Prometheus Theory

[bryant]

I’m too sad to review Prometheus. I will say that it’s absolutely gorgeous and I am glad I saw it on a quality screen. Ridley Scott’s eye for composition and spectacle is still remarkable. There’s nothing wrong with the directing, the acting is mostly very good, and conceptually the movie worked. The script sucked, though. Kept trying to reach big emotional beats, but none of them had proper setup, and without setup there is no payoff.

I do have a theory, though, which is full of spoilers.

At one point the ship’s captain, Janek, asserts that the planet is a weapon factory and that the biotech they’re dealing with is a weapon. Nobody argues because the script is truly crappy and because people are a bit busy, but the idea doesn’t make much sense. The biotech is a terrible weapon: as people keep mentioning, it’s been millennia since anyone’s been active on the planet but the biotech is still there waiting for company. You wouldn’t drop this on a planet unless you never wanted to visit that planet again.

This also clashes with the intro sequence. There’s an Engineer carefully, solemnly drinking the biotech as his spaceship leaves him alone on the planet. That’s not a weapon delivery system.

The Engineers on Earth left all those pointers to the planet Prometheus visits. Why would you leave signposts to a weapons factory all over a primitive planet?

The giant head in the first room the scientists visit doesn’t make sense for a weapon factory. More interestingly, the sculpted door behind the head is a stylized xenomorph queen, or something fairly similar. Who builds big awe-inspiring replicas of their terror weapons?

Well, maybe aliens do. Although the Engineers are aliens with our DNA, so I kind of think the idea that they just think differently would be a cop out. Which means we need to think about why the surviving Engineer was so pissed off at the scientists. It’s almost like they’re invading sacred ground.

Which is, I think, what’s going on. The Engineers worship the black goo (which winds up spawning xenomorphs) as a superior form of being. Those urns echo canopic jars. The introductory sequence is an act of worship. The Engineers spread their descendants on new worlds — Earth being one of them — and then sacrifice those worlds to the black goo. By this act of sacrifice, they keep their god happy. I mean, not all that happy, because in reality the xenomorphs would eat them too… but it’s the symbolism that matters.

That’s what the Engineers in the cave paintings are telling early humans. “That’s where god lives.”

And that’s the theme of the whole movie: religion. Doctor Shaw’s faith is a parallel to the faith of the Engineers. If the Engineers aren’t motivated by religion, the idea of seeking humanity’s creators loses power. But if the Engineers’ origin ties back into the black goo, Prometheus sets up something really interesting.

I really wish it’d been a better movie, though.

Mirrored from Population: One.

Comments

[bluegargantua]

Go see Moonrise Kingdom? It's delightful.

later
Tom

[bryant]

This is my plan. It should help.

[dcltdw]

How scary is it? I thought Aliens was well done in that it was too scary. (I'm a total wimp when it comes to scary.) Gross is more okay: I could watch Seven, although I must say, I don't have any particular desire to see that movie again, even though I thought it was great.

[bryant]

Much more gross than scary.

[editswlonghair.livejournal.com]

You've successfully talked me out of seeing this. But since you have seen it, I thought you'd enjoy this:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/-this-relentless-video-runs.html

[bryant]

You would love the visuals. But it's a pricy set of visuals.

[editswlonghair.livejournal.com]

As much as I love visuals, it is really still all about the story for me. While I can gloss over some script stumbles if the visuals are great ('Sky Captain' leaps to mind), your post and that video make this seem a bridge too far... It sounds only a few steps above the 'Transformers' or 'Matrix' movies or something.

Oh well, I got my one big, hugely enjoyable popcorn movie this summer in 'The Avengers,' so I can't complain. If 'Dark Knight' turns out to be any good, its cake.

[editswlonghair.livejournal.com]

Actually, just thought of an even better analogy to run by you: 'AI'. I'm getting the feeling 'Prometheus' is a lot like that. Gorgeous, self-important, but ultimately lacking.

[bryant]

There you go.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

This blog entry actually makes it a much more interesting movie:

http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html

Whether he's right or not it makes a lot of sense.

I actually really liked it. Not as much as I liked Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists! But I did like it.

There was a lot about it that bugged me (let's all take off our helmets!), but I assumed they were just being influenced in the same way the kids in Cabin In The Woods were.

[animal2nd.livejournal.com]

You know, when the scientists first entered the room with the black goo, I also thought that it was a temple. What is annoying is that the two archeologists made no note or mention of this! I have a hard time liking a movie when so many of the characters act ridiculous, no matter how well acted or beautiful the movie is.

I guess the screenwriters wanted to focus on the big themes and symbolism instead of on plot. I'm just frustrated that they couldn't do it all, as a good movie should. It's my same frustration with Battlestar Galactica's ending.