The history of “Butch”.
So in the long autumn of 2009 there was a production by the name of Lit By Limelight: The Story of a Little Tin Soldier and it pretty much ran my life from February to June of that year.
Within this production there developed, between the backstage crew (who didn’t have a hell of a lot to do during rehearsal except paint things) some inside jokes. One of them was “Butch”. For about a year I knew, in my heart and in my head what I meant when I called someone this new butch. It did not specifically mean a large, lesbian on a motorbike with or without a mustache. It was simply a positive thing, they were awesome, they were possibly slightly masculine but not in a testosterone loving way.
The other day I re-watched, for the seven billionth time, what is possibly my favourite movie ever made:
Alien (1979)
For those of you who do not know Alien, this post is basically the biggest spoiler on the planet. Note that it spoils horror/action movies so it’s not such a big deal. Also notice the date of the movie. IF you haven’t seen it then I doubt you care enough about it being spoiled. Anyway, it features Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, a Lieutenant on a space miner rig thing. By lieutenant it is important to note that the generally accepted cannon in Science Fiction is to treat space craft and their occupants in a similar way to real world ships. So there are captains and officers and such but they are still civilians. They have absolutely no military training unless it is their hobby. It is not Ripley’s hobby.
Anyway after an emergency signal from some creepy desolate planet, a strange, parasitic creature latches onto one of the crew’s faces. Ripley, (who is in charge of the ship because the captain was one of the people on the planet), is the only person smart enough to refuse to let the landing crew back on board with an unknown alien being (the technical term for this is ‘xenomorph’).
There is a mutiny of sorts (plot involved!) and the infected crew member, the captain and that bitch, Lambert, are let back on board.
Then everyone dies.
Except Ripley. Who blows the fucker out of an airlock (Guess which one she is).
In Aliens she does things like charge into a nest of the creatures (the same creatures that have just slaughtered an entire squad of trained, experienced marines). She does this to save a young girl (Newt) who may very well be dead. It’s like a 50/50 chance. She goes in anyway, despite having only been taught how to use guns properly about an hour ago. Then she uses gaff (the god of tapes) to attach TWO guns to each other. Also she has a fuckton of grenades.
Screenshot from the film Aliens. © 20th Century Fox
Note! Her haircut makes her look like a lesbian and thus the ‘traditional’ interpretation of butch but it is from the 1980s, when everyone dressed like massive fags. So it is OK. You should see Vasquez if you want a lesbian.
Hudson: “Hey Vasquez have you ever been mistaken for a man?”
Vasquez: “No. Have you?”
ANYWAY! BACK TO RIPLEY. I LEFT YOU AT A CLIFFHANGER.
After charging into the nest and kicking the shit out of the Aliens within (we never doubted you!), the Queen gets pissed off and rips the only other able-bodied, “adult” survivor to pieces. Then heads for Newt, who is so totally next. Until.
“Get away from her, you BITCH!”
Ripley charges at the Alien queen head on in what is essentially a forklift.
Big deal? Why is that so great?
THIS is the Alien queen:
Screenshot from the film Aliens. © 20th Century Fox
Who’s seriously going to fuck with that thing? Ripley. That’s fucking who. Nobody else would last half a second, let alone yell insults at/taunt the thing. (AvP DOESN’T. COUNT. THE PREDATOR ESSENTIALLY DOES ALL THE WORK.)
PS: Ripley is the only survivor again. Yup. The young girl dies. That’s how butch Ripley is. She defies the laws of Hollywood which states that children will inexplicably live just because every tragic circumstance needs a symbol of hope. Bullshit. If there are Aliens around then every child is fucked straight away. Pretty much the only thing AvP 2 did right.
This brings us to the next, epic, installment of the series. ALIEN 3. AKA Ellen Ripley is simultaneously Jesus, Mary and a skinhead. Also she kicks just as much arse as before WITHOUT EVER HOLDING A GUN (OR REALLY ANY SORT OF WEAPON).
Ripley has an alien inside her; she is pregnant without having sex. OK she does have sex in the movie but it doesn’t put the alien inside her. Anyway she’s fucked now. She knows that it is a queen and everything will die if it gets out. Also there is no way to stop it from getting out. Also there is another Alien on the loose anyway. This one is the dog version. The previous ones were human (OK maybe the queen came from the space jockey, it’s unclear). You know how in zombie movies it is the zombie dogs that are the scariest because they are the natural predators. Imagine the natural-est predatory animal you can and then times it by another natural predator. That’s essentially what the alien dog is.
Guess what happens? Ripley kills it. Of course. How, you ask me, even though you know what happens in the movie or you wouldn’t be reading the spoilers. SHE SUBMERGES IT COMPLETELY IN MOLTEN LEAD AND THEN MAKES IT EXPLODE BY SPRAYING IT WITH COLD WATER WHEN IT JUMPS OUT OF THE LEAD AT HER.
Right then, in order to deal with the alien queen that is inside her, Ripley dives into the molten lead herself (or the furnace that she threw Newt and Hicks’ carcasses in? It isn’t quite clear… POINT IS: TEN BILLION DEGREES). That’s right. Ripley died for us. She died for all of us. That queen nearly got to Earth.
Oh guess what. The Alien burst out of her chest before it was incinerated by the fire. Oh snap! Nice try, Ripley, we still love you but I guess it got away after all.
WRONG.
She fucking grabs it and drags it down to the firey death with her.
Let’s channel the movie “Speed” for a second…
POP QUIZ! ONE OF THESE, THE SIZE OF A HUMAN BABY, BURSTS OUT OF YOUR CHEST. WHAT DO YOU DO?
1. Die horribly because something the size of a human baby just burst through your ribcage AFTER you’ve exhausted yourself running and climbing.
2. Have the reflexes and skill to grab and hold something that has enough force and speed to burst through your ribcage.
PS: If you are not Ripley, option 2 is not available to you.
IN CONCLUSION.
When I say “butch” I do not mean some lesbian and/or tomboy with short hair, muscles and attitude but that does not mean that those attributes are excluded. Often, butch people will have these qualities, making the description twice as valid. When I say “butch” I mean “Ripley-esque”. Or even “Sigourney Weaver-esque”.
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