Happy Mother's Day?

Aliens is the ultimate Mother's Day movie, and Ripley is the best mother. 

In fact, the Alien franchise is, essentially, about motherhood and what it means to be female. Throughout the films, Ripley is constantly reminded of  her role in this world, and how she will likely never be able to alter it. She is a vessel--a womb--an object. For Christ's sake, she's almost choked to death with a porn magazine in Alien! Equality (or lack thereof) aside, Aliens is the perfect example of motherhood at its core. Protection at all costs. 

Ripley has returned to Earth after 57 years lost in space, in a cryogenic sleep, to find that her daughter has died. As her daughter aged at the normal human rate, unlike her mother, she was in her sixties. Ripley is tormented by the fact that she promised her daughter she'd be back from space in time for her 11th birthday, but she never fulfilled that promise. 

Throughout the film, we see Ripley risk her life to protect Newt, a young girl whose family was killed by aliens. Newt is around the same age that her daughter was when she left for space in the first film. Although there are moments where it seems like Ripley has failed to keep Newt safe, in the end, she comes through and gets her daughter back. 

For me, the best example of a kickass mother is the final battle between Ripley and the alien queen. We see the queen laying eggs--she is a factory--a baby-maker--a female. She's being protected by the male aliens, which harkens back to when Hudson (Bill Paxton) tells Ripley not to worry because they will protect her. This scene is remarkable. Mother versus mother. There are moments of recognition and appreciation between the two, but ultimately Ripley knows that she needs to destroy this female and her babies for the survival of her own species, and the alien queen must do the same. 

Two kickass mothers being pinned against each other, all the while trying to protect their young. It's sad. That scene where the alien is ejected from the ship makes me tear up. It's extremely powerful, and also reminiscent of the first film. What we have here is two of the best mothers on screen, fighting to the death. Awesome.

As it's Mother's Day, I'm sure that many of you (myself included) will be spending time with mom. But not all of us are so lucky to have mothers like Ripley or the alien queen. Some mothers suck! It's true. Not every mother is a good one. I feel for those of you who had to endure this type. Also, I feel for the mothers whose Ripley instinct never kicked in. We are not natural mothers--baby-makers--wombs. We are all different. For those of you with loving mothers, I hope you have a nice time with them today, if you are able to. For those with bad mothers, I hope you are able to appreciate some alone time, and do something nice for yourself.