SOURCE: Matheson, T. J. “Triumphant Technology and Minimal Man: The Technological Society, Science Fiction Films, and Ridley Scott's Alien.” Extrapolation 33, no. 3 (fall 1992): 215-29.

In the following essay, Matheson argues that Alien offers a pessimistic vision of man's relationship to modern society in the face of advancing technology.

When Ridley Scott's film Alien appeared in 1979, critics were generous in their praise of the picture's technical merits but felt that however impressive its machinery might be, the film was less than an artistic or intellectual success. In the main, reviewers agreed with Jeffrey Wells that the film lacked depth and “lean[ed] too heavily on the conventions of horror films from the old days” (436). Typical was Vincent Canby who, writing in the New York Times, saw it as a “rather decent” but “modest” and “extremely small” movie and advised readers not to “race to it expecting the wit [sic!] of...