tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post1016614139527980890..comments2024-03-19T00:16:33.435-07:00Comments on Writing About Writing (And Occasionally Some Writing): Nine Things Prometheus Can Teach You About How NOT to WriteChris Brecheenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-24292006158412165372016-03-21T08:37:36.603-07:002016-03-21T08:37:36.603-07:00Ultimately, great themes, depth and metaphorical r...Ultimately, great themes, depth and metaphorical revelance cannot be superimposed upon a story. They have to emerge spontaneously from the premise and the narrative.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-73855211140825980742015-02-09T21:17:48.031-08:002015-02-09T21:17:48.031-08:00Interesting. I hadn't even thought about that....Interesting. I hadn't even thought about that. You've probably stumbled upon the plot of the next movie. (Human ship finds Elizabeth off course in cryofreeze. Antics ensue.) I don't have the movie handy, but I thought the things she said to David's head about why she wanted to go there were kind of touchy feely, but maybe I'm remembering it wrong.Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-82011393168590808272015-02-09T21:01:12.514-08:002015-02-09T21:01:12.514-08:00One thing that stood out to me that I interpreted ...One thing that stood out to me that I interpreted differently: I didn't think the message that Elizabeth Shaw intended to deliver to the Engineers' home world was anything like "why you mad bro?" I thought it was more along the lines of "Listen up, you oversized, pasty-faced, psychotic douchenozzles! You may have had a hand in making us, but that doesn't give you the right to destroy us. The fact that you think it does gives us the right to destroy YOU in self-defense, so here, have a BIG taste of your own omnicidal bioweapon!"Alex Harmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18081758930952296822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-51981830857163035842015-02-08T20:15:08.357-08:002015-02-08T20:15:08.357-08:00I really liked that character! (And like you, I th...I really liked that character! (And like you, I thought the film edged more toward making him kind of skeevy.)Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-31804575437495191172015-02-08T16:41:58.700-08:002015-02-08T16:41:58.700-08:00I seem to recall that Carl Sagan's "Conta...I seem to recall that Carl Sagan's "Contact," at least in the book, did a pretty good job of averting Cliché 1B; S. R. Hadden was certainly interested in prolonging his own life (he moved to an orbital habitat for that purpose), but his primary motivation seemed to be genuine scientific curiosity, and he certainly wasn't a villain. The film version tacked back in the direction of the cliché a bit just by casting John Hurt in the role -- he generally comes off as creepy except when all his considerable acting skill is directed to seeming otherwise -- but he still acts fundamentally as a *good* wizard, providing the protagonist with honest advice and support, not the evil wizard out to sacrifice the protagonist in pursuit of his own hidden ends.Alex Harmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18081758930952296822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-32688666162033046402013-11-01T10:15:07.717-07:002013-11-01T10:15:07.717-07:00Thank you so much!Thank you so much!Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-76543886809713530832013-11-01T08:55:38.206-07:002013-11-01T08:55:38.206-07:00Just read this whole thing in one sitting, couldn&...Just read this whole thing in one sitting, couldn't tear myself away. Fantastic analysis, and I'm glad somebody was able to make at least a bit of sense out of the movie because all I got was ??????. I liked it, but there was nothing solid i could talk about with people afterwards - character development, creepiness, etc - because it was so damn confusing. And jesus the thing with the rolling ship. I just. Really? So unnecessary and so goddamn stupid. But yeah thank you for the well done and highly entertaining article!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-22391933442544333972013-10-10T13:16:08.671-07:002013-10-10T13:16:08.671-07:00I agree! It was definitely a victim of Scott'...I agree! It was definitely a victim of Scott's success.Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-21393707530822099972013-10-09T11:09:29.188-07:002013-10-09T11:09:29.188-07:00I kept meaning to reply to this and never did. Thi...I kept meaning to reply to this and never did. This was a lot of fun to read. The movie, and especially the writing, had so many flaws. I just wanted to write in and say that I think the movie turned out that way simply because it had 100% chance of success so no one needed any discipline. That's it.<br /><br />Many great flops have had the same problem where the filmmaker had complete control and just kept changing what he wanted and ended up making a poor movie. On the other hand, I've read countless accounts of writers, directors, or producers who were desperate to leave their mark and had little time or money and made every moment count.