MOVIES
Thursday, March 4, 2021 • ThE BuLLETIN
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 19
Twentieth Century Fox
Sigourney Weaver in a scene from “Alien” (1979).
Far-out ladies:
space films starring women
BY MAKENZIE WHITTLE • The Bulletin
W
hile sci-fi films have been boldly going to the far reaches of the
cosmos since the dawn of movie-making, women haven’t always
had a seat in the ship.
Luckily, this trend seems to be fading
away in a Hollywood that is clamoring for
more diverse casts and stories to tell, but
there are still blind spots to overcome.
Since March is the beginning of Women’s
History Month, here are a few movies about
women in space.
Alien (1979) and “Aliens” (1986) —
Though they’re filmed with the male gaze,
they still feature one of the most hardcore
women in film history with Sigourney
Weaver’s portrayal of Ellen Ripley. The first
two of the franchise are really the only ones
worth visiting or revisiting and the sequel
manages to be just as good, if not better than
the original. Both masterfully use special ef-
fects and body horror techniques to drive up
the suspense and keep viewers on the edge
of their seats even if the xenomorphs and
films may not be as scary as they once were.
Stream them on HBO Max or rent them on
Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu
or YouTube.
“Contact” (1997) — While it takes its
sweet time actually getting to space, the
journey of one astronomer’s discovery of an
alien radio signal to jettisoning off to a dis-
tant planet in the Vega system is dramati-
cally interesting. Starring Jodie Foster as Dr.
Ellie Arroway, the film takes her and us an
audience through a lot of the more bureau-
cratic side that will come with any potential
alien contact we make and has an impactful
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