I love that he goes on about Aliens so much (a movie I love) but then misses how laboured and on the nose the motherhood themes are after Ripley was just a straight edge pro in the original that was written without gender. If you wanted to be really silly about this it would be just as easy to suggest that like Terminator 2 James Cameron can’t help making his leads into simple child bearing stereotypes who must overcome very basic fears to become mothers/heroes.
I don’t understand what you mean here about on the nose mother themes and being written as genderless in the original. Can you please expand on this?
Ripley is very much a woman in Alien with her femininity on display multiple times, all the while portraying a strong character that gets stronger through her trials towards the end of the movie.
In Aliens we learn she is in fact a working mother who learns her daughter has passed away as a result from being in stasis herself for so long. This is obviously a key setup for the events that happen later on and helps give insight and explanation into why she feels so strongly about mothering and later rescuing Neut considering how from Ripley’s perspective she has only just lost her own daughter.
That and Neut has survived against all odds and it would be inhumane to leave her to the fate they now know awaits those captured by the aliens.
I don’t understand what is wrong with any of this, it all plays into justifying her reasons and the events that happen in the movie, making her one of the most badass female characters of all time while also showing you can still be feminine and a mother with a full range of emotions.
Val