Dundalk IT Film Studies lecturer featured in new Oxford University book on Alien movie franchise

Alien Legacies: The Evolution of the Franchise, a new book exploring the legacy and cultural impact of Ridley Scott’s iconic 1979 film Alien and its sequels, includes a chapter by Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) lecturer Kenneth Sloane who teaches on the Institute’s Film and Television production degree.

The book features contributions by scholars from Universities across the world including Canada, the UK, France, Germany and Australia and examines the Alien franchise from a variety of academic perspectives including cognitive narratology, transmedia, English literature, Gothic studies and psychology.

“It’s a great honour to be selected to contribute to this book on a set of movies I’ve always found fascinating and share some of my own perspectives on the Alien series” Kenneth stated.

Sloane’s chapter, titled “The Unescapable Labyrinth”, employs auteur theory combined with a psychoanalytic approach to analyse and compare the archetypal plot structure of the first three films in the series.

“Sloane’s contribution is valuable because rather than simply rely upon the received wisdom regarding the failures of Alien3 his chapter offers a theoretically and critically rigorous account of how and why the third film has such a problematic place in the series” said editors Nathan Abrams and Gregory Frame.

Having shocked, disturbed and fascinated audiences since its initial release, Alien’s success has led to three direct sequels, two prequels, one “mashup” franchise, a series of graphic novels, novelizations, video games, and an enormous and devoted fanbase. Alien and its progeny continue to provoke debate and discussion among critics, academics and fans.

Alien Legacies: The Evolution of the Franchise is available from Oxford University Press and major book retailers.