The version of the origin of life on planet Earth as a result of a biological experiment by aliens is attractive to many filmmakers. The meaning of the film “Prometheus” is revealed as the plot develops and the discoveries of the astronauts who went to the Ridley Scott Universe are analyzed.
The meaning of the film Prometheus: an explanation of the plot & ending
Summary of “Prometheus”
The film opens with a scene on a devastated planet. The giant drinks the black liquid, after which his body turns to dust. Already the opening scene of the film “Prometheus” reveals the meaning of the plot. The Creator’s DNA that gets into the water is transformed into new chains, and then into cells.
Several million years later, archaeologists on Earth find mysterious maps that are regarded as invitations to a meeting with the Creators.
The expedition stretches over many years. Astronauts land on an ancient station where they discover a bunker filled with a strange black liquid. A small amount is accidentally spilled, causing local worms to turn into dangerous monsters.
Android David decides to conduct an experiment. He slips the black liquid into the drink of one of the men who will spend the night with Elizabeth Shaw. A woman finds out about her pregnancy and extracts a fetus resembling a squid from herself.
The team is near one of the giants. It turns out that the creature must destroy the Earth. The giant comes to life and kills nearby members of the expedition.
Elizabeth is rescued by a creature that crawled out of her. The woman, together with the android David, flies to the planet of the Creators in search of the truth.
The meaning of the plot
The meaning of the film “Prometheus” is revealed by Ridley Scott himself. The writer refers to the Engineers as gardeners of space. Creators arrive on empty planets for the sake of the birth of life on them. In addition, they periodically visit the planets on which the created civilizations develop. Races that have gone astray will be destroyed. For ordinary people, Engineers are endowed with divine power. The “cleansing” of the planets by the Creators is comparable to the global flood sent to the Earth, mired in inequality, corruption and cruelty. This fact emphasizes the parallelism of the plot with the biblical motif.
Main characters
The heroes of the film are united by emptiness and a desire to return the meaning of life thanks to higher powers:
- Elizabeth Shaw is the only believer on the expedition. A woman dreams of happiness and peace that she lost on Earth. Elizabeth hopes to learn the secret of life from the Creators. The suffering and cruelty that befell her on the planet of the Creators destroyed the vulnerability of a woman.
- Wayland is a fanatical scientist who dreams of recognition and eternal life. He wants to get freedom from the Creators.
- Holloway. Does not recognize any religion. His goal is to destroy the Creators and gain freedom.
- Android David. I am confident in equality with the Creators, its main goal is to meet with them.
- Meredith. Wayland’s daughter, jealous of her father for the android David he created. He strives to prove his talent to his father.
The arrival of people on an alien planet is regarded by Engineers as a danger to other races. Thanks to technological progress, people are able to harm other civilizations. These reasons explain the meaning of the intentions of the Creators in the film “Prometheus” (2012). The Engineer kills the expedition and intends to destroy the Earth.
On a note! The title of the film is based on the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus. According to legend, Prometheus gave people the stolen divine fire, causing the wrath of the gods. The film presents a parallel in which people tried to unravel the forbidden mystery. For this, the expedition paid a very large fee.
To unravel the meaning of the film “Prometheus” will help the hierarchy built in the civilization of Engineers: black goo – the god of engineers – engineers – people. Engineers endow themselves with divine power, because they create life. Only death distinguishes them from the gods. In this case, there is a dissonance with the order established on Earth. According to Christian canons, God created the Earth from chaos. The creators claim that it is possible to create a new one by destroying the old.
The meaning of the ending of “Prometheus”
At the end of the film, the survivor of the ship “Prometheus” was the woman Elizabeth Shaw. With David’s head torn off, she continues to search for the truth in outer space.
There are several versions of the meaning of the ending:
- The symbiosis of man and robot will allow you to create creatures endowed with human emotions and the capabilities of robots.
- The predominance of the soul over soullessness. The only believer survived in the film.
- The predominance of the feminine over the masculine. When analyzing the physiology of the Creators, it becomes clear that their DNA is identical to the DNA of earthlings. Creators are people whose evolution lasts much longer than human development. In their civilization there is no separation of the sexes. The origin of life takes place in a test tube, women in such a civilization are superfluous.
The theme of reproduction and procreation is acutely felt in the film. The scene of the Creator’s self-sacrifice at the beginning of the film “Prometheus” reveals the meaning of the need for procreation for any civilization. Having lost their reproductive function in the process of evolution, giants sacrifice themselves for the sake of reproduction. At the end of the film, a modern woman survived, which can be regarded as the idea of the screenwriter to demonstrate the main meaning of the film “Prometheus” – the importance of continuing life for humanity.
Each hero of the film, going on an expedition, pursued his own goals. Elizabeth Shaw is an image of the feminine, listening to her own intuition and often thinking irrationally. In the finale, she dominates the rational (image of David). The film reveals the possible idea of the need to change the patriarchal system and the inadmissibility of the disappearance of the feminine.
