*The Giant Head / *Adam & Eve

I found two very interesting reviews about what Prometheus meaning, might not like some people, I do not agree with everything in the articles says, but it is very enlightening. *The Giant Head I have partaken of many discussions online and with my friends and co-workers about Prometheus (much of the time to their chagrin), and one question we just kind of tossed away was the origin of the giant head. I think we all just kind of assume that it’s part of their religion, possibly a kind of saint of theirs, and that somehow it shows their science and their faith are interconnected. I think that’s right, but it still kept bugging me that it features so predominantly in the film and in the marketing materials. That giant head is the equivalent of the egg of ALIEN, it sold the film. Like many ALIEN fans, I keep revisiting the forums where lots of fans have fun dishing out their theories on what symbols are there, and it really is a puzzle box picture. Scott knew he wanted Lindeloff because he knew about Lost, and he wanted this movie to be a puzzle box. One day I ran across probably the most brilliant insight into the film that answers the films question, and I’m sure that Scott and Lindeloff are surprised that no one had caught it before this person. He or she goes by prometheusfire08 on the prometheusforum.net. Here’s what PF figured out, and they are not wrong, and I don’t believe there is any way it’s just a theory: This is the head of Satan. More than that, this is a worship chamber for him and most likely a tomb for the fallen angels. Scott confirms that these are dark angels or “demons.” He was originally going to title the film PARADISE because he was so inspired by Milton’s work, and also William Blake’s statuesque illustrations based on that work. As discussed earlier, these are beings with a different intent than the beings at the beginning of the film that seed the planet with their life. Going to the forum I’ve mentioned, specifically the pages starting at http://www.prometheusforum.net/discussion/3082/ladies-and-gentlemen-the-tomb-of-satan-/p1 will get you a lot of visuals that should convince you, but if you are not already convinced, I have more supporting summarizations for his findings. As he states, the vials are arranged like persons in a church before their master. This supports the theory that the head, which is huge, is important and is both a leader and revered based on its adornment. Also there is a pedestal the same height of the vases that the head sits on, placing it above the height of them. The arrangement of the vases is in such a way as to suggest these are tombstones. More than that, I now think that these vases contain the remains of Satan’s followers, corrupted by his “sin” that causes weaponization, mutation and death. This would suggest that Satan was a kind of scientist who possibly rebelled against the other engineers, and these temples are the temples of his dark angel followers. Snakes are a symbol of Satan, and of course, the worms in the chamber are mutated into snakes. Why snakes? Why not just giant worms? I think we are being fed another clue by this symbolism. Note PF’s findings lining up the head with the head-shaped mural that stand behind it. How did we miss this clue? Upon first glance, it’s easy to detract by stating that you can see what you want to see. No way. The head is in the chamber to let you know he is their god, but it’s a key to the mural, and the mural says who this god is. Note there are eyes in the mural precisely where the eyes of the giant head would be. There is a nose directly below it centered toward the bottom of the mural, right above a curved altar that is precisely where the lips are formed. The altar includes a bowl and a green crystal. Remember this is the mouth. Where knowledge was “consumed.” Green, which is a symbol of ”Christmas” in Prometheus, is being used in this case to show that this is Satan’s envy of God, him wanting to be like the most high. Green can also be the color for envy. It erupts from the altar like a tongue. Is this the fruit of the tree of knowledge? Used by Satan to create his abominations? The words that sprang from the serpents mouth to tempt Eve? The bowl is another clue that this abomination can be ingested, just as the angel at the beginning of the film ingested it from a similar bowl. Also, it can represent the fact that his head was “crushed” yet another symbol of defeat… (see #6) At first I thought the pentagram was just silliness, but it’s absolutely there. Look at the mural again without the superimposition. Each point is represented by a swaying pattern in precisely the orientation that PF suggests. It is the symbol of baphomet. It seems to surround the xenomorph in the center of the mural. Baphomet is also known as Leviathan, who is also an image of Satan in the Bible. Baphomet and Leviathan is associated with water and creation in occultism. Remember the beginning of the movie. Also, each of the versions of the creature that emerge from Elizabeth is of a Sea creature, reinforcing the Leviathan representation. The xenomorph seems to be imprisoned in a cross, as if being destroyed by it. In the Garden of Eden, at the fall of man we learn that the