Annihilation and Christ

i agree. i saw it tonight and the biggest thing i got from it is that there is no God and that our makers do what they do not to punish us, or reward us, or to be giving or taking, they do it because they can. thats the explanation, and all there is to life is things happen because it happens. David and holloways conversation was the biggest anti religion point of the movie

Well it's not like since dinosaurs became extinct no living creatures have existed up until humans.. there's been a whole array of mammalian life and other life since then. And what's a friendly religious jab here and there? the movie is based around that sorta thing, it's gonna happen.

In a movie where humanity is created by a race of ancient alien beings, how could it not call the authenticity of religion into question. If that were actually the case, it would literally disprove almost every single human religion throughout all of history, with the exception of some very old myths that could feasibly apply to the engineers. Also, as a sidenote, there is no indication that the scene in the beginning is ancient Earth. It is assumed, but I find it interesting that the corresponding musical track on the soundtrack for that scene is called "A Planet." If it's ancient Earth, why not name the track "Earth"? That's just speculation, though, and would make a lot of things very pointless if it is in fact not Earth IMO.

ya, i see malicious intent on the part of the engineer. why would they want to destroy what they created a few billions years ago then during the time of christ, want to destroy it. perhaps there's good and bad engineer?

It seems more likely to me that the relevancy is that with Christianity, for the first time, monotheism began to spread very broadly across cultures and linguistic boundaries. Monotheism is a very strong factor in theocracies, and religion (codified in a holy book) organized around laws followed by literate cultures serves to facilitate a feedback loop that is conducive for the rapid development of civilization, economies, technological advancement, etc.. That could have been the dangerous inflection point in human development in which both humanity turned away from the Engineers as 'gods' and began the unrelenting march toward the FTL technology that took us to their outpost. Also, from a philosophical/mystic perspective if you believe in God the Father of the Christian trinity as omnipotent, he could have used the "outbreak" (of xenos or pre-xenos or whatnot in the temple) to prevent the Engineers from harming the Earth at that time. It's very cleverly staged to be a good vs. evil and even a "nature of evil" discussion—philosophically speaking.

I'm thinking it ha to be Earth as it looks like the dawn of time. Perhaps it can be another planet as you mention hence why they were intent on annihilating Earth.

Another then that seems flawed is how our genome is the same or near enough to the engineers despite 4billion years of evolution under different environmental factors, I suppose you could say they are so intelligent that they new eventually their genes would resurface as a humanoid similar to themselves or perhaps they adjusted it along the way? or just old school poetic license. But yeah just mentioning that for the sake of it

I'm getting a sense that those engineer are our created and destroyer. I really don't think Darwinism has a play in how we turned out i.e. coming out from the sea. A human baby can not survive without being nurture unlike other animal. Although the beginning scene does suggest that because the DNA reattached itself once it was in the water. I feel some how those engineer were there all long to assist us through our evolution, then during the time of Christ decided to destroy us as the movie indicated. Question is, did they created the Aliens?

I did think about the relevancy to the 2000 year mark and what that meant in human history and how it pertained to the engineers being dissatisfied enough with humanity to wipe them out (?) or whatever they planned on doing to us. I definitely think there is a religious bent here, and perhaps it's that the engineers were once worshipped as gods, and the advent of monotheism killed that and pissed them off. Honestly, I think they realized at some point that humanity could be a danger to them. Also, I think how this relates to the creation of artificial intelligence (David) by humans as well. It seems that at some point, we might see them as a danger to us and what would be our reaction? Wipe them out, of course. Even David says something in the movie akin to "we all want to see our parents dead" or something to that effect.

