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In Reply to: RE: You're gonna argue about the genre now? It's sci fi. More specifically, it's the prequel of Alien posted by Jazz Inmate on August 23, 2013 at 10:45:08
You wrote,
"How could David have human feelings? He's not human."
That's kind of a major theme in Prometheus - who's human, who's not human, how can you tell the difference? The Engineers had human DNA but didn't look human, you know, what with the dark, dead eyes and white blue skin. Was the character played by Charlize Theron, Weyland's daughter, a robot like David? It's difficult to be sure, but if she wasn't she certainly behaved like one.
As I intimated earlier, this is a BIG theme in Blade Runner - were the replicants as human than humans? How do you tell if an individual is a human or a replicant? With embedded memories put there by Tyrell even the replicants sometimes were not aware they weren't human. Cases in point - Rachel and Deckard. In A.I., by the end of the movie, humans had ceased to exist, and robots had learned to create increasingly advanced robots until they were super human. In fact, I don't think I'd be going out on limb too much by saying that Prometheus has more in common with Blade Runner than with Alien. The ideas that robots and computers can be made to think, learn and have human emotions are concepts that run through many science fiction movies.
Follow Ups:
> > "How could David have human feelings? He's not human." That's kind of a major theme in Prometheus - who's human, who's not human, how can you tell the difference? < <
No, that wasn't the theme. The theme was an exploration of the role of faith versus empiricism.
> > The Engineers had human DNA but didn't look human, you know, what with the dark, dead eyes and white blue skin. < <
No, humans had engineers' DNA. The engineers apparently came first. There is very little difference between, for example, human and other primate DNA, so it isn't that hard to suspend disbelief for this stuff. Also many human languages had origins in the engineers' language, in the film.
> > Was the character played by Charlize Theron, Weyland's daughter, a robot like David? It's difficult to be sure, but if she wasn't she certainly behaved like one. < <
It's not at all difficult to be sure if you paid attention to the movie. When the pilot asked her if she was a robot, that was a joke designed to get her to warm up and it worked.
> > As I intimated earlier, this is a BIG theme in Blade Runner - were the replicants as human than humans? How do you tell if an individual is a human or a replicant? With embedded memories put there by Tyrell even the replicants sometimes were not aware they weren't human. < <
That's nice but we're discussing Prometheus, not Blade Runner or Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep.
> > Cases in point - Rachel and Deckard. In A.I., by the end of the movie, humans had ceased to exist, and robots had learned to create increasingly advanced robots until they were super human. < <
Again, not relevant.
> > In fact, I don't think I'd be going out on limb too much by saying that Prometheus has more in common with Blade Runner than with Alien. < <
It has more in common with Alien in that Prometheus was an exploration of elements of human faith in the same way that Alien was an exploration of elements of human consciousness. You clearly had zero interest or understanding of the significant role of faith as juxtaposed from empiricism in the film. So you latched onto other things that largely aren't even in the film.
> > The ideas that robots and computers can be made to think, learn and have human emotions are concepts that run through many science fiction movies. < <
Yes, those are vehicles to explore very broad questions like, what makes us human? Prometheus looks at more specific questions about the role of faith, technology and creation.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
> > In fact, I don't think I'd be going out on limb too much by saying that Prometheus has more in common with Blade Runner than with Alien. < <
"It has more in common with Alien in that Prometheus was an exploration of elements of human faith in the same way that Alien was an exploration of elements of human consciousness. You clearly had zero interest or understanding of the significant role of faith as juxtaposed from empiricism in the film. So you latched onto other things that largely aren't even in the film."
Alien was an exploration of elements of human consciousness? Really? I thought it was just a monster movie. Aren't you reading a little too much into it? Now if you wish to argue that Blade Runner was an exploration of what defines the human mind I'm on board.
> > The ideas that robots and computers can be made to think, learn and have human emotions are concepts that run through many science fiction movies. < <
"Yes, those are vehicles to explore very broad questions like, what makes us human? Prometheus looks at more specific questions about the role of faith, technology and creation."
I suspect the whole concept of humans having been created by aliens as opposed to the concept of Darwinian evolution or Adam and Eve is enough to turn the question of what constitutes being human on its head. I also think that in the context of Prometheus faith is used in the pejorative sense frequently. You know, as in blind faith. Weyland has faith in Dr. Shaw's belief that the cave paintings are an invitation and has faith that he can find immortality; otherwise he wouldn't have spent one trillion dollars on the mission. Janek, the Prometheus skipper, has faith in Dr. Shaw when she implores him to ram the ship into the Engineer's spaceship. And the rest of the crew has faith in Janek and Dr. Shaw. Do you see the irony? As an old boss of mine at NASA once told me, never get behind anyone 100%.
"It's what I choose to believe." - Dr. Elizabeth Shaw
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