snake was cursed to go on its belly after being used as a vessel for Satan which he used to tempt man. Could the Alien all this time be an original serpent that was weaponized by Satan using the corrupted bile? I think so. It’s possible that the xenomorph is the actual physical manifestation of evil, created by Satan to destroy man. There is a prophecy about Christ in the bible in the Garden of Eden:“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15This is not just in reference to the snake, but also to the crucifixion. He is stating that the cross would destroy Satan, and that Satan would bruise his heel (the nails). Many translations have better translated it as “crush” your head, and this is believed to be prophecy by most Judeo-Christian bible scholars.Other striking clues to this in the mural are the two face-hugger impregnated humanoid beings, one on either side of the lips. These both signify sexual perversion, and an antithesis to God’s design for procreation. Above the pentagram is a kind of tree, with massive branches, a vaginal and anal shape embedded in the center, where the trunk would be. The tree is I believe the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the female organs signifying eve and her being utilized to destroy mankind by Satan’s lie. Note that this is directly where the brain would be on the giant head, which is the arena that Satan defeated Eve: He won against her in a battle of the mind. Remember what I said about losing your head and pride being themes in Prometheus? Satan is a kind of Prometheus himself, many comparative religion scholars say they are really the same being with the same themes: Steal the fire (knowledge) and give it to the humans. Satan also fell because of pride: He wanted to create and be like God. There is a mural above showing Marduk and his pet Mushussu. I will cover this in another article, because the Anunnaki in the Sumerian religion parallels the bible in its creation story and seems to be the actual back story of the Engineers. Marduk in the bible is also known as Baal, or Baal-zebub – another name for Satan. This room is at least symbolic of the final resting place of Satan’s followers, the dark angels thrown out of heaven. You can draw an inference to the planet then being a place where the demons did their work away from earth, having not yet been cast into hell. Perhaps the writings on the head of Satan are his sins that caused his demise, or some kind of lament or even worship? Perhaps they are the written qualities that the Engineers wish to emulate. As stated before, this altar that lies before the mural of the xenomorph, this weapon created by demons, has a green crystal in it. The crystal is oddly protruded from the base of the altar like a tongue, but also emerging in the same fashion as the xenomorph head protruding from the dead engineer at the end of the film. So is it Satan that is Prometheus? The one who stole the fire from the gods “this hidden knowledge” and gave it to man? If you follow that thought, then what he gave to man would be the knowledge to reach this place and bring the disaster back to earth. Makes the tower of babel story in the bible very significant with regards to technology, pride, reaching the stars: From Wikipedia: According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where they resolved to build a city with a tower “with its top in the heavens…lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the Earth”. God came down to see what they did and said: “They are one people and have one language, and nothing will be withholden from them which they purpose to do.” So God said, “Come, let us go down and confound their speech.” And so God scattered them upon the face of the Earth, and confused their languages, and they left off building the city, which was called Babel “because God there confounded the language of all the Earth” (Genesis 11:5–8). God’s reasoning is that He didn’t want the people to be united as one, because Satan could control one people, and thus the entire world. In other words, if people unite as one, reaching the stars, Satan will destroy them. If this theory is true, then it brings all new light to the “invitations” that are the cave paintings. Interesting stuff indeed. http://www.reelholes.com/2012/09/05/dissecting-prometheus-part-8-the-giant-head/ * Adam & Eve There are many archetypes in Prometheus, but one I’ve only kind of skimmed is the story of Adam and Eve. I will skip the biblical account, because I think it’s one that everyone knows. In the film, there seem to be two competing “sets” of Adam & Eves. Sometimes in the film, there is reverse symbolism, which is symbolism where the concepts are the opposite and have the opposite meaning. (Life instead of Death, hate instead of love… In the case of the Adam & Eve, it can be role reversal, destruction instead of creation, the unnatural instead of the natural and so on.) It’s sometimes harder to pick up on reverse symbolism, and in fact there have to be some keys that point out what you are seeing is that. There are several such keys in Prometheus with regards to the Adam & Eve typology. The main indicator of reversal is the feministic nature of the movie: The Adams & the Eves have switched