Alien – Enneagram and Encaustic

NEWT, SEVEN

She’s a great character. Indispensable. How can I not write about Newt?

Well, she’s a child, that’s why. I believe we’re all born with an Enneagram number, but I’m reluctant to talk about someone not mature. It feels unfair. To ignore such an integral character would also be unfair, though, so let’s poke.

Brave. Way brave. “They mostly come out at night. Mostly.”

Clever. “This little girl survived with no weapons and no training.”

A good judge of others. A realist. “She’s just a piece of plastic, Ripley.”

Not a Five or Six. Not a Four. Not a Heart Type at all. I know a lot of her personality has been tamped down by fear and survival, but her emotions seem to never have ruled her.

Seven Women are very practical, measured, and calm. This is a possibility.

Also, what about the Body Types? Is she physical? I could call her placid and Nine-ish. Not Eight, not One. She’s not aggressive enough.

She’s a monkey, scampering through the vent system. A Nine’s physicality would manifest in different ways, something more overtly athletic. This is the imp movement that is the hallmark of a Seven.

BURKE, THREE

The weasel. The corporate man. The back-stabber.

He’s so compassionate, so helpful to the just-returned from hypersleep Ripley! What a prince. He’s so sympathetic to her struggles. He’s got the demeanor of a caring Heart Type.

The faker.

His focus on the financial bottom line could make him a One, but he doesn’t strike me as a Body Type. The way he tries to hide when the aliens are attacking, backing through a door and right into one, seems physically clumsy. The lack of situation awareness is pretty dense. He’s more of a stereotypical egghead who blunders into his death.

Head Type?

Not a Seven. A Seven would be in the lab with Bishop poking and prodding at the alien remains.

A Five or Six? His almost blase attitude about the dangers of this mission seem to completely rule out those numbers.

So, he really is a Heart. He’s not a Two. Not enough sincere compassion in him. And not a Four. A Four would definitely acknowledge the utter clusterage of this mission, regardless of ulterior motives. Again, we have Hudson playing that role for the cast.

An evil, mustache-twirling Three. All false face of concern, all behind-the-back plotting to screw you over if necessary. The kind of character you love to hate. Well done.

CORPORAL HICKS, NINE

Is Hicks onscreen long enough to establish an Enneagram number?

Well, he sleeps! This actually is a character trait, the ability to nod off during a tense drop. We know he’s an experienced soldier, but still not every number could do that. I want to guess a Nine right away.

He’s not a born leader. Corporal. He’s efficient and competent, reliable in a fight. More than a Private but not a Lieutenant. When he’s given command he can lead, but it’s not a position he seeks. Also, when Ripley wants instruction on the pulse rifle, Hicks gives simple, complete directions. He has the leadership skills, just not the ambition.

And he’s got the secret shotgun for “close encounters”. Not a rule follower.

Hudson, Bill Paxton’s wonderful character, is the movie’s Heart Type. Hicks is not. He’s not a Head Type, either. The sleeping, the ease, he must be a Body Type.

He’s not reactionary enough to be an Eight and he’s not zippy enough to be a One. A Nine it is.

BISHOP, NULL

Is Bishop kind because his robot model is no longer “twitchy”, or is that a key character trait? He is programmed to do no harm. My first instinct is that, unlike Ash, Bishop may have no Enneagram.

He’s played very deadpan, very bland. When he does the knife trick on Hudson, he seems disengaged from emotion. Even the little smile he gives is more of a robot’s reaction to human cues.

In the lab he’s as blank-faced as he can be. Now, obviously, this is to create tension for the audience. We know what the last robot did. Nothing seems to be happening behind that stare, though. Later we see how mild he is, how helpful. He follows Company rules as Ash did, but only up to a certain point when his robot protocol takes over. He cannot harm humans, and that’s that.

It’s his helpfulness that leads me to say he has no Enneagram. Every number can be helpful but the intentions behind it vary. I see no intention in Bishop. Only programming.

This is no way diminishes the performance or the writing. Bishop is a valid character choice told well. I would guess that playing no Enneagram is actually quite challenging. Good job there.

The more I think about it, the more impressed I am. A tour de force.

ASH, FOUR

So, does Ash have an Enneagram, or is he just a Robot? And is the reworking of the Robot into Bishop in the second Alien movie a reflection of an Ash character, or just a clever trope undermine?

He’s a synthetic life form. In some ways, asking if Ash has an Enneagram is like asking if the propulsion system has one. He is programmed to follow orders and he doesn’t deviate.

Is his sneakiness a character trait or just part of his mission? This is a horror movie, ultimately, and Ian Holm must give us the squeaks in the seats. His menace goes with the genre.

He seems awfully protective of his mission, though. He seems to relish his special access to Mother, as if he’s more important than the others.

He’s an Envy person!

His camaraderie is false, which we only learn later. These traits are not necessary for a Robot. Ash could have done his job with a much blander personality.

Relish. What a great word for him. Yes, he’s a science machine studying the xenomorph, but his true job is as a Company Man. If a character seems like one archetype yet evolves into another, you have an Enneagram, baby.

Not a Two. He inflicts pain with no remorse. Not a Three. If he were, the science and discovery — his actual job — would sway him more. He’s here for the drama. Four.

ALIEN COMPANIONS, NULL

Like the Wizard of Oz companions, the characters in the first Alien movie are more archetypes than individuals with Enneagrams.

Dallas is the Diplomat, Lambert is the Nervous One, Brett is the Working Man, Parker is the Tough One, and Kane is the Sacrifice. Ripley, the Survivor, only becomes something more because James Cameron writes her into a sequel. He brilliantly takes her archetype and fleshes it into a true character.

This kind of storytelling — driven by atmosphere and feelings, plot and reveal — appeals to some people. Other people prefer that a protagonist’s arc provide the backbone. However, if you like the movie with archetypes, this one is a great one. The setting, the mise en scène, has become part of our cultural language.

Except for Ash, whom I will talk about in another post, this lovely film mostly bypasses the Enneagram personalities.

ELLEN RIPLEY, SIX

She’s one of the greatest heroines ever put on film. Strong and vulnerable, active and contemplative, she’s encompasses everything we’d all want to be if thrown in the same situation. So, what’s Ripley’s Enneagram number?

Just the first two movies, though. Her character is consistent within that parameter.

She’s a BIG rule follower. If the Nostromo had listened to her about quarantine the movies wouldn’t even exist. She’s very frustrated with The Company for looking the other way about the xenomorph in order to pursue profit. Justice. Ripley wants it.

She doesn’t particularly strike me as a Body Type. Hicks trains her in the pulse rifle, and she learns well, but physical battle is not her go-to intuition. I’m going to say no to the Heart Type, too. Ripley cares deeply about people, but emotion is not a moving force for her. She’s fairly disengaged.

Head Type.

Sigourney Weaver is a specific build — tall, slender. None of these traits match a Woman Head Type, so it’s difficult to pinpoint which Ripley is. Five, Six, or Seven? All of these are average height or shorter in real life.

Ah. Six. I want to say Six because of the justice trait, but it’s actually the fear trait that gives the clue. Anyone could and would be afraid to return to xenomorph country, but for a delicious plot and character arc a writer needs to make their heroine confront the thing she least wants to do. A Six, of all the Head Types, will be impacted by fear and worry. Getting Ripley back into space is one of the great plot turns. It’s what makes her arc so wonderful, and what gives Weaver so much to play.

It’s also a bit of an anti-action hero Enneagram choice. Good stuff.