Fifield and Milburn: My Explanation

Sadly, if people weren't all too often bewildering self-caricatures in reality, that element might indeed seem unrealistic. Understanding people's motivations in real life is not always easy. Why someone, for instance, would spend all day hanging around the message board for a film they claim to despise, commenting over and over again about how much they despise it. That's one reality "plot hole" that completely throws me...

[b]They weren't as freaked out. When F & M retreated they were in a state of semi-panic and disorientation from the general weirdness they'd witnessed. [/b] So how did Millfield go from this state of affairs to alien, cobra-worm petting in the ampule room?!

dtrisml: "Understanding people's motivations in real life is not always easy. Why someone, for instance, would spend all day hanging around the message board for a film they claim to despise, commenting over and over again about how much they despise it. That's one reality "plot hole" that completely throws me..." Great and logical point.

@ dtrisml: I find posting on the message board to be therapeutic. After initially seeing the film I felt like I should be in a community centre sitting in a circle, saying "Hi my name's Bob and I've seen Prometheus". It makes me feel better to know others share my views. @drakequation: loving the psychology. A very logical argument.

@ dtrisml weeding out why someone hangs around a forum is much more complicated of a task than predicting how people will behave in situations when they are presented with frightening stimuli. The fear response to unknown animals in anxious people ESPECIALLY when they resemble snakes or certain insects is almost always the flight-or-fight response. In my undergrad behavioral-neuroscience of motivation course we covered fear responses and it is not one of those things were you find the kind of variation in behavior you are proposing. If one individual has an avoidance temperament it is consistent and almost never changes to a sensation-seeking temperament on its own (and in a short time frame after a fear based response to novelty).

Umm, time to cool down + Milburn's stupid and insecure drive to prove his proficiency as a biologist by acting like he's familiar with something he's not (nobody here is arguing that these characters are smart...)

Umm, time to cool down + Milburn's stupid and insecure drive to prove his proficiency as a biologist by acting like he's familiar with something he's not (nobody here is arguing that these characters are smart...)

[b]Why someone, for instance, would spend all day hanging around the message board for a film they claim to despise, commenting over and over again about how much they despise it. That's one reality "plot hole" that completely throws me...[/b] I think this just shows the depth of feeling people have about this movie. We're deeply disappointed with the way it turned out and by an amazing coincidence most people's concerns are centred around the same areas.

@ dtrisml like I said before, the amygdala would have initiated a sympathetic nervous system response that would trump any response that had to do with boosting ones ego image ESPECIALLY in a person with an avoidance temperament. In terms of brain circuitry, people who fear novelty are much more afraid of threats to their survival than threats to their social standing. Furthermore, the "wanting to impress" motive is based on cognitions while the flight-or-fight response is hormonal and more primitive and would override the desire to take risks to increase social standing (in an already anxiety prone person).

I agree with you @dtrisml... People should find better things to do than complaining about the movie on threads posted for totally other reasons. And let me remind people that similar actions to that of Milburn and Fifield can be found in Alien too... Remember when Kane finds the egg in the direlect and he decides to take a look at what is inside? How careless was that? When that egg opened I would probably have backed up against the wall and waited for the others. But I guess we wouldn't have great horror movies if our heroes ran away every time something exciting happened.

I don't think you can compare Kane's response to milburn's as if they are identical. Totally different characters in different circumstances. Milburn is supposed to be a leading scientific mind. Kane is a space trucker. Milburn has already shown that he is afraid of the situation he is in. Kane shows no fear. I feel that we have reached an impasse.

The Film was amazing... thought provoking and certainly intelligent enough for you to ask far more reaching questions than what you are wasting your time on at the moment. I actually agree with whoever it was... I also didnt like Milburn in the film.... more because of the actors acting capabilities rather than his characters flaws but forget about it.... move on from it ....its just not Important in the grand scheme of things !!

@corporalhiccups I salute your penchant for accurate psychological analysis!

Cheers Drakeequation, I studied psych at uni but have forgotten most of it after many years of binge drinking to escape the pain of disappointing prequels. Glad to meet someone who shares my opinion of the characters.

What baffles me is that the 'PUPS' belonged to Fifield... Didn't he have a direct connection to them? How the heck were they still tracking the inside of the temple and ship with the storm and suddenly Fifield had no clue what was going on?! Huge hole there

@MVMNT: yeah, the crew actually ask Fifield where to go after he releases the pups and he says, "pups say this way" before leading them off. Super massive plot hole.

MVMNT I agree, Fifield should be the character LEAST likely to get lost. Also, there is a very important contrast to Kane's fate in Alien. If Kane hadn't been so curious, he wouldn't have been impregnated, and the Alien would never have been on the Nostromo in the first place. Whereas the stupid deaths of Milburn and Fifield are entirely unnecessary to advance the plot. David makes sure of that. Bafflingly stupid deaths.

Why are people so hyped about the characters' state of mind?.. The persons who made this movie are not psychologists you know. And I don't really think I have ever seen a film where the characters acted the way they probably should have. So people think that Fifield's and Milburn's actions were stupid... Well then imagine what People would have thought if they had both run out of the temple screaming like little girls the moment they saw the creatures. Now that would have been a let-down.

Okay, good night fellow fan(atics) Bit of sleep and hopefully a clear sky to watch the transit of Venus at sunrise. Some real space action, with a lower body count (and no plot holes)

the more I think about Fifield and Millburn the more I wonder if they were chosen because they are stupid. the viral vid of Shaw has the quiet eye measuring all sorts of information just from Shaw's message suppose Fife and Mill are chosen by weyland because they wouldn't be too bright and figure some things out, like getting left in a cave on purpose David saves Halloway and Shaw why not Fifield and Millburn? This is just a shot in the dark, but I do think there was some manipulation by Weyland, David, and even Vickers