Masculinity In The Film Aliens

In the film Aliens, female masculinity is portrayed extensively with both characters Ripley and Vasquez. Ripley, at the beginning of Aliens is more feminine than she is later in the film because at this point in the film, Ripley is just a survivor suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). She comes across intuitive and empathetic to the Marines when she first meets them because she is more focused about avenging her crew mates deaths and taking out these aliens once and for all. “Following the intrusive body narrative of Alien, Aliens opens the possibility that Ripley’s motivation is not simply facing her inner demons, but rather avenging a rape, albeit a symbolic one.” (Gallardo-C. & Smith, 2004: 75) Her whole life has been ruined because of the alien in the previous film and feels its necessary to do what

Before they all arrive at LV-426, Ripley demonstrates her worthiness in one of the cargo-loader units by showing she manages one all by herself without needing any male assistance. By giving herself this artificial giant mechanical body, Ripley proves that she can be one of the warriors as well in that she can use technology in her favour which she does use to her advantage in the climax of the film where she uses the suit to fight the queen alien. At the end of the film, the suit represents a suit of armour for Ripley, but when we first see her in it, she may be proving her worthiness but she also demeaning herself by doing a lower lever job and showing her capabilities to prove her point. “Ripley runs forklifts and power lowers at the station’s cargo docks. The connotation, however, compounded with the dejected feeling of the scene and Burke’s somewhat demeaning manner, is that she is, if not prostituting herself, then at least working far below her station.” (Gallardo-C. & Smith, 2004: