PROMETHEUS - Grade and Discuss

[137th Gebirg]

RoJoHen wrote:

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Yeah, I got the 2000-years ago bit, but at what point are we supposed to infer that Jesus was a human-looking alien hybrid? I don't remember anything like that being mentioned, and frankly, it feels like a pretty big leap.

And on the third day, a xenomorph named Jesus burst forth from human Jesus's corpse. It descended into the rainforest and hid there for 2000 years until a Predator came to hunt it. The Predator succeeded. Unfortunately, Arnold Schwarzenegger came and blew him up.

Since this came from Scott's own words and addresses this very subject, I'm putting this in spoiler code. From one of many sources that say the same thing:

What did we do to make God/our creators angry? Well, if you theorized that it was because we crucified Jesus, you win! Confirming that at one point the script explicitly spelled this out, Scott says that was the direction they were taking with the story -- at least at first. "We definitely did, and then we thought it was a little too on the nose," he admits. "But if you look at it as an 'our children are misbehaving down there' scenario, there are moments where it looks like we’ve gone out of control, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, 'Let’s send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it.' Guess what? They crucified him."

The only on-screen allusion to this was the 2,000-year reference.

My own personal speculation on the connection between Jesus and the xenomorph: Since we pretty much know that the xenomorph comes from contact of the black goo with corrupted beings, perhaps the crucifixion of Jesus was the ultimate symbolic act of corruption for our race as a whole. Perhaps this was the "true" origin of the concept of original sin - a sin that we all must bear as a species, even though nobody who was there who either saw or perpetrated the act is still alive any more.

[RoJoHen]

Well, sorry, but if it doesn't actually happen in the movie, it doesn't count for me. I shouldn't have to look up secondary sources to understand what's going on.

[Mutenroshi]

That's the beauty of it, RoJo. Guessing.

[RoJoHen]

Guessing can be fun, but in this case it just makes me groan.

"What did we do 2000 years ago to make the Engineers mad?"
"Oh, we killed Space Jesus!"

[137th Gebirg]

Well, at least it's kind-of different than what we usually see in mindless popcorn action flicks. Gotta give him a little credit for at least trying a different slant to an old story.

I also happen to be a fan of Ancient Alien Theory and I guess I give this film a little more latitude due to my admitted bias.

[RoJoHen]

And I think it would have been better if the movie had actually attempted to fill in some of these answers. I'm fine with some mystery left at the end, but this movie leaves too much. And when you think about it and actually figure out the answer to the question "Why are they mad?" the answer "We killed Space Jesus" just feels...well...really stupid.

If you can't be profound, don't try. I'd rather watch a Michael Bay movie.

[137th Gebirg]

It's all in the delivery. If this is, in fact, what the story is about, I'm going to wait to see how it's played out. It's also entirely possible that the whole thing is a marketing feint, to generate interest in the sequels he's producing, and give us something entirely different, like some ancient culture mysteriously disappearing 2000 years ago or something. The Incas and Anasazi are a little too recent for that, but there may be other, more innocuous, occurrences in history that he could use. Maybe the Mayans, or something out of India like the Mahabharata. The crucifixion seems almost too convenient, but who the hell knows?

[Starbreaker]

xortex wrote:

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Walked out half way through. Bullshit sellout ripoff. Told you so.

You hate everything. Not surprising.

[Trekker4747]

FLOP!!!!

[Professor Zoom]

137th Gebirg wrote:

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Well, at least it's kind-of different than what we usually see in mindless popcorn action flicks. Gotta give him a little credit for at least trying a different slant to an old story.

Not if it's not in the movie. Do you get credit for things you don't put in a school paper? Just things you were thinking about?

I understand the desire to make this movie more than it was (a popcorn movie with equally pop science) but if it aint in the movie, it aint in the movie.

[Set Harth]

RoJoHen wrote:

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Jesus was a real human person.

According to some scholars, he wasn't even that - he was just a fictional character created as an amalgam of various characteristics common to mythologized precursor messianic figures who appeared in the centuries preceding his era. We could call him a reboot.

[sonak]

137th Gebirg wrote:

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Since this came from Scott's own words and addresses this very subject, I'm putting this in spoiler code. From one of many sources that say the same thing:

What did we do to make God/our creators angry? Well, if you theorized that it was because we crucified Jesus, you win! Confirming that at one point the script explicitly spelled this out, Scott says that was the direction they were taking with the story -- at least at first. "We definitely did, and then we thought it was a little too on the nose," he admits. "But if you look at it as an 'our children are misbehaving down there' scenario, there are moments where it looks like we’ve gone out of control, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, 'Let’s send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it.' Guess what? They crucified him."

The only on-screen allusion to this was the 2,000-year reference.

My own personal speculation on the connection between Jesus and the xenomorph: Since we pretty much know that the xenomorph comes from contact of the black goo with corrupted beings, perhaps the crucifixion of Jesus was the ultimate symbolic act of corruption for our race as a whole. Perhaps this was the "true" origin of the concept of original sin - a sin that we all must bear as a species, even though nobody who was there who either saw or perpetrated the act is still alive any more.

um, wow. That is REALLY stupid.

(uh, to clarify, I don't mean your post or analysis, just Scott's explanation.)

[Saul]

137th Gebirg wrote:

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Well, at least it's kind-of different than what we usually see in mindless popcorn action flicks. Gotta give him a little credit for at least trying a different slant to an old story.

I also happen to be a fan of Ancient Alien Theory and I guess I give this film a little more latitude due to my admitted bias.

I'd rather he'd stick with either Greek Mythology or Christian Religion rather than having these engineers representing all Gods. I'm starting to get Stargate-SG1 vibes here.

[roliver]

137th Gebirg wrote:

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Well, at least it's kind-of different than what we usually see in mindless popcorn action flicks.

Except that Prometheus IS a mindless popcorn action (horror) flick. It has no depth.

The whole idea that the Engineers decided to destroy humanity because we crucified space jesus doesn't make sense. They didn't like our violent nature so they plan genocide on a planetary scale?

[Sysyphyx]

The fact of the matter is that Ridley Scott and the writers were afraid of offending Christians with the whole "Space Jesus" thing. When the time came to do what needed to be done to make this movie profound, they pussied out. And now what we have is a bland, lackluster film, instead of the speculative masterpiece it should have been.

l don't even want any sequels. They had their chance to pick their balls up off the floor and they blew it.