english ii compare or contrast essay

English II- Project 1- Compare or Contrast Essay- FNBE 0814

Name: Lee Ning

Student ID: 0320125

Title: English II - Project 1- Compare or Contrast Essay

FNBE 0814

Lecturer: Ms. Cassandra Wijesuria


Compare or Contrast Essay between Two Science Fiction Movies

From The Fifth Edition of Oxford English dictionary, the word science fiction

can be defined as fiction based on imagined future scientific or technological

advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or

time travel and life on other planets. Science fiction emerged in the late 19th century

in the works of writers such as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, although there are

earlier precedents, such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818). James Cameron is

also one of the directors known by his science fiction movie. The movies that I have

chosen to compare are Aliens (1986) and Avatar both by James Cameron. In Aliens,

the film follows the main character Ellen Ripley as she returns to the planet where

her crew encountered the hostile Alien creature accompanied by a unit of space

marine. In Avatar, the film follows the main character Jake Sully who is a paraplegic

former marine replaces his deceased twin brother as an operator of one to explore

Pandora’s biosphere. There are few similarities found in these two movies which are

the background scene, the themes of the movie, characteristics of main characters

and the ending of the movies.

Firstly, the background scenes of the two movies are on other planets. In

Aliens, the story occurred on LV- 426, a planet where Ripley’s ship, Nostromo

encountered the Alien eggs. Ripley was forced to detonate the ship by an Alien who

killed the ship’s crew. Nostromo was then become a home to a human terraforming

colony called Hadley’s Hope. In Avatar, the story developed on Pandora, a planet

with a lush valuable mineral called unobtanium which is a room-temperature

superconductor. Pandora is a densely forested habitable moon orbiting the gas giant

Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri star system. Pandora, whose atmosphere is

poisonous to humans, is inhabited by the Na'vi, 10-foot tall, blue-skinned, sapient

humanoids that live in harmony with nature and worship a mother goddess called

Eywa.


Secondly, the themes of both movies are life’s challenges. In Aliens, Ripley’s

life is full of challenges especially when she decided to take the task to investigate

the cause of the disturbance of Hadley’s Hope. In this journey to LV-426, she took

the challenge to find the location of the colony deserted, save the traumatized young

girl, Newt and other marines. Besides that, she also had a fight with the Alien queen

to save the survived marines, Newt and herself. In Avatar, Jake’s life is also full of

challenge. For examples, as an outsider, Jake was required to gain the Navi’s trust

and initiate into the tribe to gather the information about the Hometree, a giant

arboreal. Moreover, he had to regain the trust and gather the natives to have a war

with Resources Development Administration (RDA) to protect the planet, Pandora.

Thirdly, the same characteristics shared by the main characters in the movies.

In the two movies, both main characters have shown their braveness and righteous.

In Aliens, Ripley decided to return to LV-426 to investigate the cause of the

disturbance of Hadley’s Hope (named Nostromo previously) after drifting through

space in stasis for 57 years although she has been traumatized by her previous

encounter with Aliens. Besides that, she refused to leave Newt behind when she

reached Bishop and the second dropship. During the rescue of Newt from the hive in

the processing station, Ripley encountered the Alien queen in her egg chamber. She

did not run away yet enraged the queen by destroyed the eggs from her ovipositor.

Ripley was brave to battle the Alien queen using an exosuit cargo-loader and finally

expelled it through an airlock. In Avatar, Jake was brave to initiate in the Na’vi ’s tribe

to gather the information about the Hometree for RDA. After initiated to the tribes,

Jake grew sympathize with the natives, he revealed his change of allegiance when

he attempted to disable a bulldozer that threatens to a sacred Na’vi site although he

knew that he will be punished for that action. Moreover, Jake connected his mind to a

Toruk, a dragon-like predator feared and honoured by the Na’vi to regain their trust

and unite the clans to battle against the RDA.


Lastly, the ending of the stories are humans back to Earth. In Aliens, after

expelled the Alien queen through an airlock, Ripley, Newt, Hicks and the badly

damaged Bishop entered the hyper sleep and finished their journey to LV-426.

Meanwhile, in Avatar, as humans act as the antagonists, all humans are expelled

from Pandora and sent back to Earth with the exceptions of Jake, Norm, Max and a

select few others were allowed to live in Pandora. Jack was even transferred

permanently into his Avatar with the aid of the Tree of Souls.

In the conclusion, the similarities of these two science fiction movies, Aliens

and Avatar are the background scene of the stories developed, the themes of the

movies, the characteristics of the two main characters and the ending of the movies.

These two movies are quite similar not just because they were directed by the same

director, James Cameron but also influenced by the same genre which categorized

the movies. Besides that, as the Irish playwright Denis Johnston once claimed that all

stories are based on the same eight plots. So, there is certain flow of plots followed

by filmmakers to create dramatically different films out of similar plots. These factors

result the two movies shared the similarities.


References:

Cast study from movies Avatar (2009) and Aliens (1986) directed by James Cameron.

Afi.com,. (2015). Detail view of Movies Page. Retrieved 12 March 2015, from

http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=68347

Education - Seattle PI,. (2015). How to Write an Essay Comparing Two Movies.

Retrieved 12 March 2015, from http://education.seattlepi.com/write-essay-comparing-

two-movies-7002.html

Filmsite.org,. (2015). Aliens (1986). Retrieved 12 March 2015, from

http://www.filmsite.org/series-alien2.html

IMDb,. (2015). Aliens (1986). Retrieved 12 March 2015, from

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ql_6

IMDb,. (2015). Aliens (1986) - Synopsis. Retrieved 12 March 2015, from

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/synopsis?ref_=ttpl_ql_3

IMDb,. (2015). Avatar (2009). Retrieved 12 March 2015, from


IMDb,. (2015). Avatar (2009) - Synopsis. Retrieved 12 March 2015, from


http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=68347

http://education.seattlepi.com/write-essay-comparing-two-movies-7002.html

http://education.seattlepi.com/write-essay-comparing-two-movies-7002.html

http://www.filmsite.org/series-alien2.html



