Religious Imagery

Starting with the easiest one: The Xeno is a creation of the Engineers. Either one made of purpose or by accident. In one of the sub-narratives of Prometheus [the Father-child sub-narrative] you can include the possibility of the Xeno being a "Son", yes. I would have to agree. for more informattion on Prometheus 's Sub-Narratives, please read: [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/7904]My Personal Review[/url] The not-so-easy one: There are some religious conotations right from the beginning of the movie. And I'm quite pleased someone adressed that particular image of David washing his "father"'s feet. It does remind me of that particular passage, and so does one of the Murals in the Temple. kudus. Great post.

He's getting all cleaned up an anointed with oil to go meet his maker. Says it Leviticus that you got to be clean in temple. I beleive that we are being told that the Xenomorphs are a creation of the REAL engineers. Notice the 'Cistine chapel' type painting on the ceiling of the temple chamber. That's a huge clue. Yes, the pose of the Xeno morph is also a sublte clue. As is the roof of the dome. That's the straight angle... the mythological slant is mostly sumerian.

Hadley's Hope: I completely agree. The Murals are somewhat "Cistine Chaple" like.

@Hadley's: Oh, yes! I really like what you said about Peter going to meet his maker, which the Engineers essentially are. Plus, seeing as Peter was motivated by his own mortality to talk the Engineers, thinking that they could somehow give him life, then the Engineers do seem to be somewhat god-like. Of course, the actions of the Engineer that was woken from hyper-sleep show us that they may be more like humans playing at god- imperfect and flawed. @David: I feel like there is a lot of subtle stuff going on with David. He is present throughout the movie, which means that Ridley definitely had some overarching purpose for him in mind. Perhaps he will show up in the sequel? Anyway, the first thing I noticed about David is that, unlike the other androids of the Alien universe, David is very distinctly robotic (possibly because he is an earlier model), but also very much like a child, yet with the mind and body of an adult. He is still relatively new to the world, and is possibly not yet certain what to make of his surroundings. Then, there is the fact that Peter calls David "the closest thing he has to a son" (although he also says he has no soul), which makes for an interesting father-son complex between these two beings. Finally, I find an interesting parallel that David actually mentions when he is talking to Halloway at the pool table: how the humans have created David ("because [they] could"), much like how the Engineers created humans. This could possibly be interpreted to mean that life on Earth was just something the Engineers did on a whim and that humans really have no purpose whatsoever, meaning that religion is kind of meaningless and humans are just a big "blah" of sorts (kind of disappointing, I have to admit). Anwyway, these are just a few of my thoughts...

DoCatsDreamOfChestburstingAliens?: Nicely put. There are a lot of subtile movements in Prometheus as a good movie should have.

@David: Yeah, and the more I think about the movie, the more new things I discover. Of course, I still have a lot of unanswered questions, but now I'm actually starting to enjoy coming up with my own answers instead of cursing Damon Lindleoff for leaving so many blanks in the story. :)

I think Prometheus has a quasi-religious aspect to the film. It's not exactly as if they're doing it based on any one religion, but it was done in a manner that causes audiences to link it to beliefs. Hence why we can fit so many religious stories to Prometheus. Just a side not, if we actually follow the original 'back story' to the SJ, they made sacrifices to the xeno (or perhaps black goo), which implies that they held it in reverence (or possibly were submissive to it).

@ DoCatsDreamOfChestburstingAliens yay!

