Alien: Alexandre O Philippe's Memory- Origins of Alien: Ash the mysogynist

leading from 

Alexandre O Philippe's Memory: Origins of Alien

a) Ash as a mysogynist

 

The film had a whole segment from Clarke Wolfe on Ash, dealing with his misogyny which was an unplanned turn in the movie for Philippe.

She doesn't claim to be a great fan of the Alien movies, but she was quite sure that he was a robot programmed by men to carry out oppression, although there's surely nothing to say this in the actual movie. 

 

 

 

b) Ash is "such a dick"

 

She decided that the android Ash was "such a dick" and because he was an android in the story, therefore he was not an authentic being.  He was supposed to look like a person, and pass as a person because the crew didn't know and so for her this is what made him worse. So she decided that a human had to program and educate him, and so for here it meant that a man must have programed him to carry out oppression, although there's nothing to say this in the actual movie. For her, mysogyny was built-in.

When Ripley as were was saying "I am making this call", Ash's response would be "nope, that's not gonna happen, I override you"

 

 

 

 

c) Oral rape scene

 

When Ash rapes Ripley by stuffing a rolled up magazine down her mouth and is about to choke her to death or sufforcate her before being stopped, Clarke asks where he gets the idea to penetrate this woman forceabley.  

 

She heard about the "Hollywood mythos" that the Ripley character was originally for a man and if this was true, she wondered how this scene would have played out with a man as Ripley. But she decided that the final choice he made was to put the woman in her place. 

 

The programming to her was frustrating, and she decided that she hated him.

 

 

d) Appreciation of her argument 

 

Her argument and the way she framed it was so compelling and thought provoking for Philippe, fitting into the much larger frame, that he felt he had to explore it in the film.

Her segment meant to a various people who interviewed Philippe about this documentary including a woman, for the "What Why Tho?" podcast who was very excited to hear Wolfe's passion. She thought that she had never seen something so emotional in this type of documentary, feeling that normally it would get cut out, and it for Philippe it was one of those unplanned moments that he would find a place for in his documentary.

 

 

 

 

 

e) For what was actually decided about Ash's actions and programming in the film production itself see: Alien: The unravelling of Ash

 

1. Alexandre O Philippe:  we have this whole segment on Ash, and Ash' misogyny which I was not quite frankly planning to explore until Clarke Wolf who was er, you know in the film,
   
