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The theory that makes me love it: | |
Posted By: Jillybean | Date: 6/9/12 2:39 p.m. |
In Response To: Prometheus *OT* (Miguel Chavez) My biggest concern going into Prometheus was that it was going to be about yet another [female] scientist, reaching for things Man Was Not Meant To Know and discovering that there are some mysteries that should never be answered and scientists should know their limits. As you can imagine, this would push more than a few of my buttons. When the film finished everyone in our cinema sat for a moment in silence. No chatter, no laughter, not even a whisper of 'can you believe that?' There was just a minute of contemplation, and then of course the conversations resumed and people got up and left their popcorn bags and dumped their glasses in the bin and headed on into the night. It took me a while to decide I liked Prometheus. At first I was confused by it and slightly irritated. All this chasing for god or gods seemed like it was playing right into my fears. And damn it, I liked Vickers. I'd kept praying for a last minute hero switch. (And seriously - what is it with humans and dodging? What with this and Mass Effect I'm beginning to think it's a special skill). On the phone to mum on the way home, walking past the graveyard of all things, she said she'd heard a theory about the Engineer at the start. Yes, who the hell was he? He was Prometheus. He stole technology (fire/mutagenic sludge) from the rest of the gods and created humanity, gave us technology (the star maps). When Zeus and the other gods found out, they got angry and decided to use their technology to destroy us. So let's think about the humans. The humans in this story are obsessed with creation, either through divine means (Shaw, who accepts the dichotomy of her beliefs), through something scientific and logical and destined for something (Holloway), through something that will explain why we ourselves need to created (Weyland). Then you have those who are hurt by creation, the spurned child denied empire and affection because of her filial loyalty (Vickers) and the perfect son who can't comprehend why he was created at all (David). These people are rogues. Firstly, these are scientists who have taken industry money (we can debate the ethics of this another time as well as relate it to background material - suffice to say, this was not a University ship. This is an industry led team. Neither Holloway nor Shaw are Professors even, so on the whole planet they have found not a single lab leader to sponsor their work). The team is here for money, not a one of them is trusted enough to hear the story beforehand. Basically, no one is here for the love of discovery or the job, they're here for money and for personal ambition. (Kind of a thing for Ridley Scott - his worlds are always very functional) So they then proceed to (in Holloway's case) tease David for not being real, discover their makers aren't forgiving gods, and their own children betray them. And yet none of them get an answer. Shaw loses the one thing in her life she seems to enjoy (and I'm STILL pissed off about her little barren scene, but that's another issue entirely) when Holloway dies, and Vickers realises that all the filial devotion in the world can't make up for the fact that she does not want to be on this planet, she wants to be a defrosted ice queen and not to be facing scary things. One by one, every character gets to meet their makers and realise it brings no answer. There is no higher purpose. They were made either through rebellion or just because it was possible. Either way, who gives a fuck why they were made or put on this earth when there's a facehugger staring you in the, er, face? When it comes down to it, when there's a xenomorph on your tail, you want to be alive. Now I'm not saying that Shaw and Holloway shouldn't be curious about their origins. They should, but they should do it for the curiosity, because they want to know, not because there's some message or underlying 'right' answer that dictates life and the world. And in the end, Shaw does just that. She picks up the broken pieces and just goes on, because she wants to. And it may be futile, but who cares? Vickers never did what she wanted, she always followed her creator's plan. So she got squished. So yes, that's how I can like Prometheus. It has problems. So much of this theory is interpretation. There are GLARINGLY stupid characters at points. The script is so vague that it appears weak. But yeah, I liked it.
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