On fiction- Prometheus (DVD) and what could have been
It's no secret by now to anyone not living under a rock that Prometheus the movie has been in cinemas, where it left a rather ... meh impression. Or rather, hostility. The film has many vocal detractors; I understand where they're coming from.
I still love the film.
I won't defend it nor make excuses for myself. The critics, as far as I can tell, are right. Stupid character actions, plot holes, lazy writing that confuses profound insight with leaving grandiose questions hanging. All of that is there, and whatever the extras on some Blu-ray 3D reveal, the film should have stood on its own.
Again, no excuses here, but I feel like explaining why I like the film- and I really do.
Giger's beautifully monstrous designs are one important reason, and on that, at least, there's some consensus even with the critics. The film looks great, and not just the parts involving Giger's nightmarish art. The other reason is the story. Or rather, what could have been the story.
As it stands, it's clumsy, yes. And yet, I can't help but choose to believe there's a good story in there. Somewhat foolishly maybe, I decided to try write that story. If my recent and on-going fanfiction.net 'general rehearsal' is anything to go by, I'm a long way from writing a gripping yarn, but someone more competent could redo this.
It's a story of creation/engineering and what it means to be a person. The parallel was clear between engineered robot and, apparently, engineered humans. We ascribe moral agency to one but assume it lacks in the other ('David has no soul', quoth his maker). And what about that pesky 'meaning of life' thing? Does David have it easier since he's programmed to do what his creator wants? Would we feel better if we had such a program to serve some Gods? What if those Gods weren't particularly nice? -Do- we need Gods for our lives to have meaning? Or is the soul its own creator of purpose? Indeed, isn't that what a soul is about?
These and various other 'lofty' questions were ventured, and if only the film had the guts to answer them, that would have been fine. Yes, answer them. Not definitively; the point of a film isn't to tell you the meaning of life (it's this, btw). Just providing an answer that's interesting to dismiss is good enough.
And the motifs presented in Prometheus, the film such as it is, seem to my mind highly suited to construct that hypothetical, better story. The angel trapped in her biomechanical hell, at once resilient and vulnerable. The emerging machine soul. The struggle to tame the fearful symmetries of an uncaring cosmos. The Gods that moved on.
I'm left imagining what could have been. And I like that. So the film made good by me.
(Which isn't to say that I'm not being rather stupid and a sucker here. My better judgement says Prometheus should get no sequel, but laid to rest for a while and remade so that it is fixed. But when that sequel opens in theaters I'll be there nonetheless. Sigh.)
Keeping on the topic of 'what could have been', I also read an interview with John Spaihts about his original version of the script. Which apparently would have been a clear Alien prequel.
That would have been fine. Personally I'd have preferred a film that stood alone, not as a prequel nor sequel to either Alien or Blade Runner or anything else. That said, a definite prequel would have been better than all this 'there'll be strands of 'Alien's DNA' non-sense.
At least, certain things would be less egregious. In Spaihts' script, Elizabeth spends hours in the medpod being stitched together while lil' Cuddles is ejected out, and starts wreaking havoc on the ship's crew. Not only is this more plausible than staples keeping her abdomen shut, it also explains what Cuddles ate to grow that big. And the final shot of the xenomorph would be less of a desperate grab at a franchise's coattails.
Incidentally, yowzer. No way I'd be shipping E&D if -Spaihts- version made it to the screen.
Alternatively, Prometheus could have been a clear Blade Runner pre/sequel, to bring it closer to the themes I'm interested in. That never was the intended angle of course, and again my opinion is a stand-alone film was the best option. But hey, "what could have been"'s the mantra here.
So then, DVD. Just the DVD ... and a few minutes of alternative/deleted scenes. Sad face here. You really want us to buy the Br3D, eh. Still, the Descriptive Audio is loads of fun. Not only does it refresh some vocab for me (English as a second language baby!), but it also contains moments of unintentional hilarity: "a rushing stream of water - produced by Ridley Scott".
Subtle message there?
DVD extra scenes don't add much to the film either way. I like the African creation story though.
I don't like the alternate Charlie. Yeah, even I tend to just ignore the chap in my fiction, but come on. He wasn't a bad guy and there's no need to pretend otherwise. What's more troubling for me is that I appear to have misread him. I thought he was a secular humanist coming to terms with proof that humans were created after all. It seems like he was just another kind of religious, only of the Space Jesus variety. Either version is sorta consistent with the theatrical release. Only the second works with the extras. And I find it kinda meh.
On the other hand, the extra scenes convinced me that I got Elizabeth exactly right in a certain respect at least. So yay for that.
