Fanner50
77291
1880
38
Mar 8, 2025 1:24 PM
Fanner50
77291
1880
38
Nocturnalswitch
I want to see the rest of this thread because there's SO many examples
howieCosmosJumper
HAPPY WOMAN'S DAY
memedrift2410
Ash doesn't mansplain anything. Ash is not a man. Ash Droidsplains. This mansplain brought to you by a real man with balls and everything.
Mewmus
Always upvote anything Aliens related
Polymathena
Even in the future humans have learned nothing from history.
kojenk
With the way it was presented at the time that too, it hit people by surprise. Weaver was relatively not known quite as well as Tom Skerritt (Dallas' actor), so they expected him to be the hero who shoots from the hip and disregards the rules while Ripley was the obstructive bureaucrat holding back his heroism.
linmanden
For those who argue that this is not about male toxicity, but human vs programmed android: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjju9VFeAgs&t=4501s
EvolvedMonkeyFlyingThroughSpace
Eh, this doesn't make sense. Ash was ....do I even need to explain.
ssjalhazred
The movie is so old and known even first-time viewers don't notice it, but it actually hides the fact that Ripley is the real protagonist and will be the final survivor. The scene is done to make her seem unsympathetic; you sympathize more with the shore party because Kane is in trouble, Dallas has been reasonable thus far, and Lambert (who is also a woman) is panicking. It also makes Ash *sympathetic* for letting them in, taking suspicion off him.
CowboyRooster
Ash was a robot that was doing whatever he could to get that thing aboard. And he mansplained nothing, gender was irrelevant, he overrode the captain too.
Being snarky about people who happen to be men isn't pro-women. If you're deconstructing shit this should be obvious.
TsunamiWombat
Ash was a robot, he can't really mansplain. The point wasn't the undermining of Ripleys authority as a woman the point was the company didn't see them as living beings but disposable assets. It's about corporatocracy. Death of Author, it's perfectly reasonable to SEE that behavior in Ash, but we must also remember that Ash isn't a real person. And in the end, isn't that the real moral of the story? That corporate stooges aren't people and should be decapitated?
UnpinionedPoplars
*lets.
Tbf, "let's" is a perfectly cromulent word, but it means "let us", as in, "let us away," or, "let's get pedantic up in dis bitch."
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
fauxcault
Alien was written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, and they have said that they intentionally wrote all the roles generically; they made a note in the script that explicitly states, "The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women." That freed up director Ridley Scott and casting directors Mary Selway and Mary Goldberg to interpret the characters however they liked and cast the parts accordingly.
FarkasMacTavish
death of the author
Clayman8
Except Ash is an android that was literally placed there to retrieve the xenomorph, so this idea, while 100% correct, kind of falls apart over the whole "mansplaining" thing.
historycat
The mansplaining in these comments is overwhelming.
zacknotzatch
HippoTel
PorterPickUp
Ash wasnt a man. He androidsplained her job.
RoutemasterFlash
Mansplain? Androidsplain, I think.
TsunamiWombat
Androsplain, since Andro lit. just means 'man' or 'masculine shaped'. Wrote a feminist critique college paper about a turn of the century novel and used 'andro-' in place of 'man' or 'male' to specify perspectives. Got a B I think. Never read the book.
Agatsu74
She was also written as a man and then played by a woman.
TooSoonOldTooLateSmart
Strong enough for a man, but played by a woman.
DisgruntledFerret
Yeah, I was gonna say, none of the first movie had anything to do with Ripley being a woman because she wasn't even written as a woman.
Agatsu74
...and the only other -and initially only- woman in the movie was a nervous wreck.
Raxiel
And in some film theories, Trans
captapathy
He robo-splained.
purgruv
Ayctweuially, it would be “andro-splained” dontcha know…
GCRust
Point of order - Ripley wasn't commanding officer. Dallas outranked her. Ripley insisted on following proper containment and isolation procedures that the men around her promptly overrode and ignored.
