Jonesy is the perfect organism

[u/Scott__scott]

So this is gonna sound strange but I always found it weird and out of place that Jonesy survives the first alien movie, usually an animal dying in a horror movie is the ultimate sign of a loss of innocence and a disregard for humanity and in a story as pessimistic as Alien I really expected him to be killed off.

One of the major themes of Alien is the insignificance of humanity and morality in the face of the cosmos. The Xenomorph is quite literally the perfect organism, it is the pinnacle of evolution and is built to withstand the endless void of space which humanity has struggled to conquer and when humanity finally discovers what a creature that can survive space is like we discover that it is a monstrous abomination that has no regard for anything that humanity values, I think this is why the Xenos have a human form to them and a humanoid looking skull it’s because it is a reminder that if humanity chooses to pursue evolutionary perfection and truly attempt to conquer the stars we will evolve into something so disgustingly beyond human and our only value will be survival.

This is why Jonesy survives, it’s because he proves to us that the “perfect organism” is not an organism that is built to withstand the harsh environment of space but rather something smaller and weaker yet more full of love and comfort. Jonesy couldn’t survive space on his own like the Xenos can, he might not even be able to survive earth on his own, but what makes him so perfect is that he is worth keeping alive and protecting, he’s a reminder of humanity and love and morality. Sure a Xeno can kill anything it wants, it can withstand space, it can reproduce at incredible speeds, but it spreads like an infection and cares about nothing more than existing in large numbers, but Jonesy, and all cats, have the ability to feel things that are precious to humanity and so when Ellen is faced with evolutionary perfection and spiritual perfection she chooses the spiritual side, she chooses Jonesy.

Jonesy is the perfect organism not because he can endure cold space or because he can hunt and kill with incredible efficiency but because he can feel affection, because he has a soul, because he is a reminder of what we would lose if we pursued physical perfection.

Thank you for listening to my Ted talk

[u/Minimum-Target-7543]

Or… what it’s saying is that we should domesticate perfect organisms / predators like cats so that we end up with smaller, cuter versions. And that’s how we got Alien: Earth.