🎬 #193 What We Can Learn From Characters /01/: BISHOP.
Couple of weeks back I wrote a newsletter about what we can learn from protagonists. It made me think a fun little mini series of newsletters might be to delve into what we can learn from specific characters throughout film. This first one is based on one of my favourite characters of all time.
Please enjoy
Bry
I still remember as a young kid being obsessed with the knife game that BISHOP is nagged to play by the various marines in Aliens, and yet he humbly succumbs to their demands because he’s there to serve. It’s that character of serving that really stuck with me, even at a young age. I thought it was really cool that he could do the knife game, very fast, but in a way, his selflessness was way, way more interesting to me.
Given that the previous science officer in Alien, Ash, terrorized the crew and Ripley. Of course Ripley is suspicious of Bishop, and it’s in this hostile, justifiably so, environment that Bishop still manages to be one of the most altruistic characters in the whole Alien series. And that’s one of the main things I’ve learned from loving Bishop as a character. That no matter how you’re treated or what you come up against or what antagonism you face, you can always be true to yourself and you can always act in the way that you believe is right, despite everything else.
Keeping a cool head, as Bishop does, is key when chaos swirls. And that kind of calmness is contagious - we all gravitate to the person who can make order out of chaos, who, through their actions can make us feel like everything will be ok, even in the most dire of circumstances when we know it might not be.
Bishop is always there - present and alert. He’s a constant, a totally dependable person - even down to when he’s ripped in half by the Alien Queen - he still manages to save Newt from the airlock. He’s reliable to the nth degree.
Bishop is always considerate. Even down to little moments, like when he’s being wielded shut into the pipe that he has to crawl through, he tells them to mind their fingers on the piece of metal that’s being slotted into place. He’s not focused on how uncomfortable he will be as he crawls through the pipe - he’s concerned with the humans pinching their fingers.
And yes you might thing that because he’s an artificial person he might do all of this in a cooly robotic way, but what makes him even more likeable is that he does all this with a smile, a kindness in his artificial eyes. He is always warm amidst the horror of the situation, and that inspires a profound fondness. It’s easy to be warm and friendly when things are easy but how do we react when things get tough? Do we get warmer or do we freeze up and harden up? Letting the best sides of our humanity fade away.
Bishop carries himself with self-assurance and self awareness. He’s not a pushover even though he’s there to serve. His body language is specific, even playful. He performs each action with thought and care. Presenting the knife back after his trick, he holds it by the blade with the handle resting on his other hand. His actions are poised and smooth, not erratic or fast. He knows what he has to do and he carries it off with aplomb.
For me Bishop is one of the warmest and most quietly impressive characters in film. He’ll never boast or brag about who he is, he’ll never abandon a situation just because it gets tough, he’ll be there - always.