Melodrama of the Unknown Woman Lost in Space
Year: 2023

Abstract In two of his book-length genre studies, Stanley Cavell reads movies with strong female leads as rare instances of the medium affording women a genuine voice. More specifically, what he dubs the melodrama of the unknown woman, to his mind, provides an answer to the question of what a woman wants—namely, to be known. The Alien tetralogy, its prequels as well as its transmedial offshoots such as the survival horror video game Alien: Isolation, undoubtedly abound with strong female leads.