RIPLEY'S INFERNO. As I watched Aliens, I was reminded of a harrowing piece of ancient literature: Dante

Transcription

1 John Moore English 3388 Dr. Whitney November 24 th, 2016 RIPLEY'S INFERNO As I watched Aliens, I was reminded of a harrowing piece of ancient literature: Dante Alighieri's Inferno. It occurred to me as Ripley's journey progressed that she was descending further and further into a virtual Hell, as represented by various settings in the film. Yet, in her mind, she was escaping from a personal Hell. This juxtaposition of her physical and mental environments intrigued me enough to explore it in the vein of Inferno and its depiction of Hell. In that classic epic poem, Dante is led through Hell by Virgil, a poet of ancient Rome. Hell is depicted as a great chasm where the Devil is chained at the center-bottom. All of Dante's Hell, Inferno, is corporeal with physical areas where various sinners spend eternity. Ripley's Hell, her Inferno, is not as simple: it exists between the realms of her psyche and her physical reality as she journeys along. And, like mentioned above, there are two journeys here: one that her body is making and one that her mind is making. I will mostly trace her body's journey as it is the easiest to track in relation to the settings and scenes in the film, but I will allude to the ascension of her mental state as well. Before diving into Ripley's journey and where it takes us, let me disclaim my companion graphic. The accompanying graphic to this essay, which I will call "alienferno", traces Ripley's path from being adrift on the River Acheron, which borders Hell, to finally confronting the Devil

2 in the bowels of Hell: Lake Cocytus, the Ninth Circle. Alienferno shows the major transitions of Ripley's journey, with the exception of her final descent into the depths of the hellish hive/ninth Circle at the end of the film. I felt that this inclusion would have disrupted the harmony of alienferno as it shows something occurring on LV426, not in space as the rest of alienferno does. Yet, LV426 is still depicted, and I will textually describe all parts of the journey. Also, for the purpose of my essay and its comparison to the spaces in Inferno, I won't consider the scenes after the initial escape from the hive when the Queen follows her up the elevator. My rationale is that that action of escape coincides with Dante's escape through Satan's navel at the end of Inferno. One difference to note from the start is that Ripley begins her journey in Hell; she was there before the film opened. Dante followed Virgil into Hell, having opened his poem in a dark wood near his home of Florence, Italy. In that story, Dante follows Virgil through the gates of Hell, the vestibule, where they arrive on the shores of the River Acheron, which is the First Circle of Hell. Ripley, on the other hand, has been in hell for over 57 years since she first arrived on LV426, survived Alien, and then hyperslept for 57 years. UPPER HELL The space that Ripley is floating through at the beginning of the film can be compared to the River Acheron. This is the River that borders Hell and separates it from Heaven and Earth. The ship she is on, her Nostromo life boat, is her vestibule to Hell, or, her gate. That gate serves as two doors: it becomes her gateway to Upper Hell (Gateway Station and the Sulaco), and also opens her psyche up to returning memories which torment her subconscious mind in the form of nightmares. The First Circle of Hell is Limbo and it categorizes Ripley's mental and physical states quite well at the beginning of the film. In the First Circle of Hell are people who chose no sides and are neither good nor bad, only doomed to wander eternally. Ripley is stuck in a state of

3 limbo in more ways than one. Firstly, her status as a flight officer has been rebuked and her honor denounced as her story is not believed. She is disoriented and lost, and must prepare to start her life over. Secondly, in her head, she is haunted by nightmares of her experience with no way to resolve them. She can only hope that time will give her peace of mind. If she was not given the opportunity to pursue some closure by Burke, she may have been in stuck in the torment of limbo the rest of her life. In Inferno, Upper Hell is called the Circles of Incontinence and comprises the first five Circles. Ripley quickly enters these Circles but always carries limbo with her. Like Dante, that Circle haunts her with its nagging questions of regret and remorse. The left area of alienferno visualizes Upper Hell. It is depicted in the first two major settings of the film: Gateway Station and the military ship Sulaco. These Circles are known as Gluttony, Greed, Lust, and Wrath. In Gateway Station, Ripley finds herself in the midst of human greed and gluttony. These sins are focused on the Weyland-Yutani company and its evil emissary, Burke. Burke acts as a sort of anti-virgil in Ripley's descent through Hell: whereas Virgil guided Dante with pure intent, Burke is guiding Ripley with his own dark agenda. Burke and his greed embody the selfishness that both Dante and Ripley find in their respective Circles of Greed. We see the extent of Weyland- Yutani's gluttony in their board room on the Station. The company ignored the potential of danger and setup a terraforming colony on LV 426. Ripley, like Dante, is disgusted with the Circle of Gluttony and quickly tries to move past it. As Ripley suffers through her personal limbo, she is given the opportunity by her evil Virgil to continue her descent and, by her own thinking, find some peace. Ripley has taken the first step in her mental journey out of the very depths of Hell where no light of hope could pierce the darkness. Now, with the opportunity to take some action, she starts to awaken to her true

