“This is what is and what will be. What’s done is what will be done. There’s nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1.10).
It’s good to know that even if you’ve been asleep for half a century, nothing’s changed.
Aliens, released in July 1986, continues the story of Ellen Ripley, the sole human survivor of the Nostromo as she is awakened after fifty-seven years in stasis. Upon waking The Company finds it difficult to believe her story of alien encounter. Especially, we learn, when that distant moon where they supposedly encountered all those alien eggs is now a colony. Uh oh.
Of course, all contact is lost with said colony and Ripley is…persuaded to take part in a mission to find out what happened. And to, of course, destroy any of the creatures she and her crew encountered. Least, that’s what she’s told by Company representative Carter Burke.
If in the first film The Company was as alien as the Xenomorph that infested the Nostromo, in Aliens it’s given a human face in the form of Carter Burke, played by Paul Reiser. Burke has his own objective in travelling to this colony moon. He wants one, or more, of these creatures to take back with him to his bosses. Because, research and study and yeah, it wouldn’t do his ascent on the corporation ladder any harm now would it. And if some of this sounds a little like the directives the android Ash espoused in the first film; well, at least The Company is executing a clear vision. Some things, they say, never change.
The words of the Teacher appear to ring true in this tale of a future that’s set just a century from our own. It’s no wonder that every so often I avoid Ecclesiastes; because, it hits a little too close to a truth that’s depressing.
Of course, it’s not meant to be. These words exist not to create despair but, in their way, to inspire hope. And on one hand the idea that nothing new ever happens can be a downer, it’s intention is to comfort, even when the alien is one of us.
After all, Burke’s heel-turn doesn’t come as a complete surprise. We’ve met his type before. Heck, some of us probably have worked with or for this type. They’re neither unique or novel. And while they can make life mighty miserable for us at times, they’re nothing new. There’s always someone who values some life over others.
But the story never goes their way. Oh, sure, they’re destroyers, the ones who are willing to sacrifice anything and everything for their brief, momentary gain, but they never write the tale or define their role within it. It’s those of us who get pulled along for the ride, who have to come out with brooms and dustpans and, yes, cargo loaders to clean up their mess. And tell everyone what becomes of those who choose greed over life.
There is, after all, nothing new under the sun.
Holy One, may we take hope that there’s nothing new under the sun.