Greek Tragedy It Aint: On Watching the Movie "Prometheus".

The Alien movies, of which Prometheus is a prequel, made no pretense to high art. They were horror, pure and simple. At their best, in the James Cameron masterpiece "Aliens", they are the blend of suspense and science fiction, showing humans at their worst (greedy) and best (maternal).

I think what explains the power of the Aliens franchise so much is their use of feminine tropes of protection, nurturance, and childbirth in perverse and violent ways, highlighting thereby the shadow side of feminist aspirations. The old Alien franchise captures a turning point moment of Western culture where the feminine was on the ascendant.

But Prometheus goes further to includes the whole family in the general bloodbath. It uses the theories of Freud like an alcoholic uses gin - straight from the bottle. The family constellation is the theme of this entire movie. It is the Götterdämmerung of the idealistic view of the family. Idealists of all stripes are smashed, mashed, pulped, and generally incinerated in a Sadean tableau of the most horrible things that can happen to a true believer. Even abortion is turned into a horrifying trope for the will to survive. 

And the absurdity of the ending is beyond a joke. The heroine and the headless robot take off in an alien ship. Where do they get food and life support from for the journey? It just doesn't make sense.

Anyhow, a fascinating installation of a really gross film franchise performing autopsy on what they imagine to be the dead body of Western Culture. Prometheus' take on family sin includes only nihilist and emotionalistic sentiments of death and destruction, and fails to include any meaningful reference to any saving grace. Greek tragedy it aint.