‘Prometheus’ Analysis: Transhumanism, Christianity, Ancient Astronauts and Avatar

Prometheus is a film that can be explored from many angles. Jay Weidner said that director Ridley Scott was a fan of Stanley Kubrick, and believes that Scott might’ve desired to create a timeless film that has several underlying meanings and symbols that can be examined for decades to come. I believe Scott has achieved this, but in a more overt way than Kubrick. Check out the original post: http://illuminatiwatcher.com/?p=4058

The internet is littered with more theories than I could possibly have time to read through, but I’ve taken a quick look through several and applied some of the ideas together that make sense with the ideas that jumped out to me as I watched the film. Some of the aspects that I’ll discuss might’ve been seen before, while others are unique and I haven’t seen discussed yet.

There are several avenues to explore in this film, but the overall main theme is religion and human kind’s place in the universe. This main theme can be broken down into Christianity, Transhumanism, Avatar, the Occult and Ancient Astronaut theory.

Christianity

The names of the three most important characters are Elizabeth Shaw, David, and Peter Weyland; all three are significant characters in the Bible.

Elizabeth- Mother of John the Baptist (the forerunner of Jesus Christ)

David- The android is akin to King David, who is in the ancestry line to Jesus.

Peter- One of the twelve apostles of Jesus.

Dr. Elizabeth Shaw’s decision to follow Christianity is continually questioned throughout the movie by most of the crew around her.

Vickers (technically, Weyland) labels Dr. Shaw and Dr. Holloway as “true believers,” a term used to label Christians.

Holloway asks if she’ll take that cross off now that they’ve found the engineers

Holloway has tattoo of what appears to be a cross, but in actuality has a flame on the top portion, what is this?

David takes Shaw’s cross and asks if she feels betrayed. He does this when she is about to be placed into the decontamination chamber, almost like he is forcing the decision for her to abandon the religion.

David says to her “you must feel like your god abandoned you” when referencing the death of Holloway and likens it to her father’s death by Ebola virus.

Weyland asks if she’s “lost her faith.”

The first thing she says to David after she defeats the Engineer towards the end of the film is “where is my cross?” David says “after all of this, you still believe?” David asks if it matters why the Engineers changed their minds about mankind, and Shaw says it does; perhaps this is because her faith hinges on whether or not Jesus Christ was one of the Engineers.

Christian Symbolism

The film outright tells us that the engineers created us (our DNA is an exact match), and then decided to destroy us (in order to create new) because we killed one of their own around 2,000 years ago (this obviously shouts to parallels with Jesus Christ). The Engineers have been visiting us, as is evident in the murals the protagonists found in the caves and in all of the artwork discussed at the in-brief scene of the film.

In the Bible, the story of David and Goliath shows David’s power of the true faith in God (as opposed to paganism-represented by Goliath) being able to overcome the overwhelming opposition. The story ends with David beheading Goliath, but in Prometheus, our David ends up being beheaded himself. It’s almost a reversal of the story, indicating that the true faith looks to be destroyed initially, but in the end the android David remains despite of his injuries, so David ultimately wins the battle.

An xenomorph crucifix is found in the Engineer head room, all too similar to the Jesus Christ crucifix.

I believe the xenomorph alien was responsible for the deaths of the engineers, as a possible side effect of all of the black plague goo. Fifield and Millburn make the remark that the one has exploded from the inside, which is what happens to the cocoon of the host that gives birth to these xenomorphs (as seen at the end of the film).

Caesarean section is the surgical procedure Shaw seeks to use in order to remove the alien figure; not an abortion. Ultimately we find out the machine isn’t for use by females, but the point is still there. Did she want a C-section because she was a devout Christian? Or was the film trying to tell us something else?

Immaculate Conception occurs because Shaw declares the impossibility of her becoming pregnant when David is giving her the news (Annunciation style).

Christmas themes:

The ship touches down on LV223 on Christmas day.