sexes. The Prometheus itself is a kind of Garden of Eden, but because it’s a garden of false creation, of technology instead of the natural, it’s not necessarily a “good” garden. You have a false God who instead of taking joy in his creation, only wants to use his creation to further his own agenda. Of course, this is Weyland, who hides himself from his creations, David and Vickers. A key here is that they both were created by Weyland, but he favors the unnatural creation of David over his original creation (who may or may not be natural) Vickers. David seems to be a “son” that is very similar to Vickers in appearance, as if he drafted the design from her, in the reverse way that God created Eve from Adam. Interesting as well is that Eve was crafted from the rib, which is close proximity to the “heart.” It’s really only the outside, the vanity in its essence that was used to model David from Vickers. The mind versus the soul again. This Adam & Eve fight over their creator… Adam is jealous of Eve: Vickers throws David against the wall… Eve knows the devil, and Eve won’t share it with Adam… The foot washing is another key that we are looking at a type of “god”, and within Vickers quarters we see several “false” projections of Nature. While from within the narrative, these are the images being sent to the planetoid before the crew arrive, a kind of “welcome” message, they also appear to serve this symbol as well, as they are playing out hugely in Vickers quarters. This Adam & Eve are the servants of Weyland, who is more of a devil than a god, and that’s another key to the reverse symbolism. Music in the film, specifically “instruments” seem to signify that someone is about to be about communication. Every time there is an instrument shown, the director wants you to see something else in the scene. It’s a huge key. In Vickers quarters there is a Grand Piano. A Grand Piano is a symbol of a life that is harmonious. But it’s the reverse. There is nothing harmonious with Vickers or her ship. The Piano is never played. While her quarters seem to be the nicest room on the ship, it’s a false heaven. Also note, in the projection there is a little girl playing a violin. A violin symbolizes harmony of the family unit. But again this is reverse symbolism. There is no sound. This represents Vickers wanting her father, her creator to love her. Off topic, there are other musical instrument symbols: The accordion represents winning someone’s love by a sad occurrence. Janek is singing about “If you can’t be with the one you love – Love the one you’re with.” Then he and Vickers make love off screen. The sad occurrence represents Janek’s sacrifice for the ship and for Vickers later in the film. There is another connotation of Eve tempting Adam in this scene, and remember that this act of Eve wanting to become more “human” begins the terrors that beset the crew, and it starts with Janek missing the distress in the temple. If he had heard that, might have things occurred differently? The garden is getting infected with forbidden knowledge. The green light from the hologram in the scene is shown saturating her… The color of envy, the pride of Satan. She will be expelled later from the garden via a lifeboat that looks like a sarcophagus, foreshadowing her fate. To leave the garden for this Eve is death. David, the Eve in the relationship with Vickers, goes off to the forbidden tree of knowledge and in an act of reverse symbolism, does not share it with Vickers, but instead cuts her off from being able to witness it. The flute of the engineers has multiple meanings, but in this context, it’s a pleasant meeting with friends from a distance. This is very interesting and worth noting because, the Engineers in the recording were preparing for a meeting alright, and the music is joyous in the film, with the Android dancing around in the lights. But they are coming to destroy us, you might be inferring. To the engineers, that is joyous to them. They are going to do what they were meant to do. This music is the creation music that plays at the beginning of the film. David, this false Eve, who has no real emotional connection to humanity, delights in the information itself. “Sometimes in order to create, one must first destroy.” Holloway and Elizabeth are also Adam & Eve. Their Garden of Eden is the temple, the archaeology they are at home within. Again, there is a kind of reverse symbolism with the sexes here as well, as Elizabeth is more the Adam, with Holloway representing the Eve. It’s a more intellectual conception in this case, as Holloway’s spirituality is the Eve drawn from the spiritual heart of Elizabeth, the Adam. Her pursuit of knowledge is driven by God, represented in the film via typology by her father in the dream when she was a child. Holloway is the weak Even in this version because his faith is false; he has more faith in the scientific explanation than the religious one. Before their Adam & Eve story plays out, there is another obviously symbolic scene from the garden, as well as another key scene I want to draw your attention to. They are both very important scenes in this theory, because they pave the way to the end of the film where there will be only one Adam and one Eve that will be exiled from