In that light, it’s interesting that the lead character in “Prometheus”
is Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, an archeologist looking for the roots of humanity, who
wears a cross around her neck, the reminder of her late father. From cave
paintings and ancient relics, she and her colleague Charlie Holloway – the skeptic
- find that several ancient representations of men and some superhuman beings show
a similar star pattern in the background. After some investigation, they find a
star pattern matching it a great distance from earth. And so begins our quest in
the year 2093– to find the extra-terrestrial origins of our species. Shaw’s
hypothesis is that beings came from the stars to earth and somehow made
mankind.
But as one scientist on board the ship “Prometheus”
observes, such a hypothesis flies in the face of “three centuries of Darwinism.”
From this light, “Prometheus” bears a resemblance to stories like “Childhood’s
End,” “Contact,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and even the much-maligned plot of “Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” The scientist is saying that what
we call God is instead another being from another world. That is, until Dr.
Shaw sets him straight – the question isn’t who created us, but who created it
all. Dr. Shaw isn’t interested in some species that can tinker with DNA and
produce something new, but a Presence that can create it all from nothingness.
Still, she wonders not only where we came from, and why.
Along for the ride is David, a robot obsessed with the movie
“Lawrence of Arabia” who is at times passive and at times sinister. David is
the HAL-9000 computer from “2001,” only with arms and legs. There is much in
this movie that seems similar (or ripped off) from Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley
Kubrick’s famous collaboration, but it is the question of faith which is new
here. Clarke and Kubrick gave us a secular faith, scrubbed of God with the
mystery of the universe substituted. Dr. Shaw journeys into space with a vague
idea of what she seeks, but it’s interesting that in this universe, God is also
part of the journey.
The character of David also allows the film to explore the
meaning of existence. When he asks a crew member why he exists, the answer is for
no other reason than because humans could build him. David observes that a
human being would be very dissatisfied with that kind of answer for himself. A
compensation would be that there is no purpose, and no meaning to existence.
Yet while that offers consolation for someone who feels they need no god to
justify themselves to, it still leaves a void when the end of life approaches
and one craves meaning.
In charge on the journey is Meredith Vickers, an employee of
the trillionaire Peter Weyland. He was willing to fund this expedition, but Vickers
expected to find nothing. Instead, when they find a seemingly deserted complex
that appears to validate Shaw’s hypothesis, Vickers seems shocked. The ship’s
captain, Vanek, asks her, “Did you want them to be wrong?” A fair question. Some
people say there is no point in looking for God, and that conclusion keeps them
happy, because finding God might require something of them. As long as my
thinking stays the same, in other words, there is nothing that might require it
to change.
Just as Lawrence of Arabia was told there was nothing in the
desert – “and no man needs nothing” – the crew of the Prometheus seemingly find
a void with their discovery. The remains of “the Engineers” are nothing they
can communicate, or commune with. They find an alien species with a similar DNA
profile but also with a dark side that seems too familiar. The remaining Engineer
is not happy with his creation, evidently, and means to destroy it. When
Weyland, who has also come on this journey, goes to the Engineer hoping to
prolong his life, he discovers how dissatisfied the Engineer is.
On a very elementary level, “Prometheus” is a science
fiction horror film, which is why its main message seems to be, “longing for
the Creator brings on death.” The end of the movie gives no answers to Dr. Shaw
as to why the Engineers made the human race, and even though she has barely
survived, she wishes to continue the journey to find out. But before leaving,
she retrieves the cross she has worn around her neck. “After all, you still
believe,” David tells her. It was a
journey of faith that took her to the stars, and it is faith that perhaps will
lead her home.
