Don't Lose Your Head

Reposted from my original article on Reelholes.com [b]"Dissecting Prometheus, Part 4 - Don't Lose Your Head" [/b] There’s no denying the fact that Prometheus is more than an Alien spin-off, and has some very religious underpinnings. While some of it is very overt, with its bombastic soundtrack heralding the feel of old biblical epics like John Huston's "The Bible: In The Beginning", or Cecil B. DeMille's "The 10 Commandments", especially in tracks like “The Planet” or “Space Jockey”, it’s probably no coincidence that Scott, a man in his later years, is starting to think about things beyond our understanding, and religion is one of them. Whether on the recent “Masters of Science Fiction” a series on the Science channel that Scott introduces and concludes each episode exposing his fascination with the author while drawing images that their works conjure up, or in a recent interview with Esquire: [i]ERIC SPITZNAGEL: I got kind of an Old Testament vibe from Prometheus. RIDLEY SCOTT: Great. Then I've done my job. ES: So that was intentional? RS: Oh, yes. I'm really intrigued by those eternal questions of creation and belief and faith. I don't care who you are, it's what we all think about. It's in the back of all our minds. -Read more: [url=http://www.esquire.com/the-side/qa/spitznagel/ridley-scott-prometheus-interview-9423167#ixzz1zzrNzUKE]Your text to link here...[/url][/i] So in the film there is more symbolism to tap into under the surface. In the Bible, there are numerous be-headings, both signifying a means of capital punishment, and that the thoughts that led to the offenses of the beheaded are in discord to the thoughts and morals of the executioners. Of course, this practice still occurs today, especially in Islamic countries that still hold more of that old-world view of humanity. [i]To sever the head from the body, at least nowadays when we have a more refined sensibility, is not merely to kill: It is symbolically to annihilate not only the biological existence of the beheaded, but the very thoughts he has had during his lifetime. To throw away a head as if it were a worthless inanimate object is to deny in the most categorical way possible any ideas that it might have had while living. -The Meaning of Beheading, National Review, October 24, 2005, Theodore Dalrymple[/i] But what does the mind mean to God? Which religious faith is the film drawing upon for inspiration? Obviously with its many references (there will be another article compounding all of these, though they are clearly visible, it bears worthy of exploration), the Bible is where we find the keys to what the head and helmets represent. It’s obvious that the head contains the mind, and the mind in the film is the symbol of man’s technological and scientific intelligence. The intellect. Man’s wisdom, and the pride in his accomplishments. He is his own god. “We are the gods now.” What does the Bible say about wisdom? [i]For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." -1 Corinthians 1:19[/i] [i]Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall -Proverbs 16:18[/i] While helmets are commonplace in science fiction films, they are very oddly shaped in Prometheus. Obviously, the engineer helmet is elephantine in nature, looking more like a fighter pilot helmet, tying into and explaining the space jockey in the original alien film. But what about the crew of the Prometheus? Why are the helmets so rounded and opaque, looking like halos from religious paintings? I believe that was the intent of the director. Helmets are a form of protection in Prometheus, a form of spiritual covering, a symbol of faith, and a kind of salvation. [i]But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. -1 Thessalonians 5:8 [/i] [i]A more Catholic interpretation, less dualistic in its assumptions, is that the halo represents the light of divine grace suffusing the soul, which is perfectly united and in harmony with the physical body. -(Wikipedia and various other online Encyclopedias) [/i] There are definitely at least two types of engineers in Prometheus, and the symbolism of the Christ-like engineer at the beginning who gives up his own life is made apparent by his wearing of a very humble looking, almost sackcloth-like, hooded robe, very much in line with a monastic order, a very spiritual race. At the end, on the outskirts and beneath the temple is another kind of helmet wearing engineer, and they are a darker race of beings. It seems that when the human crew is helmeted in Prometheus, the crew is protected. When they are not, the covering is removed. This is true also for the engineers since, though they are alien, they are a form of human we are seeded from. When the decapitated engineer’s helmet is removed, he is no longer safe