Alien: Monday (Animation Showcase)
The Difficulties of Horror in Animation
While doing my usual animation browsing, I was pleasantly surprised to see OtaKing make a new release! (He made the animation “Tie Fighter” which I shared previously)
That last animation was a Star Wars parody animated in that 80’s style of 2D animation, which had a focus on Action.
This time we have another parody being done in that 80’s style, but with a focus on Dread and Horror.
If the Title didn’t tip your off, today you’ll be seeing OtaKing’s take on Alien! For being his longest project yet (both in watch time and work time), it definitely shows both the new tricks he’s learned and storytelling skills he’s obtained!
There are a few ideas this animation gave me to think about, but before I share them, take a look at the animation for yourself! (Quick head’s up, it keeps the “R” Rating from the original Alien, but for Swearing and Blood, so watch at your discretion)
Horror, is about Investment. When the viewers are invested in your characters and their story, the viewers can then empathize with their gains and losses. For Live Action movies with “Real” Human actors, it’s easier for “Human” viewers to empathize with them. With Animations however… it’s much harder to pull off.
What I consider the main strength and pull of Animation, is that since it isn’t “real life”, anything can happen in it. So for Fictional stories that have special powers, sci-fi technologies, magic, or any other sort of “Not Real” world system, I believe they are made better with Animation than Live Action + CGI. (But as tech progresses, the gap between will shrink)
But with animated characters (even if they are Human), most viewers need a longer time with them in order to build their suspension of disbelief.
“If a character is in horror movie, weren’t they just meant to die?”
This is the main problem of every piece of horror media, the story being told needs to either get the viewer to Forget this question, or change it to a better one, such as:
“Will this character make it to the end of the movie, or not?”
And in spite of only being around 15 minutes long, I would say that Alien: Monday does quite well to portray horror! So the question is:
How does Alien: Monday portray Horror?
In truth, horror doesn’t start with the monster, but with humanizing our main characters. In this case, we have “Technician Ashley”.
After a overview shot of the ship, the first few minutes of this animation is us seeing Ashley wake up from (some form of ) cryosleep, and head to the canteen to get a meal. We also get information about the reason for the ship being out here, that being on a mining venture for a specific meteor.
As much as these scenes feel like they’re wasting time, they accomplish a few things: 1. The more time we spend with a Ashley, the more we become attached to her. 2. Eating scenes are often cut for time, but seeing Ashley eat a meal proves she’s human to the viewer, doing the same things we do in our daily lives. 3. Seeing how Ashley reacts and converses with (Ship Computer) Conrad gives us an idea of her personality and opinions of her coworkers.
Horror movies are built off of the “big bad”, but they thrive off of that feeling of “dealing with the unknown”. So most horror media should start by setting up “what is known”, to then contrast it with “the unknown”.
Let’s talk about Ashley first learning about Pilot Grayson being in the cargo bay. While the fact that he has been missing in the cargo bay for 3 Days, Ashley has information to assume there is a “known” reason for Grayson to be there that long.
After her leaving the canteen and then getting a few ship panning shots, we then have nearly 30 seconds of Ashley walking down a hallway (With a fancy tracking shot that helps reduce the monotony of the scene). This sets up not just scale of the ship, but suspense for the audience waiting for something to happen. Nothing has happened yet, but spending this much time should lead to something, right?
What’s going on now, is our last moments of being in a “known” situation, Grayson’s in the cargo bay, and probably screwing around. But when Ashley opens the door and starts searching through the cargo bay (in the same slow fashion as walking down the hallway), what was a “known” situation slowly unfolds into an “unknown” one.
Why is the cargo bay so dark if Grayson is here? Why isn’t he returning Ashley’s calls? Conrad said Grayson was in the cargo bay, so why can’t I find him easily?
Soon we find the answer, with Grayson’s dead body and what appears to be some sort of Egg Sacs. For viewers knowing it’s an Alien parody likely know what’s going on, but for viewers who aren’t familiar and the characters in the animation, this has now become an “Unknown situation with an Unknown threat”.
When Ashley leaves the cargo hold, we then get the unveiling of our monster, the Alien. Unlike most ‘Slasher’ films which would have the monster attack as soon as it appears, and then chases our protagonist relentlessly, the Alien is portrayed as moving slowly, almost cautiously but inquisitively.
But when he decides to strike, it’s expected to land (if not kill). And it is made sure, that Ashley doesn’t directly fight the Alien, and can only run away. If the Alien isn’t shown as being strong then he wouldn’t be much of a threat, let alone something unknown you can’t go up against.
Which is why Ashley’s only points of retaliation were to run away, open a cargo door to the vacuum of space, then finally flee to a smaller ship and let the large one crash to (presumably) take out the alien. But without seeing a dead body, who’s to say?