Something about the Alien franchise that I have somewhat mixed feelings about is the way that it feels like the "Weyland" half of the "Weyland-Yutani" company gets a lot more focus.
Like, the first Alien vs. Predator movie, the 2010 Alien vs. Predator game, and Prometheus are all about members of the Weyland family. One of them is a robot for some reason, and 2 of them are Lance Henriksen, even though there's never any reason for the 2 Bishops to be connected to the Weyland family, but whatever.
And, like. The first AVP movie, and Prometheus are all about the Weylands having a God complex, wanting to leave their mark on history and the world, and funding archeology and research, about ancient aliens that created and/or uplifted humanity, and humans (and Weyland) can inherit that greatness from the ancient past, and. It very much seems like they both believe in the "Great man of history" stuff and want to be those great men, and. I do think that's definitely appropriate for the white, British half of the company. Of course the white men would believe that and want to become all that.
And. My ancestry is from China, not Japan, but I'd still be. Wary. Of how gross and stereotypical Hollywood might have portrayed evil Japanese business people, especially back in the 70s and 80s, and the Alien series always has some 70s and 80s in it, in its retro future. People still smoke cigarettes in space. So, like, even and especially as someone who grew up in the UK, part of me is glad that the series makes fun of how evil the British and British imperialism is, and how entwined it sorta is with capitalism. Instead of any Yellow Peril shit. The first corporations as we know them today were tools of the British empire. While there's criticism to be made of Japan and Japanese work culture and Japanese businesses, I dunno that I think Hollywood is necessarily the best at doing that.
But, equally. The idea of Weyland-Yutani is that it's a merger of a British company and a Japanese company, and it's sorta weird that the British half is the only half that ever seems to. Matter? Like, it seems to marginalize half the company's origin and concept. So it still ends up playing into the "great man of history" and "white savior" stuff.
Also, the only times a member of the Yutani family shows up, in AVP:R and Alien Blackout, they're usually women, while the Weylands we meet are usually men, except the bastard daughter that doesn't get the name Weyland, and. I don't even know what that's about. There's some weird gender politics there.