either. What seems to happen is that the person beneath the helmet loses their mind when the helmet comes off. They are lost mentally, and thus doomed. Notice when they are “damned” and “judged.” It’s when they forsake their spirit (their helmets), giving themselves over to their technology, their science. Again, remember Weyland’s TED speech. “We are the gods now.” The movie is not anti-science, however. The cave paintings indicate that the engineers wanted man to achieve interstellar flight in order to come visit them. The Bible itself is full of prophecy about technology, that man will be able to travel across the whole world quickly. The problem isn’t technology; it’s the misuse of technology. As soon as we create a new cure for some disease, we are manipulating it to create a new biological weapon. We can split the atom to create clean energy, or we can use it to build bombs that could decimate our entire planet. It's this spiritual side that creates a respect for life and should guide this technological pursuit. There has to be an element to the universe that we can't understand, this component that the engineers at the beginning seem to acknowledge: faith. Look at the engineers. Two mindsets. One technology with two very different uses. In the beginning, it’s used to create life. The newer mindset of 2000 years ago manipulated this technology to do exactly what we do, create a weapon of mass destruction. Could it be that the same spiritual dying that occurred with mankind on our world, where we take what is good and use it for evil; could this have what happened to the engineers? I think so. We learn that they are a form of man, too, remember? It’s like we are seeing the evil military wanting to use the new thing for bad purposes. It’s just that in their eyes, we are still far worse than they are. Who can argue they are wrong? Was the decapitated engineer found in the rounded, helmet-shaped pyramid temple outside the ampule chamber- was he the last to heed some kind of warning? The last to believe in whatever unfortunate occurrence was playing out at the time? Was he unbelieving? Too late, thus destroyed? (There was definitely some kind of conflict going on, but that is the topic for another day.) What about the head in the ampule chamber. It’s a kind of ceremonial monument, sure, but it’s more than that. It’s covered with an ancient language that gives it more significance, perhaps of a warning. Notice too, that the head is in a chamber within a rounded structure. Just like the helmets the ground party wear. Holloway removes his helmet out of arrogance, and out of his blind faith in science. What do the blind do? They follow the blind. When Holloway asks David why he’s wearing a helmet, it’s not just because he wants to let David know he doesn’t breathe and that he’s substandard to humans- he’s also stating that he doesn’t need any spiritual protection, because he has, as Weyland confirmed in the recorded hologram recording, “no soul.” The party goes into the chamber, changes the atmosphere of the room, and thus, destroys the spiritual protection of the head in the chamber. The mural decomposes rapidly- a mural showing an engineer soldier kneeling with his pet, his head bowed in humility. With the spiritual protection of the head gone, the humility disappears, and all that is left is the technology of the engineers, like dark spirits emerging forth to possess and destroy the offending invaders. Milburn and Fifield put their helmets back on, but only at the behest of the Captain. This spirituality is false, and they approach the altar and are destroyed (see part 3). Since the ground party leaves when the storm comes (symbolizing an angry God), they are this time spared for their selfish behavior. They are of course bringing back a curse as David sneaks back an ampule to study. What happens next? Shaw loses the engineer head in the storm, a storm in which darkness and large, mirror like pieces of silica beat and confound the ship itself. The helmeted head represents faith, remember? Shaw loses the head but then goes after it at any cost, finally assisted by David in getting it back. This is a foreshadowing of the losing and regaining of her faith later in the film; another symbol of her faith being lost and regained is the crucifix which she gets back later with the assistance of David as well. Shaw then removes the helmet, the protection of the engineer head and it immediately starts to show signs of decay. What happens then is very fascinating; she attempts to reanimate the synaptic response of the head to study its responses to stimuli. She is using technology - infusing the head, the intellect with false spirituality, false life. The engineer head, the intellect is unprotected and is destroyed. It