The main feature of my theory regarding Prometheus is that much of the mission depicted in the movie is a simulated reality replay of the events of an earlier mission and is based mostly memories of some of the crew from that mission (there is also probably some manipulation of events by the person running the simulation). In effect the past has been brought forth into the present.
Ridley gives us a clue or foreshadowing of the past being brought forth into the present (the mission that is presented in the film) through the use of the hologram (a form of simulated reality) in the mission meeting. The hologram of the possibly long-deceased Weyland, is from the past and is "bought forth" into the present/future and, in a limited way, is able to interact with the other characters - for example, David, Holloway and Shaw. Ridley repeats this concept with the space jockey holograms - they are from the past, more than likely already dead, yet, altho there's no interaction, David and the crew are able to observe what happened to them in the past.
Now for some evidence. Let's have a look at the frenzied end sequence when Shaw is in the escape pod. The focus is on Holloway's ring - when she's wearing it and when she isn't - and where the action is taking place.
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The above two images are taken just before Holloway discovers the worm in his eye. The significance of these shots are the importance Ridley attaches to Holloway's removal of his ring - as signified by the extreme close-up of him placing it on the wash basin. In my theory, Holloway knows his goose is cooked, that he is sacrificing himself for the sake of the mission and leaves the ring left behind for Shaw to find. For some reason it is important that she wear the ring.
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The above images are the reverse of the Holloway ones, showing Shaw picking up the ring (another extreme close-up) and putting it on. Remember, before she puts the ring on, she is very distraught and looks like she has lost the will to go on. It is Holloway's ring that gives her the strength to keep going.
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When Shaw arrives at Vicker's "lifeboat" pod, escaping the mayhem outside, we would be expecting her to be wearing the ring on her left hand (altho we can't be sure because she is wearing gloves)
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However, when she takes her gloves off, the ring, which she should be on her left hand, is nowhere to be seen. The often ambiguous Ridley clearly wants us to see this and gives us a good look in shot three.
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Shaw investigates the noise coming from the medpod room. In her POV we can see the swinging medpod as Shaw left it and sqiddlo post-op.
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Shaw gets call from David, who mysteriously seems to know where she is. She is still not wearing the ring at this stage. Pic 7 is where, I think, a memory switch takes place.
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Shaw unravels herself from the squid/jockey wrestle and, lo and behold, there's the ring - lit up like a christmas tree. Once again, Ridley is giving us every chance of spotting this. Pic 9 is outside Vicker's pod and Ridley gives us a nice close up of the ring. When Shaw joins David, we see she still has the ring. However, when she is lowering him from the jockey ship, she has her gloves back on, so we can't be sure which Shaw she is - the ringless one or the other (Ridley is perhaps trying to make it look like there are two Shaws - this is not really the case).
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Meanwhile, the wrestling match inside the pod continues with squiddo getting the upper hand (since he has more of them). We learn here that the squid is definitely male - he comes very quickly and immediately falls asleep, as if dead. However, very importantly, if we look past the wrestlers into the medpod room, we see that not only is the swinging, bloodied medpod gone (see pic 5), but has it has been replaced by something else, possibly what Holloway was sitting on while the others were blowing up the jockey head. In fact, what we see over squiddo's shoulder is probably not even the medpod room. (For comparison, pic 11 shows the medpod room pre-op).
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This image is not from movie but a photo taken on set but I included it because it gives a much clearer view of the pod room. But if you look at the actual end scene you will see the bottom part of the swinging medpod behind the dead squiddo.
So what is actually happening in this end sequence? It looks like there are two Shaws in two different locations (and perhaps different time dimensions) and the action is switching back and forth. This is not what's happening.
To explain this properly I need to wind back the movie. The person we know as Shaw is receiving memories from Ford, the real Shaw from the (much) earlier mission (as well as memory implants from others on board). The memory transfer and implants are not instance but take place over the length of the movie.
I'll start with Ford.
1. When we first see Ford at breakfast she has red hair, similar to Shaw's. Small clue.
2. During the land, Ford is very chirpy and animated. We don't see her like this again. She is also doing the science stuff - atmosphere readings, terrain data. - things you'd think our two intrepid scientists, S and H, would be doing. They're not doing it because they don't know shit about science.
3. However, even though Ford is quite chirpy, she confuses CO2 with carbon monoxide (pretty dumb whether you're a scientist or a nurse). She also says, "Peak portside" but right (port is left). This is a clue that the memory theft has already started.
4. It's all downhill after that. Even though she's in numerous scenes right up to the end, she doesn't contribute much. There's her panicky effort prior to blowing up the jockey head and she screams when the snake jumps out of Milburn's mouth. But after her clash with Shaw in the medical room (where she momentarily regains some of her chirpiness), she's doesn't utter a sound. No more science, she's more like a nurse for the aged as she accompanies Weyland to the jugger.
5. During the confrontation with the jockey, she can't even offer up a scream.
6. And Ridley gives us another clue. In the shot immediately after David makes his statement - "in order to create first one must destroy," we see a close-up of Shaw - the one that is being created. Then Shaw moves slightly to the left to reveal Ford behind her - the one who is being destroyed. Shaw then moves back to center screen, eclipsing Ford both literally and metaphorically.
For Shaw the journey is in the opposite direction. She moves from someone who has moments of doubt and very little in her head apart from what's been implanted - hence the "I choose to believe" because she has nothing else to offer except a few implanted memories. She becomes more competent in science as the memory transfers kick in (altho it's pretty whacko at times). By the end of the movies she is a much stronger character and is telling the captain what to do.
