"Prometheus": A Movie Review. Part II.

[Friedrich]

I. "The Ring": Hermeneutic Circles.

Dramatizations of ultimate issues leads to a natural association of
"Prometheus" with several tragedies and poems by William Shakespeare,
whose shade hovers over this film. Mr. Scott should offer Shakespeare
a screen credit.I am sure that the Bard would happily accept such
acknowledgement. For instance, Othello, in his agony, specifically
alludes to "Promethean" hubris and the life-force:

"...but once put out thy light,
Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light relume."

"Othello,"Act. V, sc.II, p. 114. (Folger Lib. Ed.)

Among other Shakesperean works borrowed from and referenced in
"Prometheus" are: "Hamlet" and "Lear," "The Tempest" and "MacBeth."
Echoes of phrases from the Sonnets are sprinkled throughout the
script. At the center of the film, which purports to be a prequel or
prelude to the "Alien" movies (hence, the "ring" worn and removed by
Shaw), is a single question found in some form in all of Mr. Scott's
films.This question is as old as Genessis and as recent as DNA. What
is human nature?

This master issue leads to a number of related conundrums: What is
lfe? Are we driven to consume, destroy, dominate all other life-forms?
Or are we capable of choice, compassion, and love? Is evolution the
amoral story of "survival" of life-forms everywhere in the universe in
a contest of "fitness"? Or are we"designed" to cooperate even at the
cost of survival for the individual (or species) as part of a grand
scheme that we see only darkly?

It is these collateral issues that raise the Promethean dilemma: Is
knowledge only the ultimate quest for power? Is knowledge the fruit of
the tree of forbidden knowledge? Do we seek mastery of the laws of the
universe in order to become gods, as the serpent suggested to Eve in a
garden once? Or do we seek understanding out of love for all that is?
Do we seek to meet and unite with our maker? Or do we seek control and
mastery even of God and the universe?

"Prometheus" gestures at the tragic costs of our perilous Faustian
bargain with technology and at Mary Shelley's illustration of this
theme in "Frankenstein." Ms. Shelley's novel was subtitled "The Modern
Prometheus":

"Cursed, cursed creator!" asks Frankenstein's monster, "Why, in that
instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so
wantonly bestowed?"

"Frankenstein," p. 130. (A list of sources at the conclusion of this
essay will provide my specific edition of this work. "The Galatea
Scenario and the Mind/Body Problem.")

We are driven to seek knowledge or mastery, sometimes at the expense
of others, but we are also compelled to choose understanding of our
fellow "subjects" in a world of "objects." We must "fuse our horizons"
with others -- the parallel to the virgin birth in Shaw's unwanted
pregnancy is an acid-like comment on the Western mythology underlying
our story -- always in ever-greater circles of achievement for the
benefit of all others.

Life is indeed "fused" in this movie with the primal sacrifice of the
alien life-form in a prehistoric earth (with a bow to Kubrick's "2001,
A Space Odyssey" and "A Clockwork Orange") culminating with a pilot's
(Idris Elba's) heroic sacrifice for humanity (Spielberg's/Kubrick's
"A.I." and "Saving Private Ryan" then "Minority Report.")

"Prometheus" is Mr. Scott's Polish movie. This is true not only
because of Chopin's "Preludes" in the score. We get it: "Prometheus"
is a prelude to "Alien" and, equally, a completion of themes found in
"Blade Runner," "Gladiator," and "Robin Hood," but also in terms of
the sources for the text.

For example, "Nostromo" is the name of the ship in "Alien" and also
the title of Joseph Conrd's novel focusing on the collision between
civilizations. Hence, "Lawrence of Arabia" and the tribute to David
Lean. As detailed in T.E. Lawrence's "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom," a
technologically superior civlization will tend to exploit and dominate
a weaker one. In this story, we human beings are the weaker
civilization.

"Victory" is Joseph Conrad's matching novel on a "Tempest"-like theme
that mirrors the plot of "Prometheus." Joseph Conrad is the great
Polish-English chronicler of adventure on the high seas (outer space?)
and within the human subconscious (the cave?). Like Ridley Scott, the
dying billionaire in the story seeks to defeat death through his
enterprises. Unlike Mr. Scott, however, the fictional character on
screen is unsuccessful, whereas Mr. Scott's films will certainly
outlive most of us.