The Christmas trees are seen on the ship, similar to Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut film, which is relentless with the Christmas tree imagery (which is yet to be determined why…).

There is a sloppy comparison of Meredith Vickers I can make with Mary Magdalene. Meredith Vickers is akin to the Bible story where Jesus forgives a repentant woman who was sinful and cried at his feet and wiped his feet with the tears. This woman is suggested to be Mary Magdalene, the prostitute and important female figure. David is seen anointing Peter Weyland’s feet after Shaw’s surgery scene and the film is quite intentional to show the washing of Peter’s feet.

Even through Vickers doesn’t perform the washing; it is still symbolic as a Christian tradition.  Mary Magdalene is a prostitute, and Meredith (or ‘Mary’) is easy to sleep with the Janek, the captain of this ship, after his first proposition which she goes for all too easily. They also emphasize Vicker’s promiscuity with a discussion over saving $100 for her to give a lap dance to Chance. The scene appeared out in left field, but if you take a look at it with the perspective of Mary Magdalene, it makes a bit more sense. It is also oddly seductive how she kisses her father’s hand at the end, even though they obviously don’t love each other and have some kind of weird tension since he won’t give her the control of Weyland Indsutries.

Transhumanism

David’s superiority as a robot versus a human is displayed throughout the film. David’s disdain for the human race is palpable throughout the film and he seems to have a personal agenda, aside from what Peter has him programmed for. If he is supposed to be a robot, then why does he seem to have some anger and resentment? He also seems to have an agenda to destroy the human race through his actions.

David says I was designed by “you people” when Holloway asks why he has to wear the suit since he doesn’t breathe.

When inside of the mound/temple, right after they find the decapitated Engineer, David opens the door with persistence as the crew members say he shouldn’t, then says “whoops, sorry,” very sarcastically. It’s almost as if he’s been directed to do this. After he opens the door, the black goo starts to sweat, being activated. I believe it’s activated through the air that is the same composition as Earth’s (hence the emphasis on their being able to breath and take their helmets off). This must be the trigger which activates the goo once it enters the Earth’s atmosphere. Shaw even points out “the murals are changing; we must’ve changed the atmosphere.”

When they are examining the helmet and head in the decontamination room, the film makes a point to show that Shaw and the other doctor are too weak to lift it. They call David in to the rescue.

He says, “Mortal after all” after the engineer head explodes, which says that the even these Engineer/makers have faults. Could the droids have been an improvement on the humans that the Engineer originally created? The droids could be considered superior to their ancestors, almost like a next step in evolution.

He gets visibly upset when Vickers attempts to extract the information that Weyland gave to David after the head explosion scene.

Was David programmed by Weyland to destroy the crew? Why did David put the black liquid pathogen into Dr. Holloway’s drink? It appears to either be malicious or experimental. Perhaps Peter directed him to do that, but the film never concludes it that way. Holloway impregnates Dr. Shaw, or perhaps it could be explained as David impregnating Dr. Shaw-a display of his superiority over both Holloway and Shaw since they were in capable of becoming pregnant. David seems to have an agenda and some kind of self-awareness and emotional feelings. The scene where he and Holloway have their discussion around the pool table before David has him drink the deadly elixir is the best example of this. After all, how many robots would ‘enjoy’ films such as Lawrence of Arabia, and even seek to emulate one of the characters?

Holloway tells David we made him because we could, and David seems upset and replies “can you imagine how disappointing it would be for you to hear the same thing from your creator.” David asks him how far he’d go to get the answers and Holloway tells him “anything and everything” and at this point David pours the deadly cocktail. I believe David knew he was killing Holloway, effectively sending him to his maker for the answers. The film doesn’t fully disclose why he’s doing this, so we’re led to assess the rest of the film and base a guess on it. We also see that David’s skin is impermeable and unaffected by the black liquid pathogen, unlike the humans, or even the Engineers arguably.

