The myth of Prometheus is a popular one for writers and poets. After all, who doesn’t love a God who comes to earth bringing humans salvation? It was only a matter of time before science fiction grabbed hold of that myth by the short hairs and dragged into the Sci Fi cosmology blender to come up with something Deep and Meaningful.
I watched that movie on Saturday Night instead of going to dinner with friends. I was passing a kidney stone without drugs (a fact the relevance of which will be revealed soon) and figured I could use something Deep and Meaningful to take my mind in a new direction.
Okay. I lied. I said this was going to be a blog post where I talked of Prometheus. It isn’t. It’s going to be a blog post where I gripe long and hard about Damon Lindelof.
I realise most people don’t pay attention to who the writer is on a given project; that sort of thing is an occupational hazard reserved for writers and other obsessives. So most people who went to the theatre or the video to watch this visually stunning and allegedly deep movie aren’t aware that the architect of its philosophy is none other than the guy who brought you the Deep and Meaningful philosophies of the TV show Lost.
Damon Lindelof is King Of The Premise For Laypeople. The world is filled with folk who haven’t read basic speculative texts like The Bible, Chariots of the Gods and the various mythologies that have collected in different cultures over time. Lindelof’s gift–if it can indeed be called a gift–is that he knows how to tease the uninitiated with the juicier tidbits of metaphysics. It’s the same schtick, really, that Dan Brown took to the bank a decade ago. By regurgitating ideas from mid-century garage sale “shocker” paperbacks* inside a compelling setup these men brought speculative fiction to the masses.
Unfortunately there are two problems. The first problem is that if you aren’t “of the masses” you aren’t going to be wowed. The general public is enthralled with the idea of life on earth originating with ancient aliens who came here from advanced extraterrestrial civilisations and gave us…fire. Most science fiction fans have watched hours and hours of Stargate and are pretty much done with the ‘wow’ of that particular theory.
The other problem is familiar to anyone who sat through Lost or who has read a Michael Crichton novel. Premises don’t always make for the best stories. It’s very rare for someone who is gifted in concocting a good “What If?” question to be able to carry that through the beats that make up a traditional story. When you distill a basic story structure to {Introduction, Conflict, Resolution} it’s obvious to see that Lindelof, Crichton, Stephen King and others are wonderful with Introduction and Conflict but absolutely horrible at Resolution. Most writers I’ve talked to have the most problem with Resolution in their own work…me included. It’s a hard thing to do, to bring all the pieces into place satisfactorally.** Think back on all the trilogies you’ve read or seen that started off great and ended in dull and unsatisfying whimpers. You see what I mean.
Prometheus the film is the bastard child of Blade Runner and the first two episodes of Lost. It teases the viewer with those great Whatifs and wraps it in a very good-looking package. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough to take my mind off the problems of this world. Other than the problem I have of being generally irritated with David Lindelof’s methods.
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*Lindelof dusted off Chariots Of The Gods; Brown exploited Holy Blood Holy Grail
**Examples of authors I’ve seen who can make it work include Phillip K. Dick, Robert Masello, JK Rowling, Lois McMaster Bujold, and David Anthony Durham.
Prometheus was definitely a disappointment, but I’ll probably go see the sequel it if comes out for the scifi effects and because I’m curious to see if he can redeem the story.
Lost was such a losing proposition for me. I agree with the difficulty of resolution. I have that problem, too. Readers read to have their questions answered. Writers don’t always know the answers to their own questions, as genius as their questions are.
Odd… I watched “Prometheus” for the first time Sunday nite, then wrestled all Monday with blogging a review of Mr. Scott’s nebulous meta-narrative.
Seems no one wants to come down hard on any specific world-view statements these days, so Indecisive is the new Profound.
“Because I choose to believe it.” Really? What about truth?
That’s PURE Lindelof. That equivocation in the face of a declaration of ANYTHING. You saw Lost? Think of the smoke monster or the big super power of the Island. When it came time to actually make a declarative statement he just faltered.
I’m not sure if that’s a creeping relativism or a stunning lack of creativity. Either way it bugs me.
Pardon the brevity and the typos. This was sent from my iPhone.
I was horribly disappointed by Prometheus. But then it’s a rare occasion I find a movie that doesn’t disappoint me. I am so jealous of friends who seem to just love every movie they see.