(Credits: Far Out / Harald Krichel / 20th Century Fox)
Mon 17 November 2025 20:45, UK
When Ridley Scott made Alien, he wanted to take the slasher genre into space.
Taking the violence of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and blending it with the existentialism of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the film was different in the way it centred a female character who becomes the last standing character, something that was starting to emerge in the horror genre with the ‘final girl’ trope.
Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, became one of the 1970s’ most iconic final girls, using her wits to survive the threat of the Xenomorph, which kills the rest of her crew. Weaver hadn’t had a prominent film role before – she had instead got her start on stage – but her audition was impressive enough to secure her the role, which remains the one she is best known for.
Following her performance in Alien, she reprised her role in Aliens and Alien 3, and it’s hard to picture anyone else playing Ripley. She’s such a special character, and one who Weaver holds close to her heart because, above everything, she’s real and relatable – despite being placed in the most unusual situations. Few people can say they’ve been to space, and no one can say they’ve been and had to fight off an extraterrestrial monster, but can we empathise with Ripley? Absolutely.
Weaver thinks this is the reason for Ripley’s long-standing popularity. Talking to Empire, she explained, “I feel that one of the reasons Ripley endures as someone who even can inspire me if I need a little encouragement, is that she is an ‘everyperson’. She is a human character.” Not only that, Weaver believes she is the kind of female representation that audiences wanted, yet had rarely seen before.
“I think it was more significant when the movie came out – there had never been a survivor who was a woman. It was just unheard of,” she added. “But as the years have gone on, I feel like the reason she’s interesting to people is because, as you say, she’s a human being, she’s not all powerful. I always felt I was so in touch with my own vulnerability when I was playing Ripley. She didn’t pretend it doesn’t exist, she just had to keep going”.
“And I feel like women certainly were looking to see that in films, but I also think people were just looking for a character who can navigate situations and come out of them and do it not in a super-human, Marvel way,” she added.
Certainly, the depiction of ‘strong women’ needs to go further than just showing them as superheroes, as is the current trend, and Weaver thinks that Alien did the perfect job in showing a realistic depiction of a woman who, in spite of the dangers surrounding her, is both resourceful and vulnerable. She isn’t this invincible character, she’s just like the rest of us.
“I think we all see ourselves in characters like that [where] it’s not easy. You have to survive this scene in order to get to the next thing,” she concluded.
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