An early scene in Prometheus shows a hologram of the supposedly dead corporate giant Peter Weyland, who explains to those on the spacecraft of the same name as the film what exactly he hopes to accomplish with their investigation. The creation of humanity, the purpose of humanity, and what happens when humans die are what he says wants to discover. His allusion to the issue whether of whether there is life after death is a significant background aspect of the movie's themes. Certainly, the metaphysics of the uncaused cause (which Elizabeth Shaw hints at) and subsequent cycles of creation are more at the forefront. The connection of existential meaning, if it exists, to human origins is valid and inherently theistic. Death and an afterlife are still very important and recurring themes in the film.
An important character despite being far removed from a primary role, Weyland hopes to extend his life or perhaps entirely sidestep his death that his appearance suggests could strike at any moment. The Christian and Olympian references paralleled with various plot points foreshadow that his pursuit will not end well, as deep as the issue is and as sincerely as he hopes to find deliverance. Whether or not he has any motivation deeper than emotionalistic desperation (though desperation itself in the face of death is not a shallow thing whatsoever), Weyland is revived from stasis to obtain what he seeks.
Just before his death, he gets what he wishes for: he meets a living Engineer, a member of the extraterrestrial species that appears to have created humans, and attempts to communicate his desire for eternal life (or at least longer life) using his android David as a translator. As an android, David is an artificial version of a human being. Prometheus in fact heavily implies over and over that he is far more similar to humans than either he or general humanity would be comfortable with, experiencing emotions, desires for unhindered autonomy of the will, and existential pangs of longing and disappointment (by Alien: Covenant, he has become irrationalistically genocidal and assumes that he is superior to his creators and to their creators as well). Viewers are not told what David specifically says, but there are suggestions that he might have pointed to himself as an example of how Weyland is like the Engineers, since both can create a kind of life.
The Engineer does not display hostility towards any of the visitors until David conveys an initial message from Weyland through ancient Mesopotamian language for the alien to understand. The Engineers created humans and were involved in some early civilizations, so old languages were the most likely way to communicate, and yet the lone extraterrestrial does not as much as give a verbal reply before becomes wildly upset and tears David's head from his torso. Just as the Titan Prometheus of Greek mythology stole fire from the Olympians and was punished for it, the humans are here treated by the Engineer as if they are trying to steal the "fire" of creation and life extension from their creators.
Weyland himself is targeted and harshly pushed to the ground, an attack that is all the more potent because he is so close to dying. "There's nothing," he whispers next to David's head as life is about to depart from him. His misanthropic and yet helpful android replies, "I know. Have a good journey, Mr. Weyland." Weyland could not have known if there was no experience after biological death, if that is what he is referring to as very much seems to be the case, because he was not yet dead. A fading consciousness could suddenly reawaken or depart after the death of its body to find an afterlife, pleasant or unpleasant.
Without actually having a character put this into words, Prometheus only illustrates how a living being with human limitations, even moments from death, cannot know if there is an afterlife or which logically possible experiences it would consist of. Weyland dies on a distant planet, all of his wealth and his plans unable to do anything more than delay the arrival of death, passing away to see if immediate nonexistence of his immaterial consciousness (in which case all of his experience would cease) or if some kind of continued spiritual existence awaits him. In reaching for salvation from biological decline, he received precisely what he wanted to escape. Never have the Alien films touched on such matters of core metaphysics as they do in this movie, the possibility of eternal life and an afterlife included. Death, eternal life, and an afterlife are indeed major but background issues in Prometheus.
No comments:
Post a Comment