Ash deservedly gets heat for being a sleeper agent, but this is on Dallas' head too because Ripley was 100% right and Dallas should have had her back.
NappaTheFriendlyGhost
Further backing Ripley: Even without alien presence, first contact with unknown microscopic organisms is almost always horrendously deadly. Our immune systems take generations to adapt. Look what happened to the Native Americans. There was obviously bacteria on this planet. Hell, NASA has super strict decontamination for just about everything for this reason. It was less stubbornness on Dallas' part as it was suicide.
RuBisCO1
Yeah, but those are terrestrial pathogens that have evolved to infect humans and begin exposed to an unexposed population of humans. In theory, alien bacteria would have as easy a time growing on us as our bacteria does on plastic. That said, no one wants to see that tested, so NASA and such are CYA.
sleepinggreenidea
Counter-point: Ripley WAS the CO when quarantine was broken, because Dallas and Kane were off ship and as third in command she had the helm until properly relieved... which couldn't happen until quarantine was broken and he came back onboard. Dallas may not of liked it, but he didn't outrank her at that exact moment. Been a while since I saw the film, but I wanna say this was at least obliquely referenced.
UserNameCorrupted
Ridley was a Warrant Officer, not the CO. A good CO listens to the Warrant’s and the Chiefs.
Lisossoma
She was the CO since Dallas was outside the ship. Standard operating procedure s
TheLesserOfTwoWeevils
I got into such a long argument about this last time. Someone wouldn't believe that CO = the captain not whoever's in command. Ripley wasn't CO but was in command at the time she made the call iirc. Captain being off ship and the other one outranking her being Kane who was the one injured/in Capacitated.
AceBandito
Off ship, but right outside the door and issuing her direct orders to open it. There's an argument to who is in command there, but if she could be sanctioned for not following the order when they are back on the ship, then it wasn't her. I don't think at any point in the film do they directly refer to her having command over the captain, at least to the degree that she would even if the captain were to have returned to the ship, but I could be wrong.
aPokal
It's being ages since i saw the first two (and i'm not even sure i saw 3 or 4 completely), but wasn't Ripley just an expert passenger, civil advisor or something like that? Somewhat outside line of command?
TheLesserOfTwoWeevils
No, in the first one she's just a member of the crew of a merchant ship. Like third in command. In the second one "Aliens" she's an expert advisor to the Marine send to investigate the loss of contact of a colony of the same planet they found the alien eggs to start with..
AzgarOgly
Except that has nothing to do with Ripley being woman. Ash had his programming. And would do that anyway.
Fanner50
Still prefer as a heroine over Princess Leia
Acc87
Technically Leia was the better written heroine because she was outright written for a woman. The character in Alien was written gender neutral.
Rips4w
Where did this conversation start? Leia threw away a life of wealth, safety and power to try and topple a fascist, galaxy spanning empire. Ripley is just a subpar pest control specialist, in essence.
aPokal
Given she wasn't a trained and certified pest control specialist, she did alright.
Rips4w
I definitely have to agree. The results did speak louder, unfortunately.
kojenk
I heard she was the daughter of a sith lord planted on the planet to infiltrate it. We all know she was on the deathstar when it destroyed her assigned world. she probably pressed the button herself.
kadaeux
Honestly I hold them about equal. The very first thing Leia did after being released from her cell was to kill stormtroopers and basically take over her own rescue.
aPokal
And last thing she did as a slave was kill her master. With his own chain no less.
DrSharkbite
zmanz
needs sound :))
Zaranthan
nemesisx00
PerthAussieMike
Well Ash was programmed by Weyland Yutani to do whatever was necessary to capture one of the xenomorphs. He (it) was following orders.
zafner
It's not "orders" if it's an android. Androids are programmed. Not really the same. He had no choice
Anysource
*It.
