7. Science vs Religion
On the surface
Prometheus has a distinctly Nietzschean theme in that it is about the death of the concept of the traditional god, and in case this escaped you whilst you were enraptured with the movies wonderful set-pieces, there is a post-credits scene where you can see a young Peter Weyland pepping himself for a TED talk speech by quoting Nietzsche. And yet, despite Ridley echoing similar concepts during interviews when he says the biggest source of evil is of course religion the movie- as discussed in my last article- is replete with religious symbolism and theological overtones. Depending on your own stance on religion and science you might be accuse the movie of being pro-science or anti-science when it is of course neither. What
Prometheus does is challenge you to grasp that, in all likelihood, whatever you hold to be true about religion or science then you are almost certainly incorrect. Whatever your stance is, it requires an element of belief and conviction (thats why they call it a thesis, doctor!)...
Prometheus posits that the inconvenient truth is out there in the heavens, not in Heaven, and its going to shock you to your very core. And it harks back again and again to the fact that we as a species yearn above all else for meaning, whether we look for it in the Bible, the Qur'an, or in a petri dish.
Key line: Elizabeth Shaw - "It's what I choose to believe..."