David wanted the alien hybrid child to make its way to Earth because he tried to get her into cryo-stasis when she found out about the child, because he wanted it to destroy the human race. He says “sometimes to create, one must first destroy.” This theme is later displayed when the octopus/squid baby impregnates the Engineer to create the first xenomorph, just like the facehuggers.

He cuts off his video display when Vickers is watching him explore the stockpile room

David says, “I didn’t think you had it in you- sorry, poor choice of words” shortly after she has the squid alien removed from her stomach- more sarcasm.

Avatar, the Occult and Ancient Astronaut symbolism

Prometheus the Greek god and was known to represent human striving and the quest for scientific knowledge and the risk of overreaching or unintended consequences, as witnessed in the classic novel Frankenstein (see Wikipedia).

The date they find the planet is December 21^st- which is the Winter solstice

Winter solstice finds its place as a ritual in many religions.

Dr. Charlie Holloway calls Dr. Shaw ‘El’, which is a deity in ancient cultures. El is the bull god and was known to father several other gods, including Ba’al (aka Moloch, or Yahweh).  With Holloway and Shaw’s interests in ancient religions, they must’ve known about El, so while El is a short term for Elizabeth, it’s a bit odd that we hear him call her El as opposed to the common short term for Liz.

The term for god-Yahweh (aka El) is similar to Eywa (virtually the same pronunciation) from Avatar. Eywa was the interconnected deity of the Na’vi on Pandora. In the Greek epic Theogony by Hesiod, the battle between Prometheus and Zeus details Zeus sending the first woman Pandora, to live with men as part of Prometheus’ punishment for stealing fire to give to the humans. Pandora opens up ‘Pandora’s Box,’ unknowingly releasing evils upon mankind (similar to the apple Eve gives to Adam in the Bible).

One possible explanation is that the two films are related, with Pandora’s Box being the LV223 moon that unleashes the evils upon mankind. The ship, Prometheus, gives the fire (knowledge) to mankind, but subsequently receives punishment for doing so.

The landing strips look similar to the Nazca lines found in Peru, as is discussed on Ancient Aliens.

The structure the crew finds is a pyramid and mound (referred to both ways in the film), similar to pyramids found all over the world, some with unexplained origins. Did you notice the skull atop of the mountain that is flashed by for a second when the storm starts?

The star formation in the cave at the Isle of Skye and other ancient locations (explained during the in-brief scene) is similar to the Orion correlation theory, in which the stars of Osiris and the Pyramids of Egypt line up.

Some other miscellaneous questions brought up:

The number 56 is prevalent in the film. LV is 56 in roman numerals (L=50, V=6), in Prometheus, LV223 is the moon in which they explore, while in Alien LV426 is a satellite (planetoid) for a different planet altogether. The number 56 is found on the front of Shaw’s sleep pod, and LF56 is the door behind David when the ship alerts David of the planet up ahead. The number 56 is also on the pod door in the scene where Janek is setting up the Christmas tree.

56 is a tetrahedral number, meaning it can be used to represent a pyramid with a triangular base and three sides, or a three dimensional triangle. Stonehenge was designed with the knowledge of geometry through the use of a 56 sided polygon. The classical world also represented 56 as part of the story of Zeus, through a rival god Typhon.

Is David atheist or not? He says “god doesn’t build in straight lines,” yet seems to be persuading Shaw to take off her cross. He also asks Shaw if she’s going to take her father’s cross off now that they know the Engineers’ DNA is a match to theirs, therefore becoming their creators. He seems to contradict himself somewhat.

I loved the way the movie ends with the ship in ruins and the Earth’s alien greetings video running on loop in the background. This could be the scene that explains it all. The story might be a telling of the dangers involved with digging too deep to learn about our origins. It could be a visual telling of Stephen Hawking’s warning of finding alien life.

For more similar news: http://illuminatiwatcher.com