   Film Threat: I know Clarke Wolfe, I love Clarke, she's great
   
   Alexandre O Philippe: She's awesome. And erm, and er, but you know her, her argument, and the way she frames it in a way that she, you know, she talks about it is so compelling and so thought provoking that it, and it fits so well in the larger argument of the film that er, yep, that was a thread that we had to, that we had to explore so  (http://filmthreat.com/news/memories-of-alien-ft-alexandre-o-philippe-film-threat-podcast/) 
2. Weliveentertainment: Clarke Wolfe articulates the strongest case that Ash is the ultimate representation of misogyny, because he is a robot programmed by men to carry out oppression. (https://weliveentertainment.com/welivefilm/sundance-2019-franchise-fred-remembers-memory-origins-alien/) 
3. (From the Leading the Wolfe Episode 33 TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY with Michael T. Kennedy from December 11, 2018 , leading from Michael T Kennedy talking about Robert Patrick in Terminator 2 and how when he kind of smirks when he's talking to to the John Connor's foster parents, it's fun to think about how someone programmed that into a machine)
   Clarke Wolfe : This is my, I will give a little , little uh, plug  or headsup mecause my friend Alexandre Philippe who who has been on this podcast and he made the Hitchcock documentary about the shower scene
   Michael T Kennedy: I loved it
   Clarke Wolfe : Yes
   Michael T Kennedy: So good
   Clarke Wolfe : He is a, he talked to me about the Exorcist because he was working with William Friedkin
   Michael T Kennedy: Oh yeah , I remember that episode
   Clarke Wolfe: Working closely on something, but he is making a movie announced recently, he is making a movie about Alien and uh
   Michael T Kennedy: A documentary
   Clarke Wolfe: Yes
   Michael T Kennedy: Oh cool
   Clarke Wolfe : An um, I sat with him and did with him an interview and we talked a lot, I don't want to give anything away, but I'm told that part of this made it into the movie, we talked a lot about Ash and what
   Michael T Kennedy: From Evil Dead?
   Clarke Wolfe : Nope
   Michael T Kennedy: Oh
   Clarke Wolfe : From Alien
   Michael T Kennedy: Oh from Alien, I'm sorry yuh
   Clarke Wolfe : Yeah, yeah, and erm, and we were talking about like androids
   Michael T Kennedy: Yeah, yeah, yeah
   Clarke Wolfe:  Programming
   Michael T Kennedy: Right
   Clarke Wolfe: Erm, what is programmed into Ash, in Alien, is when you really think about it, like if you watch Alien through the lens of that and you watch that character
   Michael T Kennedy: Uhuh
   Clarke Wolfe: Focus on that
   Michael T Kennedy: Focus on the programming
   Clarke Wolfe: It is horrifying
   Michael T Kennedy:  Oh my gosh, that's so cool
   Clarke Wolfe: Like it's so, and to your point about the T1000, you're right, the smirk is programmed
   Michael T Kennedy: Yuh
   Clarke Wolfe: And the uh
   Michael T Kennedy: You think about the actual
   Clarke Wolfe: Yes
   Michael T Kennedy: Work it took to make these
   Clarke Wolfe: Yes
   Michael T Kennedy:  Machines, it's, yes, it's terrifying that there's some fucking genius in the movie
   Clarke Wolfe: Mmhmm
   Michael T Kennedy: That we never see
   Clarke Wolfe: Mmhmm
   Michael T Kennedy: That literally was like clicking a keyboard away
   Clarke Wolfe: Yep
   Michael T Kennedy: and the code he wrote
   Clarke Wolfe: Yep
   Michael T Kennedy: that makes him smart when he talks to
   Clarke Wolfe: Yep
   Michael T Kennedy: His person he wants to kill, the parents
   Clarke Wolfe: Yes,  and I would
   Michael T Kennedy:  I want to watch Alien now like that
   Clarke Wolfe: Please watch it is fun, and I'm sure, Alexandre told me that that scene did make it in, so, we'll see but that was, that was to me the two things, and we've never done Alien on this show before but
   Michael T Kennedy:  I almost picked Aliens
   Clarke Wolfe: Yuh
   Michael T Kennedy: But
   Clarke Wolfe: The two, the two things that stood out to me are are Ash and how the, I mean we could do a whole, we could do hours on that.
   Michael T Kennedy: Yuh
   Clarke Wolfe: But the idea that, um, Sigourney Weaver, that Ripley is is remembered in reviews and by critics and scholars for being cold for making decisions, the unemotional decision
   Michael T Kennedy: (Giggle)
   Clarke Wolfe: And er, and just looking at her performance, you know, from a , from a, from the lens of, wait a second, you know what yeah, she did the right thing, like that's and and and looking at it through the lens of, of, if the Hollywood legend is true, the Ripley was written by a man,  written for a man
   Michael T Kennedy: Yuh, it was initially
   Clarke Wolfe: Yuh
   Michael T Kennedy: The character initially, I think the character was a man
   Clarke Wolfe: Yuh, then, what , how would that scene have played
   Michael T Kennedy: HAL would have hailed it a hero
   Clarke Wolfe: How would the rest of the movie have played
   Michael T Kennedy: Right
   Clarke Wolfe: it's really really, like, I don't love the movie Alien personally
   Michael T Kennedy: I, I prefer Aliens
   Clarke Wolfe: Yes
   Michael T Kennedy: Yeah
   Clarke Wolfe: But looking at it in certain ways
   Michael T Kennedy: Mmhmm
   Clarke Wolfe: Is endlessly fun
   Michael T Kennedy: I need to go back and revisit those movies or actually or actually do and Alien 3 this week on our show
   Clarke Wolfe: Um, it's pronounced Alien Cubed
   Michael T Kennedy: Okay, thank you
   Clarke Wolfe: I'm kidding of course. I just always love the little three above
   Michael T Kennedy: I have to mean, it's so cute
   Clarke Wolfe: It's so good
   Michael T Kennedy: It's so crazy that it's David Fincher, again Studio meddling
   Clarke Wolfe: Right (Leading the Wolfe Episode 33 (https://www.clarkewolfe.com/podcast/2018/12/11/episode-33-terminator-2-judgement-day-with-michael-t-kennedy)
4. Interviewer :There are a couple of moments in the interviews where um the interviewees get really passionate and you can hear a little bit of talk back between them and I presume its you behind the camera, and it's kept it and there's a very human quality to it which is er, that specific, that specific moment where er, she's the woman with the...
   Philippe: Oh Clarke, Clarke Wolfe
   Interviewer :Yes, and she just gets very passionate about imagery
   Philippe: About Ash
   Interviewer :Yes Erm, I don't think I've ever seen something so emotional
   Philippe: Mmm
   Interviewer : In a documentary
   Philippe: Mmm
   Interviewer : Like that, I feel like sometimes that would get cut out
   Philippe: Yeah
   Interviewer : Wh-what was your choice in keeping those moments in?
   Philippe: I mean you know, that's the thing, you've got to have, I think you know, I think our films are very, they're cut in a very specific way, and the rhythm is very you know sort of unique to er, you know, to exhibit a film
   Interviewer Yeah, heh heh
   Philippe:You know, aah, but what I think also makes a those moments, those human moments, those emotional moments that I think are very important is to use them in the right way, you know, I think its er, you know, Memory, it's a pretty dark film and it tended to be of course pretty dark, and obviously the way it is filmed, ah, it's a, you know, you're in that sort of that kind of universe, you know, Alien universe, which is not bright and fun, you know, it needed these little sort of dabs of humour, I think, Clarke was so wonderful and I think any time you have someone giving that, you know giving that passion is wonderful, I think erm, in fact that whole sequence on Ash was not at all something that I was planning on including in the film, but I thought it was, first of all it was completely relevant to the premise of Memory and she delivered it with such er,  you know, such Panache, you know that er, it had to be edited in (https://player.fm/series/but-why-tho-the-podcast-1392435/interview-myth-alien-and-memory-with-director-alexandre-o-philippe)

5. Clarke Wolfe: Ash is such a dick. When you think about it, he's not an authentic being. So someone, a human person had to program him, educate him. Not only is he supposed to look like a person, he's supposed to pass as a person, because the crew didn't know. And that's what makes him the worse. That misogyny was built-in. Ripley, on the other hand, is saying, I am making this call. And he says, nope, that's not gonna happen. I override you. Where does he get the idea to penetrate this woman forcibly? You know, but it doesn't logically make sense for an artificial life form to do that. He would choke her. He would suffocate her. The final choice that he makes is to just put this woman in her place.The programming... think, if we think about that, if we really unpack that, it's so frustrating. I hate him. (Memory: The Origin of Alien)