<br /><br />Scott knew he could have any special effect he wanted, so he put a lot of them in. If he had had a limited budget he'd have had to go though every scene over and over again during pre-production to make sure they worked. Instead, he probably just kept saying it was good enough and we'll remake it as many times as necessary to perfect it in post production.<br /><br />If you know it is going to be a hit, then all you need are a couple of interesting plot points. If you have no idea if people will like it, then you go through each plot point and make sure the story flows and makes sense - AKA story telling!<br /><br />When I think of your breakdown of this movie, I contrast it with my favorite Doctor Who episode from 2005, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. The episodes had a great story, unexplained events, interesting/savy characters, and than at the end the Doctor was going to run around with lots of action and save the day. Except as they were filming the climax they ran out of time and money so they just said, "OK, instead just stand there and say the lines". And it all ended up working perfectly because the story had been set up so well.<br /><br />With Prometheus, you could have tacked on an entire extra week of filming and you couldn't have added more than a couple of band-aids because the story had so many parts that never worked.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />--GilgitAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-88817543313778809442013-08-16T10:12:04.494-07:002013-08-16T10:12:04.494-07:00I didn't mind that they left the heavy questio...I didn't mind that they left the heavy question unanswered. It would have been sillier if they'd tried to answer the really big stuff. But leaving the question of why the architect basically killed them all unanswered directly affected the lives of like six of them, so ITS omission was criminal.<br /><br />I like your theory. I like other theories I've heard too. But the audience shouldn't have to just make stuff up to explain a movie's own plot points. There should at least be clues. Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-34595825326539464902013-07-19T10:00:25.591-07:002013-07-19T10:00:25.591-07:00Argh. I actually liked the movie after I watched i...Argh. I actually liked the movie after I watched it, despite some silly stuff (like 100% DNA match). But I didn't realise that was some Jesus stuff going on - ok, I did think about Christianity as something that started roughly 2000 years ago, but I think the idea is really cheesy and I'm happy they dropped it. <br /><br />You know what - I really like unclear endings in some cases - not that I think that search is more important than finding the answer, I just think that's rather obvious it's hard to come up with good (i.e. mind-blowing or comical) explanation for heavy questions. So watching that film without knowing anything about alien-Jesus I really liked the idea that creators appeared rather to be some hyper aggressive makers of horrific bio weapons whose motifs were hard to understand. My theory was that they just didn't like the humanity, seen it as a failed experiment or just treated us like lab mice. Vampierzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03759682077902882302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-29219484578017437112013-07-16T18:10:07.006-07:002013-07-16T18:10:07.006-07:00Chris - great post. I've been meaning to write...Chris - great post. I've been meaning to write my own thoughts on the thing that bugged me most about Prometheus vis-a-vis Alien and your article has given me the opportunity. <br /><br />The aliens in Alien attacked the humans in a non-cellular/DNA manner. Their acid blood could kill you. The worker alien could bite your face off. The face-hugger could implant an egg in your chest cavity. There, all done - no more exposition required. Even the stupidest movie-goer understands that acid, eggs laid inside you, and faces eaten are bad. <br /><br />In addition to being an easy-to-understand danger (for the audience), the characters in Alien can navigate their universe without having to worry about simply touching the alien slime will get you killed. Otherwise the whole series would turn into a giant Purell commercial.<br /><br />Now fast-forward to Prometheus where the tiniest amount of this mysterious black goo can easily infect a subject leading to horrific outcome (eye-worms, zombisim, sexually transmitted squid babies, etc). <br /><br />Because of this hyper-contagious DNA-style danger, the Prometheus filmmakers are going to have to come up with ways for humans to do battle with the aliens without getting in physical contact with them because they've already established how easily one can get infected.