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In Reply to: RE: You're gonna argue about the genre now? It's sci fi. More specifically, it's the prequel of Alien posted by geoffkait on August 22, 2013 at 18:16:09
>> The Engineers were advanced robots, not unlike the replicants of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. They were bio mechanical inventions of the super race that was hinted at in the opening scene by the Mothership. <<
Nothing in the film suggests or implies this.
>> The reason the last Engneer reacted so violently was he was, like David, infuriated by anyone giving him orders. <<
David didn't give him an order. He was politely introducing Weyland and expressing his wish that the engineer might impart their knowledge to extend his lifespan.
>> David waa also infuriated by being ordered around, but like Lawrence of Arabia and the burning match analogy early in Prometheus he was able to deal with it, "the trick is not minding that it hurts." <<
>> What hurt was being ordered around by the (inferior) crew and even by Weyland. <<
No, that is not what hurt. What hurt was his existence as a lesser being, and specifically a being not capable of having human feelings, biochemistry or to quote from the film "soul".
>> In Blade Runner it was the replicant Roy Blatty who killed his creator Tyrell (who, like Weyland, was the head of a big high tech corporation) after he explained to Roy the facts of life - that his life expectancy could not be altered - by gouging his eyes out. The eye thing again! Lol. In Prometheus it was similar, the last Engineer tore of the head of David, Weyland's creation, and used it to kill Weyland after David told the Engineer Weyland wanted more life. <<
There were far greater differences between the films and their characters than those you mention, and it would help you immensely to discuss Prometheus on its own terms instead of reading things into it based on unrelated movies.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
Follow Ups:
"Nothing in the film suggests or implies this."
That's the beauty of Prometheus, almost nothing is explained, it is simply presented. This is the whole point and whybtherecarevso many divergent opinions on what happened.
"No, that is not what hurt. What hurt was his existence as a lesser being, and specifically a being not capable of having human feelings, biochemistry or to quote from the film "soul"."
But, of course Davud did have human feelings, that was kind of the while point. He felt hurt by his father's rejection of him as well as the crew's dismissive attitude and treatment. Hw had no qualms about spiking Holloway's drink and possibly killing him because Holloway was perhaps the most dismissive.
"There were far greater differences between the films and their characters than those you mention, and it would help you immensely to discuss Prometheus on its own terms instead of reading things into it based on unrelated movies."
I'm afraid Ridley Scott's theme of robots is intentionally similar in Blade Runner and Prometheus, thus it makes sense to draw the parallels. One idea being the difficulty in distinguishing a replicant or robot from a real human. Take the Harrison Ford character, for example, or the Sean Young character. In fact, you coukd say the replicants and robots in both movies exhibited more emotions than the humans. Kuburck explored this theme in 2001 with HAL 9000 computer and in A.I. with the child robot with programmed emotions - David, who also returns to meet his "maker" (mother) - thanks to the advanced robots.
No, there is plenty of explanation to focus on. You don't just get to invent your own story if it's not supported by the film. How could David have human feelings; he's not human. Thus by definition, his feelings, whatever they may be, are not human. He doesn't have human anatomy. He was never a child. His psychological development is not human. You're project YOUR feelings onto him.
You're also projecting your understanding of Blade Runner where it doesn't belong. The engineers are not androids. Only one android was shown in the film: David. I'm not interested in discussing Blade Runner or 2001. David does not "return" anywhere. He is taken to an engineer ship at the end by Shaw, and will help her navigate to the engineers' planet.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
You wrote,
"How could David have human feelings? He's not human."
That's kind of a major theme in Prometheus - who's human, who's not human, how can you tell the difference? The Engineers had human DNA but didn't look human, you know, what with the dark, dead eyes and white blue skin. Was the character played by Charlize Theron, Weyland's daughter, a robot like David? It's difficult to be sure, but if she wasn't she certainly behaved like one.
