This lecture focuses on the 1986 version in order to illustrate how an ancient myth finds its way into a modern sci-fi film. It explores sleep and dream, both underworld activities, as well as confronting excess in the form of the monstrous alien creatures themselves. It considers the alien within human nature, which may reveal itself through the medium of the technology itself.
Within the myth, Demeter and Persephone may certainly be at the heart of both feminine consciousness and power. The film poignantly retrieves the myth of the mother and daughter as it bridges the divide between surface and depth, consciousness and unconsciousness.