In the movies, aliens we meet on other planets usually wear clothing, i.e. “Star Wars”, “Star Trek” et al. But those who attack us on Earth are usually nude, i.e. “War of the Worlds”, “Signs”, “Men in Black”, “Independence Day”, “Cowboys and Aliens” and many more. The exceptions to the latter nearly always involve aliens that are humanoid or take human form while on the planet. What’s the dealio? My hypothesis: Attacking aliens need to be portrayed as merciless, animal-like killers, whereas those we contact elsewhere are often allies or our contemporaries so it makes sense for us to aesthetically relate.
I think some of it stems from abductee literature on Greys, where there’s this sort of confusion over whether the aliens are nude or just wearing tight-fitting clothing.
Kind of like Ents, that way.
Although I must quibble, the Independence Day aliens wear suits.
It’s true that most of the Invaders that wear clothes look exactly human. As a reason for this, not only are they almost always trying to Blend In, but imagine how it would look if the Invading Humans were naked. Not only would they run afoul of the Censors (in pre-ratings America), but they’d look either really silly , or really scary (a possibility that someone ought to follow up some time).
James Arness as The Thing from Another World wore a jumpsuit. The aliens in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers wore body armor. And Predator and his buddies in subsequent movies (two of which "invade’ the earth) wear clothes. So do the macro-cephalic guys in Invasion of the Saucer Men They’re human-shaped, but not human-appearing. And, of course, the Star Wars aliens all seem to wear clothes, except for Wookiees and Jabba the Hutt. As do the Green Martians in John Carter of Mars (as described by Burroughs, in fact). So did the exposed-brain Martians in Mars Attacks! (as in the Topps Trading Cards that film was based on) And the Tenctonese in Alien Nation and the following TV series wore clothes.But they’re not invading.
You’ve touched on an interesting point that goes beyond clothes. It’s long bothered me that Invading Aliens are portrayed as savage and bestial, even though they’re technologically superior to us. In the more-faithful Carpenter remake of The Thing and the recent prequel, the shape-shifting alien is damned unsociable, despite being able to fly a flying saucer (Even if you argue that it shape-shifted and stole the saucer, it was still intelligent enough to fly it). A lot of other films, comics, and so forth have the same problem. It’s gotten so that there’s developed a meme to satisfy the paradox of bestial naked invaders with super-tecyhnology – the inhabitants of the ship are really from an extraterrestrial circus or zoo, and Everything Gets Set Right when we finally help the Zookeeper (who’s also nude) round them up. This one’s been used in a few movies and comic books.
Ultimately, I think it’s for several reasons:
a.) If an alien IS really humanoid, you don’t show them naked, not only because it looks silly and would get you in trouble for nudity, but because we won’t viscerally BUY a naked human. It looks wrong.
b.) The filmmmakers want us to see and appreciate the alien’s shapes. It not only satisfies their want to show upp their model-making or animation or CGI effects, we can appreciate the body design.
c.) we don’t really need to see clothes on a non-human form. It doesn’t call out the same sense of wrongness as a naked human
d.) It empkasizes the alien-ness by not having them wear clothes,
By the way, the aliens in Independence Day were wrapped in those skin-like armore things, which seems as much like clothes as the “solidified electricity” suits the guys in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers wore.
I partially accept your quibble. “The Independence Day” do seem to wear armor/mech when they’re flying around in their fighters. But the alien operating the mothership is naked as a jaybird (I checked http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Independence_Day_Aliens )
And Edgar is wearing clothing but only when he’s taking human/Vincent D’Onofrio form.
I like your answers. Mars Attacks is the only “modern” (i.e. not 50’s Red Scare sci fi) film I can think of off the top of my head where the invaders are clothed. And even that is a comedic homage to their '50s counterparts.
And see my response to the Independence Day aliens above.
“Signs” was by far the most ridculous example of this.
Water is like acid to them and they invade a planet that’s mostly covered in water with no protective gear whatsoever? Any humidity in the air alone would have been extremely damaging to them I would think, let alone if they got caught in a spring shower while lurking around outside.
I think you are largely correct. The aliens that we see clothed are being presented as “people”, often normal social interactions we experience daily recast in an SF setting. The aliens presented without clothing are largely being presented as “monsters”, beasts attacking from the sky. They are essentially the Boogy Man*, the thing under the bed, the “Monsters Be Here” on maps, a material incarnation of the subconscious fears.
*Funny thing, most people apparently spell this “Bogey Man”, but I’ve always heard it pronounced “Boogy Man”. But spelling it that way brings to mind some guy in a leisure suit whipping out the Saturday Night Fever moves. “Look out, the Boogy Man is gonna get you!”
I vaguely remember a late '80s/early '90s alien movie (maybe Fire in the Sky?) featuring the “grey” type aliens where a human abductee discovered that their smooth pale skin and big eyes were actually bodysuits with close-fitting helmets with large black lenses. Without their spacesuits, the aliens were pink and gross looking.
Let’s not forget the alien invaders in THE AVENGERS – one of whom memorably rips off his facial covering to yell at the puny humans on the ground, solely to cue the Hulk bellowing back in the famous shot that pans around a circle of our back-to-back heroes readying their weapons.
That is only the beginning of the inanity of that film. Consider: (I won’t even hide these spoilers. If you haven’t seen the movie then I’m doing you a favor by “ruining” it for you.)
-A physically superior alien being can’t kick his way out of a common pantry, something any modestly adept human over the age of 13 could do in short order.
-A humanoid life-form is threatened by water instead of being dependent on it. When considering the viability of a planet to support life, the existence of water is the FIRST thing we look for.
-Killing an alien with a bat requires the specialized skill of a professional baseball player. No ordinary person could bash in a skull with a club made from hardwood.
-Leaving glasses of water randomly around the house is a disorder that actually exists, as opposed to being a really crappy plot device.
My favorite fan theory about the Signs aliens is that they were actually alien criminals being executed by being dropped naked on the Acid Planet of the Acid People.
As I’ve said many times in the past, the aliens in “Signs” aren’t really aliens. They’re Bogey-Men. They hide under beds and behind doors, they creep around upstairs when you’re downstairs, they run around outside when you’re inside.
“But”, I hear you objecting, “They fly around in flying saucers! They’re from space! That makes them aliens!”
Wrong. They may come from space, but that doesn’t make them aliens, it makes them bogey-men from space.
And they are vulnerable to water for the same reason the wicked witch of the west was vulnerable to water. Or Mister Myxlplyx is vulnerable to saying his name backwards. Or the Nome King is vulnerable to eggs. Invulnerable fairy tale creatures are vulnerable to some random thing X that the protagonist has on hand, purely by chance.
Thank you, Lemur, for actually understanding the movie instead of snarking on it.
Signs is not about an alien invasion, or aliens for that matter. It’s a movie about belief, fear, and faith and the aliens are only a McGuffin and not important in the slightest other than a method of exploring other things.
