After Ridley Scott’s smash hit sci-fi success in “Alien”, the natural question was obviously “what next?”. This was answered in the form of “Aliens”, a sequel which built upon the legacy of the first movie, adding more of everything, more guns, more threat, and importantly, more xenomorphs!
Whilst “Alien” focused on the threat posed by a singular xenomorph, “Aliens” expanded upon this by introducing the threat posed by a whole colony of these creatures. After the events of the first film Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) drifts in space for the next 57 years until being found. Due to this she is unable to warn humanity of the threat posed by the xenomorphs and in the meantime the Weyland Yutani company has sent colonists to the Alien’s home world. The film then follows Ripley’s attempts to destroy the xenomorphs which have taken over this colony.
Most interestingly for the purpose of this blog post, the film allows us to see how the xenomorphs organize themselves when in large numbers. The humans discover that the xenomorphs have gathered themselves around a single “queen”. The individual xenomorphs then act as “drones” for the queen, capturing live humans to be brought back for impregnation with the alien parasite to further reproduction.
For me it is therefore interesting to see how Cameron’s vision for the xenomorph, an alien designed to be as terrifying as possible, places it within a hive mind. It is easy to see why, the xenomorphs now become ruthless killing machines with no individuality. They cannot be reasoned with, their life becomes a vicious cycle of mindless violence with a singular purpose, to propagate their species.
What makes the xenomorph hive mind even more terrifying in my opinion is their utter disregard for humans. In a complete reversal of the “natural” established order (humans>animals), humans become little more than chattel. This makes the xenomorphs even more terrifying, we humans like to think that we will meet aliens who are at least our equals, but to the xenomorph we are utterly beneath their concern aside from our ability as an incubator.
Great post! Have you watched Star Trek over the years and seen the Borg? They, too, have a similar hive mind structure, and mission, to the xenomorphs. Interesting. Also, it’s interesting to think of other kinds of “connected” communities, like fungi (mycelium). Not the same model for propagation, but similar in its collective “mentality,” if I may. Have you seen the recent film “Fantastic Fungi” https://fantasticfungi.com/trailer/?