, rather they see themselves as unavoidable sinners who have to seek help from a greater being. This effects popular culture because it limits produced content to that which will appeal to Christians, or at least fall within their notion of acceptability. Christianity has significant enough representation that it can promote it’s own agenda, even in areas that are meant to be kept free of religion, such as our government.
That’s not to say there’s no place for Christianity and it should be completely abolished, however it is difficult to come up with a case of censorship in which religion was uninvolved without a doubt. The effect of Christianity can be seen nearly anywhere you look in popular culture, particularly in film. Almost every single action film can be seen as a metaphor for the story of Jesus. The hero faces conflict to the point where it appears he has failed without a doubt, and then miraculously he comes back and saves the day. This has been one of the most traditional and successful narrative types throughout the history of Hollywood. The gender roles promoted by Christianity can also be found in film, strong women are becoming more common, but the traditional role for women in film is serving as an emotional reactionary. Unsurprisingly, white is a color associated with purity and life, whereas black with corruption and death. Indeed, even the archetype of “good versus evil” can at least be linked to religion, if not specifically Christianity. If the concepts of Heaven and Hell, God and Satan, didn’t exist, would we make value judgments on whether things are right or wrong? Is it due to religion that we try to find purpose in everything, or is it the other way around and religion is a side-effect of our search for purpose?
These questions may be answerable through the lens of popular culture. In the past, before mass media, religion served a much more important function – it allowed for harmonious societies. Today, with the rapid progression of technology and ease of communication, religion is not needed to create this harmony. Simply through the experience of popular culture, children today are shown how to integrate with society. Sure, some people are against mainstream culture and forge their own paths, but even alternative cultures are still accepted. Regardless, it is very easy for a teen to watch MTV, emulate it, and become part of a cohesive society. The opposite of Christian rock music, it isn’t necessary for religions to integrate popular culture, rather it is necessary for popular culture to integrate spirituality, and spirituality should not necessarily need to be affiliated with any particular religion. It would be interesting to see if someone could provoke feelings of spirituality among members of different organized religions with the same media. It would prove that we have a basic need to address a spiritual side of ourselves, but also that it does not require any particular label.
The anime film Ghost in the Shell hints at this. In the film, technology has integrated to such a point that information is so widespread and available that the equivalent of the internet in the film births an entity within itself. This digital life, not artificial intelligence, then goes on to cause all kinds of trouble. The meaning behind it is thought provoking, who is to say humanity, in absence of a tangible divine being, is not building one itself? While this may sound like an insane or at least eccentric idea at first, the facilities are mostly in place to be in constant contact with popular media at all times, similar to how the religious see God as everywhere. In another 10 or 20 years, probably even sooner, it wouldn’t be surprising if it becomes difficult to not be connected to popular culture in some form at all times, at least in America. Cell phones were the first step.
Once technology becomes so integrated that television, film, literature, print, internet, and all types of media are part of a greater whole, then what answers will religion have that cannot be found in this collection of information? And once information technology has reached the entire planet? Popular culture simply needs to prove it’s ability to effect people on a spiritual level, independent of any religious ties, then it will become apparent the largest detriment to our progress so far is religion. Religion is what used to be required before we had the scientific method, now that we have a logical means of progression it is only a matter of time until we reach the maximum of technology, where we are literally moving information around at the very edge of physical possibility. How will computers that can process a complicated series of tasks faster than the human brain can create a single thought change our society? What purpose will logical thinking done by humans have when it is both slower and less perfect than when done by computers?
A good example of religion holding us back more generally in a technological sense is cloning and stem cell research. With enough work put into those fields, we could literally discover types of immortality. In this vain, religion has shaped our popular culture for the negative, or at least halted it’s progression. As mentioned before, part of the Christian philosophy is distrust in the self. As a friend once said, it’s the only group she’s ever heard of with a superiority complex about their inferiority complex. American popular culture is the solution to this, the American ideal is completely the opposite from Christianity, funny enough aligning more with Buddhism or other types of self-centered philosophies where all you have is the best you make of yourself. How can Christianity be trusted as a legitimate popular philosophy when it is based around believing you are inherently evil and expecting outside forces to correct your own mistakes?
In the end, it seems most likely some sort of balance between organized religion and technology/popular culture will be reached. Technologically, video games can be seen as the next step after film as a medium. Film integrates audio and visual elements within narrative, video games accomplish the same and add in the element of user control. Once technology catches up and video games become more life like, as well as when younger generations who grew up with them grow older, the medium will start to gain more credibility and acceptability.
A recent video game, Grand Theft Auto 4, the most recent installment in a popular series known for it’s controversial material, is practically the longest crime opera to be found anywhere outside of novels. It’s more in depth than any of the Godfather films (to reference another landmark crime opera), and took me at least 4 hours a day for two and a half weeks to complete. It was also one of the most satisfying stories I’ve ever read, watched, heard, or played. Unsurprisingly, religion and particularly irresponsible parents within these religions have always been at ends with video games. This is because, as mentioned earlier, following Christian philosophy it is not the responsibility of parents to monitor the media their children receive, but that of a greater authority. No one thinks that media with mature themes should be given to children, and who has the real control of whether or not a certain media gets into children’s hands, the media producers or the consumer’s parents?
Religion influences popular culture in the sense that it provides barriers which must be overcome, and popular culture gives religion a current context with which to influence more people. Perhaps, in time, the religious will lose their power regulating everyone else’s media.
Sources:
i. http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_234_1.asp
ii. Romanowsky, William D. (2005). Evangelicals in Popular Music: The Contemporary Christian Music Industry. In B.D. Forbes (Ed.), Religion and Popular Culture in America, pp.103 – 122.
iii. Flescher, Paul V.M. and Torry, Robert. (2007). Film & Religion: An Introduction. Nashville, TN: Abbingdon Press. pp.159 – 174.
Female Bishops face controversy in England
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4275131.ece
This article highlights one of the largest problems with modern religion – the inequality between men and women. The Christian church as a whole has been shown to be particularly biased in it’s view of gender. The effects of such can be found in Focus on the Family, and the entirely of the work by James Dobson, just as another example. The familial philosophy teaches the dominance of men over women in a household, and undermines the rights of the female spouse. Amazingly, female evangelical Christians often support this program, seemingly looking forward to being subjugated. Not being a feminist, I have to ask why feminist women force themselves into a religion that is decidedly sexist? That’s not to say all feminists desire to be Christian, however women realize the discrepancy in gender equality within Christianity, and attempt to redesign the religion through feminist bible workshops and similar means, instead of abandon it in favor of building a new, equal, church. Separating Christianity from the Father and the Son is essentially impossible- it removes the originally intended meaning, how can it be translated dogmatically? Why not create an equivalent but separate system of belief?