And enough on the film for now. I'll be there for the sequel. Sigh. Please let it be good.
Or failing that, let it be inspiring.
I still love the film.
I won't defend it nor make excuses for myself. The critics, as far as I can tell, are right. Stupid character actions, plot holes, lazy writing that confuses profound insight with leaving grandiose questions hanging. All of that is there, and whatever the extras on some Blu-ray 3D reveal, the film should have stood on its own.
Again, no excuses here, but I feel like explaining why I like the film- and I really do.
Giger's beautifully monstrous designs are one important reason, and on that, at least, there's some consensus even with the critics. The film looks great, and not just the parts involving Giger's nightmarish art. The other reason is the story. Or rather, what could have been the story.
As it stands, it's clumsy, yes. And yet, I can't help but choose to believe there's a good story in there. Somewhat foolishly maybe, I decided to try write that story. If my recent and on-going fanfiction.net 'general rehearsal' is anything to go by, I'm a long way from writing a gripping yarn, but someone more competent could redo this.
It's a story of creation/engineering and what it means to be a person. The parallel was clear between engineered robot and, apparently, engineered humans. We ascribe moral agency to one but assume it lacks in the other ('David has no soul', quoth his maker). And what about that pesky 'meaning of life' thing? Does David have it easier since he's programmed to do what his creator wants? Would we feel better if we had such a program to serve some Gods? What if those Gods weren't particularly nice? -Do- we need Gods for our lives to have meaning? Or is the soul its own creator of purpose? Indeed, isn't that what a soul is about?
These and various other 'lofty' questions were ventured, and if only the film had the guts to answer them, that would have been fine. Yes, answer them. Not definitively; the point of a film isn't to tell you the meaning of life (it's this, btw). Just providing an answer that's interesting to dismiss is good enough.
And the motifs presented in Prometheus, the film such as it is, seem to my mind highly suited to construct that hypothetical, better story. The angel trapped in her biomechanical hell, at once resilient and vulnerable. The emerging machine soul. The struggle to tame the fearful symmetries of an uncaring cosmos. The Gods that moved on.
I'm left imagining what could have been. And I like that. So the film made good by me.
(Which isn't to say that I'm not being rather stupid and a sucker here. My better judgement says Prometheus should get no sequel, but laid to rest for a while and remade so that it is fixed. But when that sequel opens in theaters I'll be there nonetheless. Sigh.)
Keeping on the topic of 'what could have been', I also read an interview with John Spaihts about his original version of the script. Which apparently would have been a clear Alien prequel.
That would have been fine. Personally I'd have preferred a film that stood alone, not as a prequel nor sequel to either Alien or Blade Runner or anything else. That said, a definite prequel would have been better than all this 'there'll be strands of 'Alien's DNA' non-sense.
At least, certain things would be less egregious. In Spaihts' script, Elizabeth spends hours in the medpod being stitched together while lil' Cuddles is ejected out, and starts wreaking havoc on the ship's crew. Not only is this more plausible than staples keeping her abdomen shut, it also explains what Cuddles ate to grow that big. And the final shot of the xenomorph would be less of a desperate grab at a franchise's coattails.
Incidentally, yowzer. No way I'd be shipping E&D if -Spaihts- version made it to the screen.
Alternatively, Prometheus could have been a clear Blade Runner pre/sequel, to bring it closer to the themes I'm interested in. That never was the intended angle of course, and again my opinion is a stand-alone film was the best option. But hey, "what could have been"'s the mantra here.
So then, DVD. Just the DVD ... and a few minutes of alternative/deleted scenes. Sad face here. You really want us to buy the Br3D, eh. Still, the Descriptive Audio is loads of fun. Not only does it refresh some vocab for me (English as a second language baby!), but it also contains moments of unintentional hilarity: "a rushing stream of water - produced by Ridley Scott".
Subtle message there?
DVD extra scenes don't add much to the film either way. I like the African creation story though.
I don't like the alternate Charlie. Yeah, even I tend to just ignore the chap in my fiction, but come on. He wasn't a bad guy and there's no need to pretend otherwise. What's more troubling for me is that I appear to have misread him. I thought he was a secular humanist coming to terms with proof that humans were created after all. It seems like he was just another kind of religious, only of the Space Jesus variety. Either version is sorta consistent with the theatrical release. Only the second works with the extras. And I find it kinda meh.
On the other hand, the extra scenes convinced me that I got Elizabeth exactly right in a certain respect at least. So yay for that.
And enough on the film for now. I'll be there for the sequel. Sigh. Please let it be good.
Or failing that, let it be inspiring.
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