Sorry but I'll have to finish this tomorrow sometime - I'm using my wife's laptop at the moment and she's kicking me off. Thank god because I'm knackered. And my apologies for those posts I haven't replied to yet.mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">
Ridley gives us a clue or foreshadowing of the past being brought forth into the present (the mission that is presented in the film) through the use of the hologram (a form of simulated reality) in the mission meeting. The hologram of the possibly long-deceased Weyland, is from the past and is "bought forth" into the present/future and, in a limited way, is able to interact with the other characters - for example, David, Holloway and Shaw. Ridley repeats this concept with the space jockey holograms - they are from the past, more than likely already dead, yet, altho there's no interaction, David and the crew are able to observe what happened to them in the past.
Now for some evidence. Let's have a look at the frenzied end sequence when Shaw is in the escape pod. The focus is on Holloway's ring - when she's wearing it and when she isn't - and where the action is taking place.
The above two images are taken just before Holloway discovers the worm in his eye. The significance of these shots are the importance Ridley attaches to Holloway's removal of his ring - as signified by the extreme close-up of him placing it on the wash basin. In my theory, Holloway knows his goose is cooked, that he is sacrificing himself for the sake of the mission and leaves the ring left behind for Shaw to find. For some reason it is important that she wear the ring.
The above images are the reverse of the Holloway ones, showing Shaw picking up the ring (another extreme close-up) and putting it on. Remember, before she puts the ring on, she is very distraught and looks like she has lost the will to go on. It is Holloway's ring that gives her the strength to keep going.
When Shaw arrives at Vicker's "lifeboat" pod, escaping the mayhem outside, we would be expecting her to be wearing the ring on her left hand (altho we can't be sure because she is wearing gloves)
However, when she takes her gloves off, the ring, which she should be on her left hand, is nowhere to be seen. The often ambiguous Ridley clearly wants us to see this and gives us a good look in shot three.
Shaw investigates the noise coming from the medpod room. In her POV we can see the swinging medpod as Shaw left it and sqiddlo post-op.
Shaw gets call from David, who mysteriously seems to know where she is. She is still not wearing the ring at this stage. Pic 7 is where, I think, a memory switch takes place.
Shaw unravels herself from the squid/jockey wrestle and, lo and behold, there's the ring - lit up like a christmas tree. Once again, Ridley is giving us every chance of spotting this. Pic 9 is outside Vicker's pod and Ridley gives us a nice close up of the ring. When Shaw joins David, we see she still has the ring. However, when she is lowering him from the jockey ship, she has her gloves back on, so we can't be sure which Shaw she is - the ringless one or the other (Ridley is perhaps trying to make it look like there are two Shaws - this is not really the case).
Meanwhile, the wrestling match inside the pod continues with squiddo getting the upper hand (since he has more of them). We learn here that the squid is definitely male - he comes very quickly and immediately falls asleep, as if dead. However, very importantly, if we look past the wrestlers into the medpod room, we see that not only is the swinging, bloodied medpod gone (see pic 5), but has it has been replaced by something else, possibly what Holloway was sitting on while the others were blowing up the jockey head. In fact, what we see over squiddo's shoulder is probably not even the medpod room. (For comparison, pic 11 shows the medpod room pre-op).
This image is not from movie but a photo taken on set but I included it because it gives a much clearer view of the pod room. But if you look at the actual end scene you will see the bottom part of the swinging medpod behind the dead squiddo.
So what is actually happening in this end sequence? It looks like there are two Shaws in two different locations (and perhaps different time dimensions) and the action is switching back and forth. This is not what's happening.
To explain this properly I need to wind back the movie. The person we know as Shaw is receiving memories from Ford, the real Shaw from the (much) earlier mission (as well as memory implants from others on board). The memory transfer and implants are not instance but take place over the length of the movie.
I'll start with Ford.
1. When we first see Ford at breakfast she has red hair, similar to Shaw's. Small clue.
2. During the land, Ford is very chirpy and animated. We don't see her like this again. She is also doing the science stuff - atmosphere readings, terrain data. - things you'd think our two intrepid scientists, S and H, would be doing. They're not doing it because they don't know shit about science.
3. However, even though Ford is quite chirpy, she confuses CO2 with carbon monoxide (pretty dumb whether you're a scientist or a nurse). She also says, "Peak portside" but right (port is left). This is a clue that the memory theft has already started.
4. It's all downhill after that. Even though she's in numerous scenes right up to the end, she doesn't contribute much. There's her panicky effort prior to blowing up the jockey head and she screams when the snake jumps out of Milburn's mouth. But after her clash with Shaw in the medical room (where she momentarily regains some of her chirpiness), she's doesn't utter a sound. No more science, she's more like a nurse for the aged as she accompanies Weyland to the jugger.
5. During the confrontation with the jockey, she can't even offer up a scream.
6. And Ridley gives us another clue. In the shot immediately after David makes his statement - "in order to create first one must destroy," we see a close-up of Shaw - the one that is being created. Then Shaw moves slightly to the left to reveal Ford behind her - the one who is being destroyed. Shaw then moves back to center screen, eclipsing Ford both literally and metaphorically.
For Shaw the journey is in the opposite direction. She moves from someone who has moments of doubt and very little in her head apart from what's been implanted - hence the "I choose to believe" because she has nothing else to offer except a few implanted memories. She becomes more competent in science as the memory transfers kick in (altho it's pretty whacko at times). By the end of the movies she is a much stronger character and is telling the captain what to do.
Sorry but I'll have to finish this tomorrow sometime - I'm using my wife's laptop at the moment and she's kicking me off. Thank god because I'm knackered. And my apologies for those posts I haven't replied to yet.mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">
