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Prometheus Explained (yeah right)

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Entropy608

MemberOvomorphJun-05-2012 10:51 AM
DLed a bootleg russian language version of the film last night and I liked what I saw (obviously I skipped a good bit of the dialouge, but I got the gist of it). Of course I will be going see it when it opens here in the US (probably multiple times). Many people have pointed out legitimate flaws in the plot, and I may be trying to make sense of some bad storytelling, as much as I don't want that to be the case, but here's my take/theory on what happened: From the ancient starmaps and such, we can surmise that there were engineers who visited man and were a benevolent guiding force in our past. This leads to the obvious question of, well then why the heck did they want to destroy us?! For this I can think of a few possibilities: 1) The sacrifice engineer at the beginning is the true "Prometheus" which the film was named after. He has stolen life (indeed their very DNA) from the engineers and given it to/created mankind. The engineers which created us and helped our evolution were not supposed to be doing that (Prometheus myth theme). Their actions were found out by the other engineers, they were punished, and we were supposed to be exterminated. 2) We were an experiment, created "because they can", and that experiment was finished so we were to be exterminated. This one seems like a longshot because, from a human perspective, it seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for no reason other than you just feel like it. Then again, maybe we are not meant to understand the motives of our creators (gods)...which would make perfect sense. 3) It may be important to look at the timing of the engineers mission to exterminate humanity, which was interrupted. From what I understand, they determine the dead engineer to be approximately 2000 years old...The obvious historical event at that time would be Jesus' crucifiction. One could guess that Jesus was an agent of the engineers (God?), sent to mankind to continue their guidance of us, but we're just so hard headed and beligerant that we nail him to a cross instead (forgive them father for they know not what they do). The engineers see this, determine the mankind experiment to be a failure doomed to forever remain in ignorance and petty fighting amongst ourselves (about that I would agree with them!) and say: "OK, that's enough, time to scrap this and start over". Personally, I believe theory 3 to be the explaination for the following reasons: a) Theory 1 above would certainly tie in with the title of the movie and the theme of the prometheus myth, but it requires way too much assumption on the part of the viewer (different factions of engineers?). It would have been too easy to throw in a couple scenes (hologram recordings maybe) of the rogue engineers being "brought to justice" or something and being forced to show the location of earth (or something like that). Admittedly, that would be spoon feeding the mystery right out of the movie, but I still feel like if this is supposed to be the explanation, they needed to tie it into the movie better. b) Theory 2 above could be inferred from the events of the film, if it weren't for... c) The age of the dead engineer is the big "key" to the mystery. Giving it's age was completely arbitrary. There was no "plot" reason to do so, other than for there to be some science in this fiction. I believe it was a conscious decision to link the mission to exterminate mankind with a particular point or event in our history. IMO the age given has way too much historical significance to be dismissed as coincedental. Of course this is all based off of a grainy bootleg in a language I understand maybe 3 or 4 words of total, plus what I glean from the spoiler boards. Perhaps my take on this will change once I see it in theaters. I would be especially interested to hear the dialogue as Shaw is pleading with Weyland/David while they wake up the engineer. I watched that scene maybe a dozen times and the engineers look of bewilderment/anger seems to evolve as the scene unfolds. It goes from initially confusion, to anger when Shaw is pleading with them, to utter bewilderment when David speaks to him, then finally he's furious and rips David's head off (and pretty much stays that way for the rest of the film). To me, it looked like he could either understand what they were saying or he could read their minds. This is especially apparent when they show his brief fascination with David. Whew, that was a loooong post. Congrats if you read this far : )
7 Replies

centrosphere

MemberOvomorphJun-05-2012 11:52 AM
Dudes, I also have [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/6193]started a thread[/url] where I advanced @Entropy608´s option three. But I hope with all my forces that this is not the case. For many reasons. One of them being of coherence: if Jesus was a disguised blue giant sent to Earth to taught us a lesson of peace, love and understanding, why in the hell us killing him would make the Engineers going postal? Wasn´t the death of Jesus, in some sense, a piece in God´s bigger plan? Besides they could be wanting to exterminate us by the opposite reason. Firmly standing not in the business of peace, love and understanding, our hellbent Engineers could have thought of us, by developing Christianity, a bunch of sissies not worth of the glorious bloodletting existence of the warrior. Specially the kind of warrior that seems to see beauty in very ugly xenomorphs bursting from their own insides. We can fire at will, of course, but I still prefer my own explanation: they are very advanced technologically but their culture is one of a cult, a sacrifice cult that worship a beast (the xeno). And they created us to be like cattle for the sacrificial ritual. Have you heard of "hecatombs"? That´s what I think was in their minds in coming to Earth two thousands years ago. But that´s just my two cents.

Hadley's Hope

MemberOvomorphJun-05-2012 11:03 AM
I don't buy the third option as plausible, but that wouldn't prevent it being in the next film is the script stays at the same immature level of this one. The Engineer on the space ship is dead a few millenia, but the one that visited earth happened tens of thousands of years prior to that. The plot is heavy on explicit and implicit greek mythology references, and then heavy on the christianity bit with Shaw's dream sequence and devotion to her cross. I really dislike the direction it has taken towards mythology.