As I intimated earlier, this is a BIG theme in Blade Runner - were the replicants as human than humans? How do you tell if an individual is a human or a replicant? With embedded memories put there by Tyrell even the replicants sometimes were not aware they weren't human. Cases in point - Rachel and Deckard. In A.I., by the end of the movie, humans had ceased to exist, and robots had learned to create increasingly advanced robots until they were super human. In fact, I don't think I'd be going out on limb too much by saying that Prometheus has more in common with Blade Runner than with Alien. The ideas that robots and computers can be made to think, learn and have human emotions are concepts that run through many science fiction movies.
> > "How could David have human feelings? He's not human." That's kind of a major theme in Prometheus - who's human, who's not human, how can you tell the difference? < <
No, that wasn't the theme. The theme was an exploration of the role of faith versus empiricism.
> > The Engineers had human DNA but didn't look human, you know, what with the dark, dead eyes and white blue skin. < <
No, humans had engineers' DNA. The engineers apparently came first. There is very little difference between, for example, human and other primate DNA, so it isn't that hard to suspend disbelief for this stuff. Also many human languages had origins in the engineers' language, in the film.
> > Was the character played by Charlize Theron, Weyland's daughter, a robot like David? It's difficult to be sure, but if she wasn't she certainly behaved like one. < <
It's not at all difficult to be sure if you paid attention to the movie. When the pilot asked her if she was a robot, that was a joke designed to get her to warm up and it worked.
> > As I intimated earlier, this is a BIG theme in Blade Runner - were the replicants as human than humans? How do you tell if an individual is a human or a replicant? With embedded memories put there by Tyrell even the replicants sometimes were not aware they weren't human. < <
That's nice but we're discussing Prometheus, not Blade Runner or Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep.
> > Cases in point - Rachel and Deckard. In A.I., by the end of the movie, humans had ceased to exist, and robots had learned to create increasingly advanced robots until they were super human. < <
Again, not relevant.
> > In fact, I don't think I'd be going out on limb too much by saying that Prometheus has more in common with Blade Runner than with Alien. < <
It has more in common with Alien in that Prometheus was an exploration of elements of human faith in the same way that Alien was an exploration of elements of human consciousness. You clearly had zero interest or understanding of the significant role of faith as juxtaposed from empiricism in the film. So you latched onto other things that largely aren't even in the film.
> > The ideas that robots and computers can be made to think, learn and have human emotions are concepts that run through many science fiction movies. < <
Yes, those are vehicles to explore very broad questions like, what makes us human? Prometheus looks at more specific questions about the role of faith, technology and creation.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
> > In fact, I don't think I'd be going out on limb too much by saying that Prometheus has more in common with Blade Runner than with Alien. < <
"It has more in common with Alien in that Prometheus was an exploration of elements of human faith in the same way that Alien was an exploration of elements of human consciousness. You clearly had zero interest or understanding of the significant role of faith as juxtaposed from empiricism in the film. So you latched onto other things that largely aren't even in the film."
Alien was an exploration of elements of human consciousness? Really? I thought it was just a monster movie. Aren't you reading a little too much into it? Now if you wish to argue that Blade Runner was an exploration of what defines the human mind I'm on board.
> > The ideas that robots and computers can be made to think, learn and have human emotions are concepts that run through many science fiction movies. < <
"Yes, those are vehicles to explore very broad questions like, what makes us human? Prometheus looks at more specific questions about the role of faith, technology and creation."
I suspect the whole concept of humans having been created by aliens as opposed to the concept of Darwinian evolution or Adam and Eve is enough to turn the question of what constitutes being human on its head. I also think that in the context of Prometheus faith is used in the pejorative sense frequently. You know, as in blind faith. Weyland has faith in Dr. Shaw's belief that the cave paintings are an invitation and has faith that he can find immortality; otherwise he wouldn't have spent one trillion dollars on the mission. Janek, the Prometheus skipper, has faith in Dr. Shaw when she implores him to ram the ship into the Engineer's spaceship. And the rest of the crew has faith in Janek and Dr. Shaw. Do you see the irony? As an old boss of mine at NASA once told me, never get behind anyone 100%.
"It's what I choose to believe." - Dr. Elizabeth Shaw
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