Becoming Alien, Second Edition: The Beginning and End of Evil in Science Fiction's Most Idiosyncratic Film Franchise (Reel Spirituality Monograph)

The Alien films are perceived to be a fractured franchise, each one loosely related to the others by the titular monster. They are nonlinear, complicated, convoluted: a collection of genre movies ranging from horror to war to farce.

But on closer examination, the threads that bind these films together are undeniable. The series is a model of the cosmology described in Catherine Keller's book Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming, which presents the universe as a cycle of chaos and relationship.

In this second edition of Becoming Alien, Sarah Welch-Larson explores the Alien series through Keller's lens. Her exploration unifies the Alien series into seven views of evil, its origins, and its consequences. Each film expands on the concept of evil set forth by its predecessors, complicating that conception, and retroactively enriching readings of the films that came before.

Sarah Welch-Larson writes about aesthetics of science fiction and character-driven narratives in film. She is interested in feminist theory and theology, and in stories about agency and creation, particularly regarding cyborgs and androids. She lives in Chicago with her husband, their dog, and about two dozen houseplants.