ALIEN ROMULUS: THE NORMALISATION OF THE "KITSCH"
Kitsch (/kɪtʃ/ KITCH; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste.
Pastiche: an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period.
"the operetta is a pastiche of 18th-century style"
They are on a rapid unstoppable rampage to revive all the successful IPs from the past like zombies that have nostalgia as their soul. Why produce a new film that has 99% similarities to the earlier one? Laziness? Creatively bankrupt?
Every title has been revived and zombified and they're digging deeper to find more. 'Romulus' has been cheaply smacked into a ‘timeline’’. Apart from the recycled iconography of the main character (the alien, back in 1979 its was new and a novelty. Cant beat the first), it does not feel as if it belongs in the same place as the original. Another cheap excuse is to "pay homage" while actually shitting on it.
There is that famous line in one of the new Star Wars that rationalizes the return of The Emperor after he falls into the abyss in the Return of the Jedi. "Somehow Palpatine has returned."
There is no difference in this Romulus. It takes all from the first Alien on the surface but misses the core of what it is. The first Alien is actually about space being inhospitable for humans. It was right in the middle of a space race between the US and Russia. The character Alien is the embodiment of that danger and horror. (ask the Boeing Astronauts who got stranded in orbit if space travel is exciting or not) It is the existence of a connotation instead of just a denotation.
Romulus is a "Kitsch". Maybe a "Pastiche". Maybe. A cheap and a lazy one. It's been normalized now and it is OK. Like the sugars in our food and drink. Diabetic. It's the face-hugger that is really on our faces now.
In the 1979 Alien, the 'chest-buster' took quite some time to build inside but in the 2024 version (adaptation?) it made to happen almost instantly. Considering the mass, today's subconsciously TikTok-driven audience barely has the patience to wait for something to happen.
The first Alien also used anamorphic lenses low-key lighting and smart editing to build the fear subconsciously. The revolutionary practical effect and of course, H.R. Giger! To top it all up, the prime Ridley Scott. Instead of now whacking everything visually on the face with a loud bang. Instead of now whacking everything visually on the face with a loud bang. Originality is hard to come by now because the investors are playing safe to make quick bucks. Profiteering from the vomit-inducing F word (yes. Franchise)
The Scorcesse's 'theme park rides' have been made as a default mode of the mainstream 'cinema' and many have been bought into believing it. Pure spectacle and spectacle only. Why else one pays a fortune for the 4DX ride?
Of course, this includes the demonization of those who point fingers in popular culture as party poopers. And yes, it is very comfortable to sit with the majority.
All this has been fed subconsciously and has been growing in the modern audience like the 'chest-buster', from another type of 'face-hugger' we all use daily. Our devices. A lot of normalization came from it projecting out from the screens. Including the 'normalization' of the ongoing Genocide.
All of the things we perceive as "reality" are projected out from the same screen screen and affect our inner and outer selves. It is confusing to differentiate which one is real and which is of "wayang" when all are projected out from the same screen. Back then true cinema could only be experienced by going out of your comfort zone, putting yourself in a long queue for tickets, and marveling at it projecting out from the size of the screen.