My Weyland Corporation Tee Shirt—“Building Better Worlds”

Recently, I acquired a tee shirt based upon the Aliens film franchise, and most recently referencing the films PROMETHEUS  and  ALIEN: COVENANT. I am the proud owner of a black tee inscribed with the WEYLAND-YUTANI CORP. logo and the phrase, “Building Better Worlds”. This shirt has garnished me lots of attention on the streets of Atlanta, Carrollton, Douglasville, and otherwise here in humble Georgia. Depending on the nerd demographic in any random location, it is an instant conversation piece.

First of all, let me be frank—I am completely against all policies of the Weyland-Yutani corporation as it is presented in the Alien franchise. I remember, actually, as a youngster, and after seeing the first Alien film, that I realized, maybe for the first time because of that film, the ruthlessness of corporate entities. In order to smuggle a hideous alien lifeform back to Earth, or otherwise, this company was completely willing to sacrifice its entire crew, or anything else that might get in the way of further study and utilization of the so-called Xenomorph. I am going to try to continue this blog without too many spoilers, but be warned now before you read another word if you have not yet seen ALIEN: COVENANT.

So, basically, from what I can gather so far in the Alien saga, in terms of the millions of years of history which it spans, after seeing ALIEN: COVENANT. an ancient giant race, the Engineers, created humans, humans created A.I., and then the A.I. combined a virus created by the Engineers with human DNA in order to create the Xenomorphs. The Weyland-Yutani connection has to do with the manufacture of the A.I. units and space travel, and because of the creation of the Xenomorph, they want to collect and, most likely, weaponize the species. I am not in favor of such company policy, or of weaponized genetics in general, but, I must admit, if the study of jellyfish could cure diabetes, I’d be all for it. Of  course, I’d rather it be cured by all of our fat asses laying off the Mountain Dew and Ben and Jerry’s. That being said, when I wear my Weyland-Yutani shirt, I do so with an immense sense of irony that a broke-as-a-joke poet like me is advertising for an imaginary futuristic technocracy which is also reminding me that these companies already exist and are funding expeditions into space outside of government regulations with A.I. science and the great singularity in mind. In terms of A.I., just go to the Google Artificial Intelligence site to have your mind blown: https://research.google.com/pubs/MachineIntelligence.html

Anyway, so whenever I go out with this tee on, Alien saga enthusiasts spark up conversations with me at random—on the sidewalk, at the entrances to eateries, at the convenience store, you name it. One fellow even said it’s pretty funny because people not getting the reference will simply wonder what company I work for or am advertising for. Weyland-Yutani is building better worlds because, as I wear its tee, I spark up conversations, by proximity, about intelligent extraterrestrial life, the dangers of artificial intelligence, the evils of the military-industrial complex, and the fact that Alien vs. Predator movies suck. On more than one occasion, people have told me that they want to go back and watch all of the Alien movies in order to re-establish the timelines and the references and the overall evolution of this Xenomorph species.

So, this tee shirt is building better worlds. If nothing else, I have seen it make nerds put their cell phones down for a minute and have a pretty decent, and sometimes outright, intellectual conversation with a stranger. It has opened doors to conversation with strangers. The only conversation a Xenomorph wants to have with you is the scream it hears when it rips out of your chest or implodes your skull with a retractable jet-action projected barracuda jaw attack. The only conversation a major interstellar corporation wants to have with you is why in the hell did you detonate its mining ship to try to save your crew and why did you behead its synthetic A.I. unit? Yet, the conversation surrounding the tee shirt is remarkably personal, humorous, curious, and human. That makes me very happy and more prepared, in some ways, to have nanobots and alien viruses use my body as a host to a possibly heinous and terrible future.