Suesuesuveeyo
and as we all know, humans are never programmed not to listen to women and it never leads to immediate consequences either
ThankYouForYourTime
Sounds like Weyland Yutani wouldn’t have listened to the smart woman either
ottercontrol
profits over human life, the Weyland Yutani way.
Zaranthan
They continued to not listen to her for several movies, no speculation required.
Scezumin
really what this is highlighting is that the crew would rather listen to a non-human that looks like a man than a woman with a modicum of critical thought
supersmashmother
littlecoatfatguy
Yeah it's not "synthsplaining" so much as Ash is mainsplaining-by-proxy.
Blanks56
"This could kill us all" yes, that's the entire point. They know she's right, they simply agree and are ok with it. The corp expects them to either bring it back with or without the crew alive.
ZoidbergIsGreat
"Crew expendable"
Fawin
To be fair, Ash was the imposter. Even if it was Dallas on the ship saying not to do it, he would have done it.
ghostalker
Dallas just flies the ship.
Fawin
He not only flies it, but is the captain of the ship. Kane was XO and first officer, and Ripley was the Warrant Officer and second officer.
SteepedGardenMrsChen
True. However, as a metaphor it's the same. If it was reality he either did it because he'd been raised to believe his opinion was more important than a woman's (regardless of rank or title), or he had counter-orders from above that didn't actually care or want her to do her job, they just kept it for appearances. Ash's programming is no different than the arrogance or 'just following orders' excuse marginalized ppl everywhere immediately identified with.
WheresWallyWorldChamp
The is perfect to illustrate mansplaining! Well done! :)
SteepedGardenMrsChen
That's not mansplaining. Adding a fact that is relevant to the topic is just discourse.
Mansplaining is "Explaining (something) in a condescending or self-righteous manner, especially as a man to a woman."
Kind of what I'm doing to you, except it's relevant to the topic and mansplaining rarely is. Usually it's a long-winded tangent they've brought up because they know more about it than the topic, or repeating your own words as though it's their own original thought and worthwhile contribution.
WheresWallyWorldChamp
Oops sorry - this was meant to go under the original post, I thought it was a great example of mansplaining that made it make sense.
TheUnnamedPoet
The entire crew could have been telling him no and he would have done it anyways. The entire point of them being sent to LV223 was so Ash could bring back the alien creature. But they still should have listened to the smart woman.
TheTitanz0r
The world in Alien and Aliens was LV426.
TheUnnamedPoet
Google has lied to me. I couldn't remember the numbers so I let google answer it for me. AI has led me astray! Who could have guessed?
Fawin
Yeah Google AI has given me the wrong info time and time again. Trust in your google-fu, not the machine "intelligence."
SocoFox
I switched over to duckduckgo. It's like using a search engine from the before times.
TheUnnamedPoet
*webcrawler has entered the chat*
Fawin
Special Order 937. Bring back organism alive, all other orders rescinded. Crew expendable.
RealityInflicted
I'll just assume that this tread of mansplaining is ironic.
Comet260
Those are LITERALLY the orders Ash was given! Have you watched the movie?
BeardicPerformance
Correcting someone isn’t “mansplaining.” Assuming a woman doesn’t know what something is or how to do something because they’re a woman and explaining it to them is. But once someone opens their mouth and proves that they don’t know something, explaining it to them is just fine.
startedfromlurkingnowimhere
This right here
Fantelroy
How the fuck was that mansplaining?
EggEggHeSaidEgg
The Alien/Aliens planet was LV-426. LV-223 was Prometheus.
EggEggHeSaidEgg
(Other than that, spot on)
TheUnnamedPoet
I blame google. I foolishly asked it which was the original alien world and it said 223. Thanks google! AI making all our lives.... "better."
Affray
AI at it's best:
v
JohnEdwa
In a way it told you the correct answer to exactly what you asked for, as LV223 from Promethius is the first planet in the franchise timeline. It just wasn't what you actually wanted to know.
