138: Substantive Cinema | Alien (1979) feat. Sarah Welch-Larson
Episode description
We hope that you all have had a wonderful Spooky Season and wish you all a Happy Halloween this week! After having Filmspotting's Josh Larsen (no relation to our guest today) on in Episode #135 to talk about a faithful approach to horror and then covering the classic 1942 horror film Cat People, we're closing October out with one of the greatest horror and science fiction films of all time, Ridley Scott's Alien.
Alien tells the story of the crew of the Nostromo, a commercial spaceship that comes across a dangerous and virtually unstoppable lifeform that no one in the crew is prepared for. As a piece of science-fiction/horror it's extremely effective but like many great works of art, you can also have a rich experience when you come it to with different lenses. The viewer can look at it as a piece of social commentary about the plight of the working class people being ground up by the machinery of Capitalism, a gender study and what the films portrayal of men and women says about our prejudices, a theologically significant tale about the nature of evil, and more!
Luckily, we have a guest with us who is qualified to explore all of those facets of the film. Sarah Welch-Larson is a Chicago based film critic, longtime podcaster, and author of a book on the while Alien franchise! She's been on our radar for a while and we're so happy to have her on for this one. This is a film and series that she has dedicated a lot of time and attention to and it was a pleasure to talk Alien with her (next week Substance patrons will get a bonus episode where we cover her book and the other 5 films in the series!).
Happy Halloween and remember to share the show with a friend who would dig it!
Buy Sarah's book, Becoming Alien
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