<br /><br />Maybe they've already shown that they are just going to ignore this problem. Holloway got infected so easily and died while Shaw was able to suffer no ill-effects from her squid baby.<br /><br />And I'm with you on your review of the film. Loved it despite the bad writing.<br />DieHardThreehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14704779874806870887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-81766723454333026382013-07-08T23:22:41.740-07:002013-07-08T23:22:41.740-07:00I really like this idea.I really like this idea.Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-61280201124292412142013-07-08T23:20:34.254-07:002013-07-08T23:20:34.254-07:00Prometheus is not a terrible movie. It's just ...<i>Prometheus is not a terrible movie. It's just a very poorly written movie.</i><br /><br />I really just found in unredeemably painful. I think there might have been a couple of good special effects? Maybe? But these days those are so cheap they don't even count. Actually, if you're going to cheese the plot up that much you should cheese the special effects to match and just pretend you found an old film reel leftover from the 80s and decided to release it.Plymouth Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00539297105353238798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-60825230456340486242013-02-22T08:46:16.079-08:002013-02-22T08:46:16.079-08:00Not sure why there was comment moderation. Sorry....Not sure why there was comment moderation. Sorry.<br /><br />I think you might be onto something...Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-63059159324443447692013-02-22T04:14:06.602-08:002013-02-22T04:14:06.602-08:00I've always taken it as given that the 'ch...I've always taken it as given that the 'characters' in a play or screen play will only be as 'intelligent' and as charismatic the people who created them (the writers).<br /><br />Hence, if you employ a couple of young-ish, over-ambitious, conceited punks who aren't NEARLY as intelligent as THEY think they are to write your script for you .......Rainerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14411719599317046094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-7192623326785685342013-01-09T12:26:34.159-08:002013-01-09T12:26:34.159-08:00Yeah, I still probably could have found some cuts,...Yeah, I still probably could have found some cuts, but thank you!Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-82329649237457124272013-01-09T12:25:14.638-08:002013-01-09T12:25:14.638-08:00If you didn't hit an absolute nail on the head...If you didn't hit an absolute nail on the head almost every paragraph, I would have said this was way too long. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-71814277585099858442012-12-19T12:55:33.517-08:002012-12-19T12:55:33.517-08:00Thanks. I think for most people it's about th...Thanks. I think for most people it's about the visual effects, and those were (admittedly) absolutely spectacular.Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-21147140820441798502012-12-17T18:22:57.197-08:002012-12-17T18:22:57.197-08:00Holy crap this is a good review. I wish I could g...Holy crap this is a good review. I wish I could get my friends to read something this long. They all think it was SOOOO awesome....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-45921040128058813332012-11-15T17:58:33.757-08:002012-11-15T17:58:33.757-08:00Thank you!Thank you!Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-63060222575906507332012-10-07T21:58:46.479-07:002012-10-07T21:58:46.479-07:00I think this is probably the most comprehensive li...I think this is probably the most comprehensive list of everything wrong with that movie. Kudos!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-82072310570362210882012-07-06T11:15:24.724-07:002012-07-06T11:15:24.724-07:00That's a really good way of putting it: "...That's a really good way of putting it: "Open to interpretation" vs. "plot holes." <br /><br />I agree that it really felt like a draft.Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-69389702902628508512012-06-25T03:57:43.760-07:002012-06-25T03:57:43.760-07:00Yes; my thoughts in a (smaller) nutshell are very ...Yes; my thoughts in a (smaller) nutshell are very similar to your own: there is a difference between "vague & left open to interpretation"-- 2001: A Space Odyssey-- & "poorly written with giant plot holes." When I heard Prometheus was confusing I was excited-- hey, alright! Mystery!-- but then I saw it & realized it was confusing because it doesn't make any sense. My friend had an even better summary: "it was a promising first draft." Seriously, an editor could really have whipped that thing into shape.mordicaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05713766652793265867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-8771754946818222902012-06-23T13:22:00.322-07:002012-06-23T13:22:00.322-07:00Hey, thank you so much! ~blush~Hey, thank you so much! ~blush~Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.com