Essay on the Past Versus the Present

Aliens film was written and produced by James Cameron in 1986. It is a film of genre science fiction horror featuring Ellen Ripley as the character. In the movie, the connection between the past and present is well-knit in order to produce a scintillating plot. Ripley has been in stasis state for 57 years, and she woke up unexpectedly. On returning, Ripley finds out that a lot of things has changed, and that her younger daughter is dead because she was too old to live. So, this paper seeks to assess the relationship between the past and present by analyzing the disparities between the periods. Having been built from the Aliens film of 1979, Aliens of 1986 does not know what happened to the crew in the Nostromo of the first movie. In the analysis of the Aliens of 1986, Ripley bridges the gap between the past and future as she is perceived to possess significant wisdom that could be used to defeat Aliens and that technological advancements in the present world continues to baffle Ripley.

Ripley presents the past, and that she is considered instrumental because of her wisdom due to her old age. After being ostracized for some time as an object of future, Ripley is rescued by the marines who make good use of her. She is rarely used as a sex object but as one of the commandos with enough wisdom to handle a fight. This exhibits the value of objects of the past. Instead of maltreating Ripley, the Marines noted that she could be of use to their mission of defeating Aliens, which they had initially underestimated. Also, Ripley met scenarios that she did not anticipate, that is the present world has changed and that the Aliens had even taken over the colonists. This information is given by a girl, named Newt in the film. So, the connection between the past and present is bridged by the vital information that Ripley gave about her crew members in Nostromo that were overtaken by the colonists.

Technological advancement is one critical concept of the present world and that the tools used in fighting the Aliens outweigh those of the past. Private Hudson tells Ripley that “me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you! Check it out! Independently targeting particle beam phalanx. Vwap! Fry half a city with this puppy. We got tactical smart missiles, phase-plasma pulse rifles, RPGs, we got sonic electronic ball breakers!” (Cameron). Ripley was amazed when she saw the kind of modern weapons the Marines are using to fight the aliens. When she compared with the ones she used 57 years, she denotes a significant improvement in terms of efficiency not only that of the weapons but also the strategy the army use to fight. So, this disparity between the past and present is well manifested by the difference in the technological advancements composing of tools that Ripley had never seen before.

Noting the improvement in science, the present world puts the lives of people in danger because they feel they have the tools to go out there and attack aliens. This aspect is uncharacteristic of the past where humans would just stay on earth and instead wait for them on earth and prevent Aliens from attacking them (Hicks 56). The lives of crew members are put at risk when they go out in search of aliens in a bid to eliminate them forever. In this sense, the science is the root cause of conflicts in the Aliens as marines feel that they have what it takes to wipe out aliens once and for all. Therefore, it should not be in the human beings’ preference and interest to find intruders in other planets and fight them based on the fact that there is the presence of science in motivating the pursuit for human progress. On the whole, the past and present are connected with thoughts that put humans at detriments of extinction through meaningless wars.

In conclusion, the past and the present is well associated mainly through science. This linkage is well revealed by Ripley who reveals the disparities between the past, that is 57 years ago, and the present events. Of noteworthy is that the present generation considers the people of the past as wiser and that they must have some crucial information which could be used to fight the aliens. Second, technology has advanced in the present world and that fighting the aliens has progressed significantly. This concept is elucidated by Ripley when she confirms that the current world has superior weapons that they used not to have 57 years ago. Lastly, regardless of human’s pursuit of science and progress, the quest put the lives of men in danger since they think that they have what it takes to wipe out the aliens. So, this perception promotes conflict, thus creating a significant association between the past and the present.

Works Cited

Cameron, James. Aliens. 1986.

Hicks, Charles. “If the exosuit fits: becoming the alien queen in alien and aliens.” Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement 7.2 (2016).