"Studying Alien" surveys all four films (made between 1979 to 1997) and their relationship to genre, narrative, audience, and institution. The volume provides an excellent framework for readers to investigate the linked yet distinctive texts. It highlights the characteristic audio-visual style of each film along with generic shifts and connecting narrative threads. Readers are challenged to think beyond the binary of human v. alien to consider how shifting boundaries change our perceptions of future human society. Questions explore audiences' fears and fascination toward the films; why male audiences accept Ripley as a credible action hero; and the way in which the spectator plays with the text outside of the theater. Rooting its analysis in accessible theory, "Studying Alien" incorporates the various filmmakers' own perspectives on making the movies and the institutional practices that shaped each film, including spin-offs such as "Alien vs. Predator" (2004).
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Elaine Scarratt was founding Chair of the Media Education Association and is a freelance media advisor, teacher-trainer and writer.
Jon Davison has been Professor of teacher education in four UK universities including the Institute of Education, University of London, where he was also Dean.