I'm not sure I buy the whole convenient 2000 years - must relate to Christ, or maybe I just don't want to, because I would hate to see the sequel try to even deal with organised religion (esp as there were small monotheistic groups prior to christianity, and christianity itself, was only a blip on the radar, amongst may other sects, for a long time, before it took off, when it the 4th century Emperor constantine adopted the religion. But if you want some religious references, there's plenty like the Christmas Tree, and the arrival at LV-223 at Christmas... not clear if it was Christmas day... or just before. The date given when the ship first appears is in fact Dec 21st, the solstice. It's not clear how long passes while David shoots hoops from a bike, and practices languages, and the time when the ship drops out of it's Faster-than-light travel (34.5 light years in 2 yrs 4 and half months). Perhaps there's a few days for recover, prep and and briefing. Then there's people exclaiming "My God" and "Jesus Christ" one after another. Probably not trivial for this film. And there's the temple with the sculpture of the Xenomorph in the pose one normally sees a crucified Jesus in. Also there may be a hidden joke in Milburn's death. Are you familiar with those snake handlers in Christian Evangelism? They take literally Matthew 16: 17- 18 "They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;" (the joke being that Milburn, who is first to die, was one of the people who mocked Shaw's beliefs in the briefing, and he was the one how for no good reason, stopped being afraid in the temple and tried to pet what looked like a cobra. (the other person who mocked Shaw of course, was Fifield... who became a zombie... is there a Lazarus joke in there?

And of course, Weyland has his feet washed and anointed while wearing white robes before going to "meet his maker". there was a dark joke in there too, not only in the double meaning of that phrase, but in the fact that his maker kills him, by beating his skull using David's head as a weapon . The Maker not liking competition. A bit reminiscent of the tower of Babel incident? Though shalt not reach heaven nor aspire to be like the gods eh?

I think that those trying to use this movie to advocate or deride a religious persuasion are missing the fun of the movie. Also, if a fiction sci-fi movie is influencing your religious persuasion I would suggest a more disciplined pursuit of the Great Questions rather than approaching the most important questions in your life from the metaphorical couch potato position. The movie is intended to challenge everything that you believe, and it does so very cynically with a darkness that is intended to cast light on the characters who choose goodness...even in the absence of knowledge and in the face of death. I sense Lindelof there. It's a very LOST-esque way to handle a story. Ultimately the two characters who make self sacrifice are the ones who allow others (and themselves in Shaw's case) to live...much like the engineer at the beginning of the movie.

It doesn't have to influence your religious persuasion, just because the writer might be mocking or advocating religion. I'm not looking to this film for answers for my own views, I'm analysing it, the way one would analyse the themes of a book in literary studies. Personally I think the writer's use of mythology, and putting teasers and plot holes in the script is very pretentious. he may think it's high-minded, but it's an insult to the audience imho.

Scott and co. obviously used religious mythology as a backdrop for the relationship between the engineers and the humans. But what is interesting is that they subtly used fatalism to leave the possibility open that the Prometheus mission itself and Shaw's survival were guided in a sense by circumstances out of the control of even the engineers. Also important is that they wanted to leave no sacred cow undisturbed...they intentionally shot the legs out of modern Darwinism with not only the plot but with dialogue as well.

I've been thinking about this all night since seeing the movie. We all assume that at the beginning of the movie, the engineer seeds earth. He sacrificed himself to do so. And the mention in the movie that the engineers died 2000 years ago. So what if the engineer who sacrificed himself, did so 2000 years ago to stop the destruction of the human race. He was the one who released the creatures by ingesting death . . . Plays up the whole religious theme that much more.

Certainly Lindelhof guided circumstances in mysterious ways to ensure that Shaw survived. You notice how the MedPod that saved her was set up for Weyland... and yet it was not in Weyland's lifeboat (where she wouldn't have even known it was on the ship) but in vicker's lifeboat. And of course nobody does anything about the creature still in vickers lifeboat (apparently nobody goes in there??? Not even Vickers when she knows the ship is on a kamikaze course- she chooses an escape pod, which lands nowhere near the lifeboat -wtf? ) and so it is ejected with this monster in it, which just happens to save Shaws life.

Hadley, I wasn't referring to you individually, it was a general statement. :) You have drawn some nice allusions out of the plot that I missed, especially the Tower of Babel bit. As to the allusions, I find them interesting and fun because they are cause for conversation in the theater foyer or in the coffee shop after the film. Personally, I enjoy discussing the big questions with friends. If that is the goal of the writers, then I applaud them. People are so busy these days that we neglect the big questions.

