parting is such sweet sorrow

then there is eleanor who is the clear pushback against all of it; letting yourself explore, expressing yourself, speaking your feelings and not hiding your emotions whenever they do arise, letting yourself feel the people and things around you so on and on

i think my fav part abt this dynamic is how eleanor(the matriarchy, if we continue the symbolism) gave arthur chance after chance to accept himself and the want and need for self expression and freedom through things such as doing his hair or his makeup or even just talking with him when hed rather shut her out but everytime arthur(the patriarchy) pushed against it. leading him to his miserable way of thinking, being and living that he is in now

so you know the movie alien(1979)? and you know the aliens, the xenomorphs themselves? and their oddly long headshape? and you know nyx prime and what her helmet happens to look like...?

at first when i saw it i was sure i was just seeing things but then i remembered the matriarchal themes to eleanors character and SO much was making sense.

alien as a franchise deals with (or at least did in the very beginning) very feminist themes. the horror is written through a more female-leaning lens, using unwanted penetration, depictions of birth or pregnancy and motherhood as sources of terror, which is also why the xenomorphs head looks very intentionally phallic. the main character is a woman who nobody ever listens to and underestimates she is 'just' a woman. but despite it all she pushes onward.

eleanor out of everyone in the hex has the most visible 'monstrous' looking side effects of the infestation compared to the rest of the hex. that being her tounge and eyes (and maybe even teeth tho im not sure if those came with the infestation or from a previous body mod). you could call her 'mother monster' with how she leads her army of those she controls through her psychic powers. mother monster? you know who else is a mother and a monster?

the xenomorph queen.

the xeno queen is the leading mother, the head of the hive, very much how eleanor can be the head of her selected hive. but she doesnt see them as disposable tools as we can hear her call out to her followers "my babies!" when they get hurt or die, displaying a sort of connection and care for her 'children'. just like the xeno queen for her offspring. eleanor even has the protruding tongue she can use as a weapon, very similar to a xenomorphs protruding inner mouth. i also just learned it is heavily implied that the xeno queen has telepathic/psychic powers which she controls her hive through... just like eleanor.

but if eleanor is meant to be like the xeno queen, the mother monster, why would nyx primes helmet be phallic in appearance like a xenomorphs and not more flat and crown-shaped like the xeno queens? in my eyes it is meant to represent reclamation of control and power.

eleanor, thanks to the infestation, is no longer the oppressed but now can be the oppressor, the "penetrator", hence the phallic helmet. it brings to mind one of her chats where she tells us about a car accident she was in once. where she felt weak and helpless and all she could do was scream in pain under the pressure of the car. later she compares it to a time when she got ran over by a scaldra truck and found herself in a very similar position as before, but now she had the strength and power to lift that truck herself and then even deal with those who caused her harm, goin from the being hurt to doing the hurting.

so, i think the reference to the alien franchise and xenomorphs with nyx primes design and eleanors writing is very much real and VERY much intentional and further strengthens my view on arthur symbolizing the patriarchy while eleanor symbolizes the caring yet ferocious matriarchy, feminism and the rejection of patriarchy.

We do a little snooping.

the priest is smuggling a bakery.

"I missed you too, child"