J-Dogg

MemberOvomorphJun-05-2012 11:40 AM
Hi, I made a post earlier (no replies! Haha) in which I stated pretty much your option 2 as the main theme I took from the film. I really like your option 1 and 3 though! The architect in the first scene could be the 'Prometheus' of this franchise. Maybe later visitors gave humans the star maps to the WMD world to manage the problem 'Prometheus' created for them? Maybe 'Prometheus'' faction of architect culture/society have been subjugated and must now watch as their creations sow their own downfall by returning to what they believe will be their benevolent makers? Really good thoughts on the film!

SleepJumper

MemberOvomorphJun-05-2012 1:08 PM
I have not seen Prometheus yet, but after reading these boards I can pretty much sum up the entire movie. There are a lot of complaints about things being unexplained....I think that is because the writers imagined that if we somehow encountered a higher intelligence, we wouldn't be able to explain everything either....in fact, there would probably be a lot we wouldn't even be able to comprehend. One complaint I read was why would the Engineers leave an invitation to a military planet (as it is considered) that houses nothing but WMD's? First of all, the pictograms that Shaw and Holloway find probably weren't created by the Engineers to begin with. To me, it is almost obvious that they were made by the humans who worshiped the engineers. Shaw and Holloway just interpreted the pictograms as being invitations just as the early humans interpreted the Engineers as gods. Just because they showed a larger being pointing to a planet in a star system doesn't mean the early humans were interpreting the correct information. They were just recording what they saw and what they interpreted. Second, why does everyone assume that all of what is encountered in the Engineer temples is supposed to make sense? It is all open to interpretation and I really think that is the core of what this entire movie is supposed to be about. We as humans don't have all the answers. We have what we see and what we find and we choose to believe whatever we want. What if a primitive race walked into one of our abandoned homes? Do you think they would immediately know the purpose of everything inside? Do you think they would look at our TVs and know its purpose and function? Even if we told them what are TVs are for, do you think they would even understand? Probably not, they would see a large, smooth, flat black surface with seats arranged around it. They might think it is a place of worship in some form or another - when in reality, it is just a source of entertainment. So to be angry at not understanding EVERYTHING in the movie is foolish. I think Ridley Scott had the foresight to keep certain things ambiguous to leave it up to our interpretation....which, in a way, is a brilliant tie-in to the story of human life - - open to interpretation. Other questions surround the giant head in the ampule room. What I think is that the head represents a single figure within the Engineer race...someone of importance to them like a religious head (no pun intended) - or - a military leader. The latter would make more sense being that the entire complex is considered a military installation...but again, that is just what is interpreted. Some other theories surround the holograms showing the Engineers running from something seemed wrong to me. It is theorized that their "weapons" somehow got loose and attacked their creators. Well, it strikes me as odd that a race of such advanced beings would even allow a mistake like that to happen. What I think is that maybe the complex was sabotaged - someone within their ranks let loose whatever killed the rest of them. The fact that there is only one Engineer left alive could also stand to bolster that theory as well. Maybe he is the one that caused all of that. If the Engineers are anything like humans, than they are not without war within their own species. The large saucer-shaped ship in the beginning is strikingly different than the derelict/juggernaut ships. Its shape is a lot less menacing than the U-shaped, asymmetrical derelict ships. From pictures I've seen, the sacrificial Engineer in the beginning is wearing only a robe and almost seems peaceful...maybe even a bit reluctant, but resigned before he drinks the liquid. The Engineer in the complex on LV-223 is obviously wearing some sort of armored suit that is, in no way, peaceful or serene looking. Not to mention (from what I have read), the first thing he does when he is awakened is attack. So here, we are seeing two completely different actions from the same species. One self-sacrificing - the other hostile. What I am thinking is that there are two different sides within their race. One creates, the other destroys and they are constantly at odds with each other. Maybe the complex on LV-223 isnt a military/weapons complex at all....or at least that wasn't its intention. The black goo seems to be a template for life - it can become whatever it is programmed to become. So many different possibilities open to interpretation. One more thing that kind of struck me upon seeing a picture of the sacrificial Engineer's face.... he looks like the giant head statue in the ampule room. Maybe he is the Engineer equivalent of our Jesus. They venerate him because he sacrificed himself to create life. im just rambling, but in these aspects, the story seems to make a little bit more sense. Good day.

takka_takka_takka

MemberOvomorphJun-05-2012 6:23 PM
There's an English version out, but it makes just as much sense as the Russian one did.

Spacebiker

MemberOvomorphJun-06-2012 11:26 AM
I think the Engineers were angered by human worship of another God and tried to reset the scenario.

CouchJockey

MemberOvomorphJun-07-2012 5:04 PM
Just read an interview with Lideloff and he talks about the 2000 year old dating not being a coincidence (actually being related to Jesus)... so just start digesting the idea if you don't like it, because it's most likelly going to be puhed down our throats if a second part comes to life...
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