explodes, but not before Shaw orders it covered. This is again showing us that Shaw understands that to be protected, you need faith, a covering. Holloway is offered this forbidden fruit, this tree of knowledge apple, by a companion of man (like eve) that was created to be like him to get his answers (to be like God?). While being an obvious nod of the hat to the tale of Adam and Eve, it is also not insignificant that it is passed into him via a drink, through his "head." He would later look in the mirror to see his eyes, those “windows to the soul” contaminated with this sin, which will parallel that they are about to be evicted from the Garden of Eden, this wellspring of creation, by dark angels. When Milburn is found, he has been hollowed out, his helmet smashed. Fifield ,whose own head was repurposed and mutated, returns as an agent of judgment and begins breaking their chests, then the helmets of the crew, not just killing them, but removing their spiritual covering, damning them. When Weyland accompanies Shaw, Ford, David, and Jackson to the Juggernaut, they again remove their helmets before entering the chamber. When Shaw tries to warn them that they don’t know if it’s really safe (not trusting purely science in this obviously very spiritual place), Weyland arrogantly responds with “seems perfectly breathable to me.” They are trusting this false Christ (whose feet David washed) and his technology over the prostate Shaw and her faith. They enter the chamber and awaken the engineer, and there is a conflict. They are standing in essence, as an analogy, before a type of God. For the purposes of this scene, the engineer symbolizes the creator. Shaw only removes her helmet, her spiritual covering when in his presence. Two questions are posed. At first the engineer is not violent, but he watches. Does he perhaps understand them? He can read their intent. Watch his face when Shaw is struck, his confusion when she asks why he wants to kill humanity. Then, in an effort to try to make the engineer feel like a stupid tribesman who they need to speak down to in his own language, the engineer smirks with disgust, and touches the head of David, this abomination of thought that stands before him. And of course, David loses his head. This false intellect is nothing compared to the engineer, and this selfish race that stands before him asking for more life for an evil man who has lived far too long already is dispatched easily by him. He kills them in very interesting ways. Ford, the callous, cold scientist has her heart crushed. Jackson, the symbol of man’s military might, is thrown like a doll, crushing his backbone. Weyland is killed by a blow to the head, a blow to his intellect- his pride, and he is struck by the false head, the false spirituality he has ventured his entire life for. When he looks at his creation, a creation with no soul, as he dies he says “there’s nothing” to which David simply responds “I know.” He has become like his creation, a soulless machine. The engineer looks at Elizabeth as to state “That’s why!” Man has no heart, no compassion. Man has no courage or strength that is worthy. Man has no mind, and no spirituality or faith. He is only selfish and cruel. The engineer decides to let Shaw go-not because she obviously possesses all of these traits that were missing in the others, but simply because she is obviously not in charge. The good of our race are subservient to the evil. He must pursue his original mission. Things have not changed, and mankind has failed whatever test there was originally set forth by the peaceful engineers. It’s time to start over. Shaw is inconsequential to him and his military mission. This is of course, not a holy engineer like the one at the beginning of the film, but one of the military types I had mentioned earlier. When the Prometheus sacrifices itself to save mankind, he is infuriated and goes looking for Shaw, because he knows only she could have orchestrated this. He is recognizing her strength, and although infuriated, is obviously impressed by her resilience. Shaw survives the ordeal, gets her faith back, because like the engineer recognized that Shaw was not in charge of man, she recognizes that the engineers here are not in charge and suffer from the same fallen traits of man, and thus, are not God. Also, I believe she recognizes she has survived miraculously through many things for which God must be keeping her alive through, and that He still has a purpose for her. She has a mission too. Before leaving, she covers David’s head, putting him in a bag. Shaw grants this created being a kind of spiritual covering, but not before informing him that he’s a robot, and she is a human being. “Even after all this, you still believe.” It’s because of all this that she does.