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davuda
MemberOvomorphOct-23-2012 7:12 PMHello all,
First and foremost I want to mention something about Ridley Scott's work "Kingdom of Heaven" and the parallels it has with this film. I will [b]bold[/b] and CAPITALIZE (just in case the bold doesn't work) the words that show these parallels, so keep them in mind as you read this thread. In KoH, the christian crusaders fought to defend the city of Jerusalem from being captured by Saladin and his muslim army. Prevalent throughout the film, was the theme or idea of a kingdom of [b]CONSCIENCE[/b]. In such a kingdom, conscience refers to [b]CONSEQUENCE[/b] and the effects haste and irrational decisions have on human life. At the end of the movie, the defenders of Jerusalem decided to threaten the invaders by [b]DESTROYING[/b] every temple and symbolic monument in the city, rendering it a capture of nothing but a heap of rubble.
After considering the offer and the logic behind this move. Saladin decided to guarantee safe passage for every inhabitant, regardless of [b]CREED[/b]. Indeed, this was the kingdom of conscience, because it valued human life over [b] GRUDGES[/b], [b]GROUP THINK[/b], and religious [b]EGO[/b].
Mutation is one the most emphatic, if not the most emphatic theme in Prometheus. You can also extend this to the entire Alien franchise, but it is more pronounced and dug into in Prometheus.
Prometheus in a nutshell:
I will keep this very simple and unambiguous. The race of the Engineers mastered the art of seeding worlds with life using an incredibly complex and highly functional mutagen. There are three reasons why they would have done this a) they are dying and trying to save their race from extinction by creating new gene pools b) they have reached a level of technology that allowed them the power of seeding planets with life, using sacrifice c) a combination of a) and b). Sacrifice is a very important word here because it conveys the noble understanding of how life works in this universe, birth death rebirth, and shows the humility of the elder engineers as creators. To sacrifice oneself in order to seed a planet would have to be considered the most honourable thing to do in one's life. Not only do you lose your own life, but every hominid that evolved on the planet is your child, your descendant. It could be said that every planet is named after the engineer that seeded it, if in fact they've seeded other planets. This also leads me to believe that the Engineer society is a very individualistic society..this is only a hypothesis.
Anyways, this way of life for them developed into a dogma that mutated into the symbol of prometheus stealing the fire from the gods. An egotistical group of engineers started thinking that sacrifice was the wrong way to go about doing things. This ego is the only reason I can think of why the last engineer decided to kill the humans and continue his mission to earth. Its either the ego or the search for immortality using a different mechanism. So this offshoot group of engineers stole the black goo and decided they should be worshiped by the humans of earth lest they be destroyed by the weapons produced on LV223...hence the ancient starmaps.
OK I'm going to leave it here because I have to go to the gym and would rather see someone else finish it for me or critique it.
Have fun folks :)
5 Replies
Mateo
MemberOvomorphOct-24-2012 6:18 PMmany pieces of the puzzle do not fit. First scene of the film I see Satan fallen, or angels fallen, but other people said genesis, creation, as you rightly pointed just no real meat on the bone.
davuda
MemberOvomorphOct-24-2012 8:43 PMOk I'm back from the gym (kidding) and will now finish what I started.
At the end of my post, I mentioned that the starmap with the engineer pointing to LV-223, was warning them of what would happen if they did not obey the instructions given to them. The timing of the attack on earth from LV-223 must be based two theories a) The engineers seed planets and wait for the lifeforms to reach a certain level of technology before transforming them into Xenomorphs for a purpose unknown b) an offshoot race of engineers created a cult from the existing religion and decided to steal the mutagen used in creation to create xenomorphs out of humans.
Personally, I am going with theory b). The original purpose of the black goo was creation through sacrifice. It is indeed a noble act but ultimately an act of ritual and superstition which is not rooted in reality or purpose. It is too self-righteous an act, which creates a residual ego, the fallen engineers. The other important thing to note here is the power of the black goo. Because it has the power to rescramble DNA to seed the APPROPRIATE kind of life the original engineers desired, it was also capable of being reused on existing lifeforms to transform them further. The result was the xenomorph. The engineers of LV-223 stole the goo (fire) from the gods and created an antithesis of this cult, hence the crucified deacon we see in the mural room.
I am certain the rebellion of the fallen engineers developed by engineers starting to think that sacrifice was stupid. The pioneers of this cult are none other than engineers who refused to be sacrificed. Just like the angels who rebelled against god and became demons let loose to wreak havoc on creation. It is the genesis story for sure, but here's the twist. Ridley was quoted saying "Religion is a bad thing", he was answering a question posed to him about why he decided to make Shaw so religious. He continues by saying that religion makes one do stupid things.
I want to tie this back to KoH because it shows the same idea. Christians believe in the sacrifice of Jesus, the son of God, and muslims believe in the supremacy of God and the requirement for submission to him. To christians, God's power is through sacrifice, altruism, love and compassion, represented by Jesus Christ. To muslims, God is a supreme being who was never begotten, nor begat. He is a more general God because that's the natural order of evolving theism. Anyways, the end of KoH shows two religions realizing they have come to a standstill and that their religions are the root cause of their demise.
Now to the conclusion of this explanation:
The fallen engineers decided to use the xenomorph as either a) a bioweapon to fight the elders and rule the empire using the cult of of the sacrificed xenomorph b) a weapon to destroy the creation of the opposing cult, humans, and continue to enhance the evolution of the xenomorph itself to reach an even stranger creature.
A third alternative is that the entire race of engineers evolved away from sacrifice and creating humans to creating xenomorphs..but this seems a little weak to me.
Whatever theory you decide on, humans are fucked! The crashed derelict found on LV-426 was a payload probably aimed for earth but failed because the pilot turned out to be infected. I also think that LV-223 and LV-426 are in the same system because there is a short period of time before the chestbuster comes out and that period was the distance between the two moons (223 and 426) I don't think the eggs came from the xenomorph that exploded from the space jockey's chest because of the blue mist that covered the eggs in the derelict's cargo hold. So it seems that sabotage was the cause of the outbreak as well as the infection of the pilot that crashed on LV-426. Someone out there was rooting for us. Which suggests that Shaw and David might not meet with complete danger once they reach Paradise, but it will certainly not be the safest place either.
The moral of the movie is really about the evolution of mankind from the cobwebs of religion to the light of science..However the cycle continues even with the most advanced science. Power on its own and for its own sake corrupts and destroys, while power used for its original purpose (to be sacrificed to create) creates and empowers true progress.
Hope you all enjoyed :)
Mateo
MemberOvomorphOct-25-2012 5:51 PMThe Prometheus follows its own dark earth Darwinism in metaphysical materialist. There is no Creator, only *death*, that is the most perfect and versatile body of any other variety of life.
So maybe Scott, never wanted to give us the name of that extraterrestrial deity, he see in *death* an invisible God, (Deacon) (?), but he finds again, a capable adversary, in the person of a woman, the emblem of the creative principle.
davuda
MemberOvomorphOct-25-2012 10:10 PMI agree 100% Mateo....the feminine is definitely the answer to the conundrum of power :)
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