4 spirit. This continuation of her journey through Hell sees her embark on the military ship Sulaco, which is the film's settings for the last two Circles of Incontinence: Lust and Wrath. The marines that form the unit attached to the ship inhabit these Circles: their personalities and attitudes highlight their sexism and unabashed lust; potential violence is always at their fingertips. Ripley herself belongs in the Circle of Wrath, as she plays out the eternal damnation of giving in to anger by verbally assaulting Bishop. We also see her play a part in the depiction of Lust when she is moving the cargo around with the loader suit and asks, "Where do ya want it?", to the two men watching her. Indeed, this interplay with the environments of the hell surrounding her in Aliens parallels to Dante, as he regularly interacted with the spirits and entities of the Inferno. LOWER HELL: CITY OF DIS In Dante's Hell, there is a strong physical distinction between the Upper Circles of Hell and the Lower Circles. The Upper areas house passive sinners who were just unable to control their passions, as we just explored; but the Lower depths contain the Circles where sinners whose lives were driven by malice are kept. This is also the case in Aliens, at least on a metaphorical level: Gateway Station and the Sulaco are the spaces that depict all of the passive sins, while active sin is portrayed by the living nightmares of LV426. The physical distinction mentioned above is characterized by a walled City, known as Dis, in Inferno, surrounded by the Stygian marsh. In Aliens, this border is the atmosphere of LV426 and the planetoid itself is the City of Dis. Alienferno shows this visualization with the right side of the image being Lower Hell. Once the crew has passed the Stygian marsh (atmosphere), they arrive in the City of Dis, Lower Hell (LV426). Like Upper Hell, it is comprised of Circles that are named Violence, Heresy, Fraud, and Treachery.

5 Upon landing, Ripley and the marines find themselves in the Circles of Violence: Six and Seven. Once they pass the marsh of the atmosphere and arrive in the colony, evidence abounds that something went wrong. The violent result of the poor decision to send colonists and the heresy of the existence of such monsters exhibit the same sins as do the Sixth and Seventh Circles in the Inferno. During this time Ripley begins to show her willful personality: a sign that she is digging herself further and further out of the pit of her personal Hell. It is at this point, where Ripley arrives on LV426, that her mental and physical journeys cross paths. She has physically descended into the final Circles of Hell, returning to where it all started; but this return has also allowed her to ascend spiritually to a place of awareness and ambition. She intends to save Newt as well as destroy the aliens on the planet. While her feet take her toward a date with the Devil, her progress enlightens her spirit and frees her soul. This is comparable to Dante's journey in that he was made to travel through Hell to find Heaven. As the plot unfolds, Ripley and the crew find themselves at the foot of the Abyss: the Eighth Circle. In the Inferno, this abyss is a pit that descends to the Central Well of Malebolge, wherein lies the Ninth Circle: the frozen Lake Cocytus, or Treachery. The settings in Aliens take Ripley through mirrors of these places: The Abyss in the film is the atmosphere processor facility where the hive is, and the Central Well is the elevator shaft descending to the basement. In this basement is the Hive and the Queen's Chamber, or Lake Cocytus: the Ninth Circle. The Abyss of the facility highlights the sin of Fraud and what comes of deceit. Burke is the paragon of that deceit, as he reveals in the action that unfolds post-hive. In these sequences, Fraud and Treachery blend together before Ripley finally descends into the Ninth Circle. The treachery of Burke is laid bare, and Ripley is right in the center of it: she survives his facehugger attempt and

6 later the closing of the exit door. Like all sinners, Burke is made to pay for his transgressions as the demons consume him. Finally, a heroic Ripley takes it on herself to save Newt and descend into the very depths of Hell: The frozen Lake Cocytus wherein lies the Ninth Circle. In Inferno, this is where Satan, the Devil, is chained for eternity, frozen from the waist down in the Lake. That Lake in the film is the Queen's chamber, which Ripley stumbles upon in the climax of the scene. The Queen resembles the Devil in that she is "chained" by her egg tube. Like Dante, Ripley has come this far and refuses to give up despite facing such horror. Her spiritual ascension is almost complete: Where Dante travels to Purgatory (enroute to Heaven), Ripley furthers her journey to Heaven (peace of mind) by rescuing Newt and incinerating the egg chamber of the Queen. Dante ascends to Purgatory through the navel of Satan, while Ripley makes her own escape from Hell through the elevator. These spatial comparisons require some imagination and an understanding of both pieces of art. However, the spaces that make up the journey were relatable in that they were trials for their protagonist. Both of these protagonists had to endure the horror of their corporeal realities in order to achieve spiritual ascension.

7 WORKS CITED Alighieri, Dante. Inferno., Accessed 24 Nov Aliens., 20th Century Fox, Accessed 24 Nov Aliens Props yourprops.com. Accessed 24 Nov