TheUnnamedPoet
I mean I genuinely asked for the world of "the original alien movie" and i guess it mistook original to mean "origin" or something. I dunno, but I haven't watched the OG film in a while and 223 sounded vaguely familiar.
BrokenAnimal
"Alien is a movie where nobody listens to the smart woman, and then they all die except for the smart woman and her cat. Four stars."
rbudrick
And the kid.
calenti
In the first movie Ash opened the door in violation of multiple regulations and would not have obeyed anyone in command because he had orders from W-Y. It had nothing to do with Ripley's gender.
thelegendofthetwistednavigator
Also a movie which didn't specify the gender of any of the characters deliberately.
That Ripley is a woman and Ash is a man is entirely incidental and very much irrelevant to the story.
Weaver was the last cast.
The plot is about the hubris of corporations who will try and exploit anything, no matter the potential dangers for humanity and how they consider employees, expendable.
spaghettron3000
Alien is a movie where illegal aliens causes the destruction of a community?
DelCorazon
…in her underwear
Howlingowl
Apparently the editing team took 2 weeks scrubbing Sigourney’s prominent fluffy bush out of every underwear scene because she refused to shave for the movie.
MechAegis
But ash was spoilers a synthetic. Was he not designed/ programmed to somehow bring the extraterrestrial home?
laserfork
KommanderKayriel
Yes, Weyland-Utani is basically always involved in all the bad decisions involving the Lingufoeda Arachenosis.
acuaricornio
I forgot if it was in the extended cut or not, but it’s strongly implied in one scene that the Nostromo’s previous science officer was last minute swapped for Ash before the ship started its return.
forsteri80
And then they continue to not listen to her in Aliens
Zeterai
To be fair, the soldiers do end up listening to her eventually.
wizard07ksu9000
After literally all of them die.
GCRust
Despite the fact they brought her along specifically to listen to her.
blaghart
Because she was a loose end, Wayland Yutani wanted her to die to cover up that they were trying to breed the xenomorphs using a human colony so they could have bioweapons
Deathcameawienering
If you have ANY experience in corporations or business ...they have experts for good optics and that is all, they use your credentials to validate their stupid fucking decisions while you,the expert, object
GCRust
Oh no, I am well aware.
justherefortheconfession
I would have given it a 5/7 if only the cat had survived. I have nothing against smart women or women in general. I just don't think humanity should survive. One good example (i.e., Ripley) does not redeem the entire species.
stiklikegiant
Sure she does! That's the point. She represents intelligence and reason. She is not heeded due to greed and stupidity. Thus, she is the only survivor. The only way to win is to learn and respect quarantines.
cakeslam101
I agree humanity shouldn't survive, but hey why not let Ripley live with her cat for being a good example despite being raised in a society that actively stomps on every good example it can get its grubby mitts on. Kill humanity, keep the cat, and Ripley can stay too
Syovere
[ sarcastic-wanking-motion.gif ]
[deleted]
[deleted]
friendofafriendofyourfriend
Judging by what that guy said, I think you just told them to do something bad to themselves 😅
Sonicschilidogs
Not my intention, will delete
friendofafriendofyourfriend
Of course you didn't mean that, I just thought it was funny in dark way, I take responsibility for bringing that point up
loveisallwereallyhave
Oh, you mean like now.
ShadyEsperanto
Dustorn
Found the xenomorph.
HonHomes
What a pizza-cutter comment
necroticon
All edge, no point?
HonHomes
Yyyyyup!
captapathy
The cat survived. He was in the sequel, and he stayed home in that one.
adrianontherocks
I read it like that at first too, but I believe they are saying that ONLY the cat should have survived
captapathy
Ahh…i see it now. But Jonesy didn’t have the manual dexterity to operate the self destruct.
theshinobi23
Ripley sends Jonesy to safety in a pod, then activates the self destruct.
HippoTel
Never underestimate a cat's ability to make mischief