the society in Prometheus

centrosphere

MemberOvomorphMay 19, 20121042 Views6 Replies

I found this nice description of "Alien" [url=http://www.astrosociology.org/Library/PDF/Space2010_Commercial--SciFi.pdf]here[/url]: "The unbinding, unfair contract even more unyielding than a constitution is also a motif in another iconic movie, Alien (1979). The life, skills, safety and security of the crew on board the commercial freighter matter nothing with respect to the mission to be undertaken under company orders. To be sure, the perfect organism they are wont to be defeated by is the principal cause of fear, but once the true extent of the company‟s reach and power is explained, is it not even more frightening to think about what the main character may face once she makes it back to Earth? There are common themes underlying the dystopian depictions of these movies, particularly that as the elements of routine, commercial space activities become normal, the role of the state seems to be diminished and, in some cases, even eliminated. " Do you think that Prometheus will touch this kind of discussion?

allinamberclad
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May 19, 2012

I also think it is a nice description - well posted. Personally, I'd say it's a certainty that Prometheus will touch on this kind of discussion, (perhaps it even[i] has[/i] to), but not in such detail as Alien - I don't see how there is time. Prometheus seems to have to cover some huge issues and a lot of characters in 2 hours..but if it's one thing that seems consistent in Scott's approach to this field, it is how human endeavour is modified or compromised through the lens of human corporate enterprise. So, I'd say, yes: how humanity may entrap itself through the pollution of its endeavour by the (conflicting?) interests of its own corporate enterprise, will be a feature.

Sigismundo
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May 19, 2012

@centrosphere I think Prometheus will touch more upon philosophical and spiritual elements. I think with Alien and Blade Runner Ridley Scott has already ventured into the topics mentioned in the quote. Discussion sparked by Prometheus will be more abstract.

Svanya
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May 19, 2012

Ridley said it would be Blade Runner'ish, so that means a dystopian system. Polluted and overpopulated.

Wat

centrosphere
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May 19, 2012

@Sigismundo, Maybe. But when I think of the amenities onboard Prometheus, above all in it´s richer quarters, I can´t help but think of Paul Allen´s Octopus... [img]http://www.luxurynews.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/octopus1.jpg[/img]

CrazyDave55811
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May 20, 2012

"The cast find an establishment which is not what they expected it to be, it’s a civilization but what we find in it is very [i]uncivilized[/i] behaviour." Well, Sir Ridley called it good by calling it an "establishment", because the trailers haven't shown much of a civilization. As for the uncivilized behavior that is hinted, maybe it just has to do with how we're just playthings to the Space Jockeys. As I said in another thread over a month ago, they made us, and their intelligence is way beyond our potential, so why would they have our interests at heart? Of course it sounds like a rather perverse experience.

centrosphere
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May 20, 2012

@CrazyDave, Actually I was thinking more about what the movie would hint about [u]human[/u] society in the late XXI century. As for the Engineers/Space Jockeys society, I think that the movie will bring some "suggestions" too. But I´m less confident about it´s nature. If, for example, the forum´s member sukkal suggestion that we are seeing the fruit of the encounter of two different alien races (as hinted by the difference in the hieroglyphs), everything can happen...