In December of 2006, I saw a film that blew my imagination. ‘The Fountain’, directed by Darren Aronofsky. However, as the credits rolled, I didn’t know what I had just seen. And I wasn’t the only one. An elderly woman who was seated to my right, turned to me as the lights came back on and asked ‘Can you explain to me what that was about?’ I just shrugged.
If you haven’t seen ‘The Fountain’, I wont spoil anything for you. I won’t even recommend it. I will say that the movie itself was an amalgam of science fiction, history, religion and fantasy with a ‘Fear Of Death’ theme running though it. I have seen this movie over ten times since then and each time I take something new away from it.
‘Prometheus’ came out earlier this month. The original “Alien’ holds a place in my top ten movies of all time. I can put this one on a loop as well. The thought of a sci fi horror prequel directed by Ridley Scott and a screenplay penned by one of the minds from the mass pondering TV series, LOST had my attention. So much so, I attended a midnight screening.
When it finished, I immediately thought of ‘The Fountain’. My mind was a cluttered mess. The meaning of life, faith, metaphysics, creation and spaceships. While not as ‘chest bursting’ driven as ‘Alien’, my initial feeling was that I loved it.
There are many bits to this cinema puzzle, and a lot of things you can imagine on your own, or rationalize and speculate about. If anything, the makers should be commended for creating a work that isn’t spoon feeding the viewer and guiding them along. Call me whatever you wish, but it feels as though this trend in wanting all the answers spelled out is indicative of a greater shift in what a consumer wants from a film…clear-cut, thoughtless, entertainment.
Whether some people think ‘Prometheus’ is some astonishing piece of high art and others might think It’s nothing more or less than a film with an incredibly poorly written script. It’s clear to me that some needed a voice-over. They can’t handle not knowing. It’s the internet age where people get their jimmies all rustled when they can’t just look up the answers.
The fervor of ambiguous nature of the film has forced the hands of those involved to connect some of the dots. Go ahead and search out Ridley Scott’s comments on ‘Space Jesus’, or Lindelof spilling on some of the secrets.
That sounds boring to me. I don’t want the creator of any work to come out and tell me what it means. It’s much more satisfying to figure that out for myself. Now whether ‘Prometheus’ is the best use of our time to try to parse out meanings, that’s an open question. I for one was not disappointed, but demanding that the writer/director/whoever has to provide us with answers takes some of the fun out of it.
It would be an arrogant cop out if the movie gave us a definitive solution. The takeaway for me was that these aren’t easy answers to come by. I had SO MANY QUESTIONS when I walked out of the theater. It’s all about the perspective. There is supposed to be mystery, and a feeling as though you’re piecing this together, trying to understand through the conclusions you believe in. A great example of getting a ton of clues and that when you sit down to focus on the movie afterwards you start to see the whole picture.
And above all else, this movie catalyzes discussion. There is plenty of material to pick apart, interpret subjectively, and discuss with others. It’s part of the fun and that’s why I’m even beginning to like it even more. I’ve been thinking and rethinking about Prometheus since I saw it. To me it was pure science fiction porn, keeping me visually and mentally engaged the whole time. Just like ‘The Fountain’ did.
I think I get it now. Ok, maybe not.
-Dagobot