Johnny Mnemonic Gender Roles

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The 1980s was the age of science fiction, but the movie Aliens and the short story Johnny Mnemonic stands out from the rest, using a variety of techniques, imagery and dialogue to express their main ideas, values and contexts. The concepts of gender, intrusion and loss of self and corporate power and the devaluation of humans are prominent in both of these texts. Gender plays a key role in Aliens, as the protagonist is a woman. We are introduced to three very different kinds of women. Ripley is a strong willed and determined woman who can fight alongside the tough marines with whom she travels to the planet LB-426 to investigate an apparent alien invasion into a colonial settlement. Newt, a young girl who is shy, only speaks when she's spoken to, and plays a contrasting role as the character who balances out the team of strong, bulky marines. Vasquez is tough, she's stubborn; it's her way or the highway, and she is the strongest of all the marines, even though the others are male. She pushes conventions, with some questioning her gender and sexuality. All these types of women balance out the equation, which is what makes Aliens such a success.…show more content…
Changing your gender seemed like such the norm in the text that gender wasn’t existent anymore, allowing for gender stereotypes to disappear completely from the scene. Molly Millions is the most physically powerful character in the text; she can kill when she wants and has the tools to do so, no matter the person standing in her way. However, Johnny only has a shotgun and wasn’t able to pull it out when the time was right, allowing for Molly to finish the job with her built-in razor blades. Molly is confident and gets what she wants, or people will have to answer to her blades. These blades play a big role in Molly’s character, because they contrast with her feminine
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