@artyoh: thanks :) @Daniregald: I agree. In fact, I've noticed that this movie is very similar to many great works of literature in terms of its religious themes (e.g. Lord of the Flies, Winter of Our Discontent, etc.). And while these themes are not explicitly "spelled-out", they are certainly present. What Prometheus does that I find unique is that it takes a blend of Christianity, mythology (most people have said it is Sumerian), and overall concepts of faith and belief and molds it into one, large question. On a random note, I have also been wondering how Shaw felt about discovering these beings that created life on Earth. While it is implied that she is Christian (or at least, the cross has some significance to her), we don't know what exactly her beliefs are concerning the creation of the Earth. Does she believe in evolution? How does she reconcile her position as a scientist with her faith? And if she does believe that God created the Earth, then what do these findings mean to her? Also, going back to David and Peter, I couldn't help but wonder if their names have some religious significance, seeing as they are both Biblical. And-one last thing- on the subject of names, if Ms. Vickers is Peter Weyland's daughter, then why doesn't she take his last name? There's probably some obvious answer to that last question, but still, I just wanted to put that it out there.

Just a quick thought on the two murals and their possible religious significance. The one Sistine Chapel "Creation" mural with the Space Jockey and the Xenomorph. The SJ takes on the "God" position and role in the mural, but the SJ also has his side torn off, signifying that he has made some sacrifice and is in the "Prometheus" role as such. This could mean several things. I take it as meaning that a God above the SJ's Prometheus is punishing the SJ, but the SJ is the thing (or race) that basically gave life to the Xenomorphs. It's not a perfect analogy to the actual Sistine Chapel Creation mural and the Prometheus story, but it's pretty close as a combination of the two stories. The Xenomorph As Christ mural. Christ was sent by God to redeem, or save, man. If the deacon Xenomorph is the thing that wipes out the SJ's, or could, then the God (true Engineer above the SJ's) may have created, or allowed the creation of, the deacon Xenomorph in order to save man from the SJ's. In this sense, the SJ could be seen as an "angel" who is not so happy with the Engineer God favoring humans over the "angels." This is an old story, with biblical origins. The most interesting thing to think about as regards these three level of being (Engineer God, Angel SJ, Human) is how the fourth species, androids, fits in to the scheme. This question has long fascinated Ridley Scott, from the original [i]Alien[/i] through [i]Blade Runner[/i] and beyond. I don't know what the answer is here. Would the androids side with the SJ's against their possible human "tormenters," whom the Engineer Gods might favor more than either of them? Would the androids, the sons of their Weyland "God," try to conquer all three of the other races? There are times in this film when David seems very devious. Is he doing that for Weyland, or does David have his own sentience and will? And plan? I imagine we will find out more, hopefully, in the sequel. It all depends on where Ridley Scott wants to take things. But there is a lot of "looking at a painting of a person watching TV, who is watching a person looking at a painting of a person watching TV, ..." involved in this movie. And I think that is not a coincidence.

[url=http://www.thehiddenrecords.com/]Your text to link here...[/url] this has some claim to the film

@The Blue Man: (Going in reverse order) I have often wondered whether or not David is acting with any overarching goals. At some points it seems like he is acting on impulse/intuition, something of a curious child meets inquisitive scientist, and often tends to leap before he looks, usually at the expense of others (e.g. Halloway). He also does not seem to have as much of a sense of his own mortality, possibly because of the fact that he is not mortal and fragile like the humans. And while he is not necessarily "programmed" to have emotion, he certainly makes it clear that he is neither afraid nor willing to cooperate/serve Meredith Vickers, which seems to upset her. Could this be some weird twist on sibling rivalry: Weyland preferring his creation to his own flesh and blood? Also, the idea of the Xenomorph being meant to save the humans from the Engineers in interesting. I've never really considered them to be on anyone's side really, and more of just a weapon. However, the mural seems to suggest that they are something more than killing machines, though I can't imagine what their "higher purpose" could be? However, the idea you mentioned of "higher gods" that exist above the Engineers would make sense in a number of ways. First, it would explain the imperfection and "ungodliness" of the Engineer who wakes up from hyper-sleep and attacks the crew. Also, if humans are the favored creation, then it would explain why these fallen angels may want to go back to Earth to wipe out the rest of the human race. I have a feeling we will get to see these gods in "Paradise" or whatever Ridley Scott decides to call his sequel. Just a few quick observations to conclude this. First, each of these creations seem to have their own flaws. The Engineers (from what I can guess) seem to be warlike and jealous, probably acting primarily on emotion. The androids are not mortal, yet they lack a soul. And humans are, well, human, and are very, very fragile and mortal. And second, the idea of Elizabeth's "child" was interesting to me because of its possible religious connotations. Now, as far as I know (and this is going by my memory and interpretation of the film, so correct me if I'm wrong) Dr. Shaw cannot have any children (i.e. she is infertile). However, when her and Halloway have sex, she ends up becoming impregnated with this weird alien fetus, which is most definitely not beneficial to her health. The thought just struck me that this may be some dark parody of the "Virgin birth", where (as the story goes) Mary gives birth to Jesus without having sex, saying that she was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Now, while Dr. Shaw is not a virgin, I find it interesting that she was (indirectly) impregnated by these alien "gods" and later conceived a child that tried to kill her. It's almost like "be careful what you wish for" thing. She gets the miracle of becoming pregnant, but with something completely alien that may result in her own death. Anyway, that's all for now. :)

