Quote from: Gash on Dec 19, 2011, 01:49:29 AM
The way some comments are going anyone would think this film is going to be a religious epic, something I'm not seeing at all myself in any of the genuine quotes. There isn't anything that suggests supporting creationism, anymore than any other sci fi story that has used a similar premise has. All I've seen is that a character will have to question their faith.
It's fiction, and drama is all the more effective if somehow finds their assumptions challenged. It reminds me of misconceptions about an episode of 1970s British post apocalyptic TV series 'Survivors' in which a religious group put their faith in God to save them, only to find that their arriving saviors - another group of survivors have brought a contagious virus with them. So all the religious characters die. Some critics just wrote it off as preachy TV suited to Sunday evening viewing rather than sci fi drama. In other words completely missing the point.
The same could be said of a part of the story in Day of the Triffids. Just because religion themes are touched upon doesn't mean that there's an underlying support of religion. Or not.
Same with Prometheus. Themes are there to create a story with drama and conflict (that's mental conflict). It doesn't actually have to say anything about what Ridley Scott himself believes.
He's built a new grand mythology - a fiction stemming from the SJ in A L I E N.
Cool, what's wrong with that?
Obviously, what we're all concerned about is the dramatic and emotional potential of the story. I expect nothing from Scott short of a punch in the stomach, a unique experience I would walk from dizzy and reeling and that would constitute a drastic departure from the tepid stuff studios churn out on an industrial basis. The Thing prequel was rather enjoyable but I was struck by how bland the treatment was compared with Carpenter's sicko, stylish masterpiece.
In "Alien Vault", you can read Scott declared that he was fascinated by the no-bullshit nature of the script, "something that was utterly about function" (which echoes what Ash says about the Alien). That does not seem to make him much of a mystic. About "Blade Runner", which film critics disparaged because of its so-called lack of content, he said that "in this case, the design IS the statement".
And yet... I have a hunch that this time, this particular horror piece will be intellectually as well as emotionally disturbing. Visceral and cerebral at the same time, a tale of space and inner exploration. I hope it will really be Scott's vision, unmarred by any interference from execs' marketing concerns.
