Alien as arena of cultural dispute: Technology, Capitalism and Otherness

This paper analyzes different interpretations of the Alien franchise and how they divide the world regarding issues such as economic exploitation, technology and Otherness are analyzed. Cultural sociology allows us to understand how the interpretations are articulated through binary sets that see the franchise at the same time as a critique and an apology for: a) colonial and technological capitalist rationalism, b) the exclusion of the Other and the monstrous; and c) feminism, sexual and gender identity. The interpretations are analyzed as condensations of hopes and fears regarding contemporary social processes. The dispute over control of the meaning of Alien allows us to understand how fears and hopes are articulated about economic and technological rationality and gender relations.