Here's my take. The movie is a science fiction retelling of judeo christian end times prophecies.. First, the "engineers" created man. Then they visited them a number of times over several millenniums, as depicted in the cave paintings. We can infer from this that the engineers loved mankind for a long time, trying to steer us towards some desired end. In this sense, the so-called engineers are actually more akin to extra-terrestrial emissaries of God. Then, in the present time of the story world, countless centuries down the road, humanity stumbled upon some kind of outpost, which seems very similar to a religious temple, as depicted in the Sistine Chapel like imagery on the ceilings of the vase room. The stuff contained in this vase room is the same stuff that the ANGEL drank in the opening scene of the movie. Let's call it primordial soup, the stuff that creates life, at a remarkably faster rate that the process of evolution would assert, I might add. More akin to creation by design, with some elements of evolution thrown in. That is to say, we see a soup which generates life, a highly ferocious and hostile sort of life, to be sure, but life nonetheless. And isn't life here on earth ferocious and hostile? Just look at the paragon of animals here, who survive by feeding on other life forms. The angel at the opening of the movie was engaged in a ritual. His cloak was the garb of a priest or monk. His actions led to the formation of life on earth. He literally seeded a planet (perhaps earth, it really doesn't matter) with his own genetic information. In this matter, the potentially dangerous primordial soup is actually a good thing. It mixes with his DNA and goes on to create a vast array of lifeforms, an entire ecosystem. Don't they say that 99% of life on earth or so shares basically the same genome? Dr. Shaw asks in the movie why the engineers "hate" us? Why did they first create us and then resolve to destroy us? The engineers in the ship seemed to be in the process of mounting an invasion of earth, when something stopped them. Their crew began dying. They had holes in their chests. The primordial soup had been used not as a life giving device but a life-destroying device. Maybe. I could be stretching my interpretation here. At any rate, what we do know is that the engineers (let's just start calling them Angels for good) wanted to destroy humanity. Remind us of anything? God, of course, wiping us out in the myth of the flood, along with all of the religious prophecies of further doom to come. And what, mind you, could generate the sort of plagues and monsters as discussed in the book of revelations? The big 10 headed dragons that rise out of the sea? Old testament authors' visions of big monsters of doom? The primordial soup, weaponized in the angels' cargo hold like big bowls of wrath to be dumped onto the world. But something stopped them. What is that something? That's what the next movie will be about. Perhaps their was a civil war in "heaven." Perhaps the engineers are extra-terrestrial evangelists of some sort. Perhaps someone much like Lucifer caused political turmoil on the angels' world, a conflict over what to do with their creation. I don't know. I am speculating here. But my point is that the movie interprets the story of the bible, including the end of the world, revelations, etc., in a science fiction narrative.

@Chuck Finn I agree totally and would add the symbolism concerning the flute. Lucifer was an angel with a gift in music and it wouldn't be a stretch to believe he would design a flute to be used as an ignition switch for the Juggernaut.