this garden that is the planet itself. Remember two lines from the film, uttered on board the ship, each by the Adam and Eve that will not survive the mission, leaving the other two to survive. The lines represent the course of action, the spiritual position that each set represent, and it goes back to the straight lines talk. Holloway states that “God does not build in straight lines.” This represents the yielding flexibility of a soft heart and more spiritual state of being. Vickers asks David to pour her vodka “up” (straight). This party represents the inflexible, hard hearted, technology and scientific nature of their beings. This will be played out when the two competing feminists at the end will be tested by the falling sickle: One will not run straight, the other will. One will be flexible, the other will not. For some reason I am reminded of Dune “And he will bend like a reed in the wind.” This had the same symbolism in the fates of its two heirs. The scene that is key with regards to the line is the scene where both sets of Adams and Eves are in Vickers quarters arguing about knowledge and how to proceed. David is more silent here, playing the subservient robot Eve, but he’s all about patience and survival. He is more cunning, Holloway is more off the cuff and rash. Vickers Adam is the bully to Elizabeth’s. She is determined to survive through selfishness – she will not leave her comfort zone; Elizabeth is determined to survive through selflessness – she will put herself in harm’s way. Weyland while sleeping, this false god or Satan, will ask his creation David to give the apple to Holloway, to try harder to get knowledge. This serpent tricks Eve – “How far are you willing to go to get your answers” before the forbidden fruit is given. Also, in David’s mind, there can only be one Eve. We see Holloway (Eve) enter the bed of Adam & Eve. He emerges from the hologram she is watching as if in a sarcophagus – foreshadowing his death, he himself holding a rose. The Adam and Eve that don’t survive both are pictured in a coffin shape before their deaths. The infected Holloway (Eve) tempts Elizabeth who is wearing white, calling into question their creator’s intent. “There’s nothing special about creating life.” Elizabeth takes the fruit and is also cursed, pregnant with an alien life form. Holloway awakens to see himself in the mirror. He sees the serpent in his eye, the window to his soul. It’s as if he sees himself for what he really is. We also see a crucifix tattoo on his right shoulder. This signifies that even though his physical body is dying, his spiritual side is awakening. This represents Eve realizing her sin. David will have a similar Eve moment when the engineer rips off his head. Soon after, they return to the temple to get the missing crewmen. Remember that the temple is their garden. Holloway and Elizabeth are cast out of their garden, the quest for knowledge; the temple. Holloway realizes he must be destroyed and holds his hands out in a crucifix. Who kills him? Vickers, from the other team. She doesn’t want her Garden of Eden infected. She’s an unsuitable Eve because she is not willing to leave her paradise, instead wanting to cheat God. Of course there is the quest for knowledge, indeed the knowledge of good and evil as they return for answers, but the angels who guard the garden have expelled humanity. We are not welcome there. Weyland has now come to his God, the Devil, to ask for more life, only to be laughed at and killed. He has sold his soul for his technology, but his technology cannot save him. Why two sets of Adam & Eves? This is all about the war between religions. This is Kingdom of Heaven all over again. Also, religion VS Science. Two sets of faiths, fighting to the death, pointlessly. The true God in the movie, not what either side expects, unhappy over their fighting and quarreling. This is a huge point of the film. Religion without heart has no point. Whether it’s Christianity, science, or enter another here, God is a god of love, not fighting and quarreling. He is in the movie, in the actions of the enlightened ones: Elizabeth, the original engineer, Janek and his “thieves on the cross.” God sacrifices himself to save all humanity, but no one acknowledges it. Shaw (the Adam of faith) is left with the Eve of science to start over again, to “get answers.” Adam wants to walk again with God. Who is she about to meet to get that knowledge, though? Will Eve get in the way? To tie up the musical symbolism, in the crashed craft in which everything is destroyed, the film plays of the girl with the violin, but its pace is more frantic. The technology Eden is destroyed. The family is broken. The screen goes dark, and then what do we hear? We know the grand piano is nearby, though it is most likely broken, but now we hear Chopin playing, the Raindrop Prelude, and the music is only on a piano. The piano is finally played. There is harmony here now, but it’s an elegy in D minor – and the elegy, as I’ve said before, is for humanity. Humanity has transcended, but it’s towards it’s demise. [url=http://www.reelholes.com/2012/09/15/dissecting-prometheus-part-10-adam-eve-kingdom-of-heaven/]Dissecting Prometheus, Part 10: Adam & Eve[/url] *Link made clickable by Svanya