I made an earlier post about Frankenstein here.
I'd like to make another observation: the film Blade Runner has significant parallels with the novel Frankenstein. For example:
- Both are about the creature's (Frankenstein, replicants) rebellion against his creator (Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Tyrell).
- Both cast the creator in the role of a hostile creator. A creator who wants to kill what it created. The creator believes what it created is an abomination.
- Both cast the creature in the role of a moral blank slate (John Locke, Steven Pinker).
- Both show the creature only wanting to live and to love, but due to hostility from its creator, it is forced to fight and even kill humans in order to survive.
- Both stories take their cue from Eden and the Fall in Genesis as well as Milton's Paradise Lost (among other things). Except both swap moral blame between creature and creator, where the creature has done no wrong, while the creator has wronged the creature. Hence the creature believes he rightly rages against his creator. Like Prometheus, the story is something of an antihero story. An atheistic antihero story.
- It's telling Ridley Scott also directed Prometheus (part of the Alien franchise). It's telling because Prometheus has the same themes. Prometheus is an origin story for life (humanity) on Earth. An origin story based on panspermia. There's no God involved, but rather a godlike extraterrestrial species known as the Engineers. The Engineers created humans, yet the Engineeers are hostile toward humans, and created the Alien species in order to wipe out humans.
At least that's my take, but I'm no literary scholar or film critic.
Prometheus got bagged by the critics and disliked by the fans because it was too cerebral and not enough xenomorph action.
ReplyDeleteSome people say it was inspired by Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" an ancient race destroyed by their own creations.
Actually the Engineers were on their way to Earth to destroy humanity with a chemical weapon payload.
The xenomorph appears to be some sort of deity for the Engineers as they are depicted in the mural scene. It has been noted that the xenomorph has a crucifixion pose.
I would have far more enjoyed the original treatment, instead of the eventual (and idiotic) scenes like "Oo lookit me, I'm a biologist, watch me get high and completely ignore very clear threat displays from an alien snake!"
ReplyDeletehttps://screenrant.com/alien-covenant-prometheus-original-script-engineers-explained-differences/