Idk if this is the right place but I'm posting anyways. Idk what I'm posting, but I'm posting it anyways.

So someone on The Bad Website came up with the brilliant idea of updating the Orientalist racism underpinning the cyberpunk genre (yes, Aliens is cyberpunk, don't @ me, or do, happy to discuss) for the 21st century and I thought the idea of a Musk-Xinping partnership was funny. After all, Musk is a socialist /s

Also wanted to ask if there's any other Alien fans on here. Trying to set up a Discord RP.

  • disco [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I’m with you on Aliens being cyberpunk, but how in earth is the idea that the most powerful corporation on earth is an English-Japanese partnership racist Orientalism?

    Like, there’s def. an argument to be made for shit like Neuromancer and Blade Runner, but Alien?

    • Xenophile [none/use name]
      ·
      4 years ago

      So I had a whole reply typed up, but the site is acting up.

      I'll just say that, in the lore, Weyland is a successful Anglo-capitalist company. Great innovations that make life better for everyone, and makes a killing in the process, but still goes bankrupt. It's then bought by Yutani, a rising Japanese conglomerate. Weyland-Yutani then goes on to swindle and basically subserviate the US government. I see that as an Orientalist trope at the root of the cyberpunk genre (not the aesthetic).

      So, yes. Alien did latch on to Orientalist trends in contemporary sci-fi. However, Weyland-Yutani is presented as basically Anglo-American in the franchise and it delivers a strong anticapitalist message without ever demonizing Asians. Come to think of it, I don't recall any Asians in the movies... Oh well. I'd say it's disputable. I would call it Orientalist, though derived from cliche instead of racism. I understand if other's don't think that bit of lore makes it Orientalist.

      • disco [any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        You meet Robert (?) Weyland in Prometheus though, and he’s like the primary antagonist of the movie, so Weyland Corp was evil already before the merger. Where did you get the lore you’re referring to from?

        I ask not because I want to keep arguing about whether the movies are racist or not (I’m sure they could be when viewed through the right critical lens) but out of an unrepentant nerdy obsession with the universe of the Alien movies.

        • Xenophile [none/use name]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Yes, I suppose that's correct. It's after his death that the Yutani corporation buys Weyland Corp.