Book of Genesis and Book of Enoch One interpretation is that the Nephilim are the children of the "sons of God" and "daughters of humans", although scholars are uncertain.[32] The King James Version replaces the term "Nephilim" with "giants". The first part of the apocryphal Book of Enoch expands and interprets Genesis 6:1. It explains that the "sons of God" were a group of 200 "angels" called "Watchers". Against God's wishes, these Watchers descended to Earth to breed with humans. Their offspring are the Nephilim, "giants" who "consumed all the acquisitions of men". When humans could no longer sustain the Nephilim, they turned against humanity. The Watchers also instructed humans in metallurgy and metalworking, cosmetics, sorcery, astrology, astronomy and meteorology. God then ordered the Watchers to be imprisoned in the ground. He created the Great Flood to rid Earth of the Nephilim and of the humans who had been given knowledge by the Watchers. However, to ensure humanity's survival, Noah is forewarned of the oncoming destruction. Because they disobeyed God, the book also describes the Watchers as "fallen angels".[33] Some ancient astronaut theorists believe that this story is a historical account of extraterrestrials visiting Earth. In their interpretation, the "angels" are extraterrestrials and were called Watchers because their mission was to observe humanity. Some of the extraterrestrials disobeyed orders; they made contact with humans, cross-bred with human females and shared knowledge with them. The Nephilim were thus half-human-half-extraterrestrial hybrids.[34] Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman argue that modern UFOs carry the fallen angels, or offspring of fallen angels: the Nephilim of Genesis, who have now returned. They believe it was this interbreeding between the angels and humans that led to what they call "the gene pool problem." Noah was perfect in his "generations," that is "Noah's genealogy was not tarnished by the intrusion of fallen angels. It seems that this adulteration of the human gene pool was a major problem on the planet earth."[35] Von Däniken also suggests that the two angels who visited Lot in Genesis 19 were not angels, but ancient astronauts. They may have used atomic weapons to destroy the city of Sodom. In any case, the otherworldly beings acted as if there was a time set for Sodom's destruction. Von Däniken questioned why God would work on a timetable and why an "infinitely good Father" would give "preference to 'favorite children,' such as Lot's family, over countless others."[36] Marc Dem completely reinterprets Genesis by claiming humanity started on another planet and that the God of the Bible is an extraterrestrial.[37] Consider also this interpretation of the god Prometheus: In the Western classical tradition, Prometheus became a figure who represented human striving, particularly the quest for scientific knowledge, and the risk of overreaching or unintended consequences. Shaws, actions while seemingly stupid, are meant to pin her as a real life manifestation of Prometheus. -Wiki, Ancient Astronauts

Seriously I think the movie is about panspermia and the angel and gods of all religious texts being misinterpreted when they were in fact space beings and such.

All life on Earth from single-celled to modern humans shares a common ancestral DNA. If the engineers seeded life on earth as in the panspermia theory, they would have done so approximately 4 billion years ago. This means the opening scene with the Dr. Manhattan/Voldemort-looking alien took place 2-4.5 billion years in the past in order for his DNA to have seeded all life on Earth. Fast forward to when the engineers all died or went into stasis a mere 2,000 years ago. Why does their species appear EXACTLY THE SAME? They haven't evolved at all, while humans meanwhile have evolved from simple life forms into mammals, higher mammals, apes, primitive humans, modern humans and now have advanced technology and are capable of space travel. Meanwhile, the "engineers" haven't aged a day and their technology is roughly the same as it was thousands, millions, or billions of years ago. Also, when Dr. Shaw analyzes the DNA of the dead engineer, the computer says the DNA is a "match." If the engineers only visited Earth much more recently (tens of thousands of years ago in the cave paintings) and created humanity with DNA identical to their own, then modern humans would look identical to the Dr. Manhattan/Voldemort aliens. If the DNA matched completely, humans would HAVE TO look just like the aliens. No way around it.