There's one character in the Alien films whose name is near-synonymous with the franchise—Ellen Ripley. Since the late-70s, Sigourney Weaver's formidable Xenomorph-brawling heroine has cemented herself as one of the greatest female characters in sci-fi and fantasy . However, after rewatching the 1979 classic, one thing has become increasingly clear to me: Ripley is not the franchise's main character.

Though Ripley often acts as our vessel into Alien' s cold, industrial universe, the series' true heart lies in each film's doomed ensemble , from the crew of the Nostromo all the way to the scientific explorers in Prometheus . The reason this throughline extends through each installment in the saga has everything to do with every crew's clash between collectivism and in

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