Zombies Ruin Everything

*There are spoilers in this article. Ye be warned!

Written by Bryce Waller

Recently, I returned to Prometheus for no other reason than because I wanted to, dang it! I have gone back and forth with this film since it came out in June of 2012.

Do I like really like it? Am I rationalizing for a terrible film because of how much I love Alien? Maybe it is good. Who knows, clearly not me; but I can say for sure that I love the cinematography in this film. You can doubt many things in this film, but Dariusz Wolski did a heck of a job.

But that’s not why I’m writing this.

Something that I noticed after my first viewing was Charlize Theron’s character, Vickers, had little to no emotion. And the emotion that was there seemed forced. I just thought Theron “phoned it in,” but I retreated from this thought process quickly because I believe Ridley Scott would not allow a main character to give anything less than their best for any of his films, especially one of this magnitude.

Okay, maybe a phone call or two has slipped through.

This led me to consider that Vickers is an android. Many people dismiss this idea based on a few scenes in the movie; most notable the fact that Weyland (Guy Pearce) refers to Vickers as his “daughter,” and, according to others, “she showed emotion.” After talking about the idea with others, and myself (I do that sometimes), I had not come to a concrete conclusion supporting a claim of human or android.

I have developed several ideas throughout the Alien franchise (Prometheus – Alien: Resurrection) that supports both claims for Vickers. The reason I have gone back and forth is because some of these claims can be used to prove Vickers is, in fact, human, and the same fact can be used to show she could be an android.

Evidence Vickers could be HUMAN:

• Going back to the point made earlier in the article, Weyland refers to Vickers as his “daughter.” She is heir to the throne that is Weyland Industries, but her father has other plans made evident in the film – SPOILER: He wants to live forever! This leads to a seriously dysfunctional father/daughter relationship.
• Vickers shows emotion. She fears for her own life when Janek (Idris Elba) plots a course to crash Prometheus (the ship) into the alien vessel in order to save the human race. Gosh, what a guy! She screams, she yells, she runs away in fear to escape certain death. Human traits right…not if you are Randy Quaid. She is also surprised when they find the caves.
• Do androids have sex? Do they possess the necessary sex organs to commit the act? Either way, Vickers, in an attempt to prove she is human, offers to have sex with Janek. The act is never shown and is never referred to again in the film, encouraging viewers to continue their quest for truth about Vickers origin – human or android.
• Vickers name starts with a “V.” It’s an admitted recurring pattern in the Alien universe that android names follow alphabetical order: Ash (Alien), Bishop (Aliens/Alien 3), Call (Alien: Resurrection), David (Prometheus). If there were another android in Prometheus, it is logical to say the name would have started with an “E.”
• Vickers slept in a tube during their long journey to LV-223. Androids, like David, do not need sleeping tubes as they do not require sleep.

Evidence Vickers could be an ANDROID:

• Androids throughout the Ridley Scott, sci-fi universe have always referred to their creators as “father.” Throughout the film, the Vickers-Weyland, father/daughter relationship is not left up to the imagination. They let everyone know that they are “related.” David refers to Weyland as “father.” Plus, Weyland looks like 128 years old; Vickers looks early to mid-thirties. I’m not convinced he is actually her biological father.
• Sticking with David, Vickers pushes him up against the wall and keeps him there at one point in the movie. Androids are retard, farm boy strong (minus Simple Jack). Whether or not this was just David choosing not to retaliate, since he doesn’t actually feel pain, or proof that Vickers is an android is a mystery…even to me.
• The point that Vickers shows emotion, therefore “proving” she is human, is irrelevant to me. Ridley Scott has claimed that Blade Runner and Prometheus all occur in the same universe. Roy Batty (Blade Runner) showed emotion, Rachael (Blade Runner) shows emotion- I will come back to her in a second – and Leon (Blade Runner) showed emotion as well. Androids show emotion!
• Rachael (Blade Runner) was an android and did not know she was. If these movies are part of the same universe, is it not within the realm of possibilities that Vickers in an android and does not know it? I think…yes.
• During a live video-chat for Comic-Con, Ridley Scott was asked “how many androids will we see in Prometheus?” Ridley’s answer – “possibly two.” Now, this could be Ridley trying to remain mysterious and not give anything away, or it could be that there are actually two androids in this film.
• Back to the sleeping tubes! If you recall from Alien (1979), Bilbo Baggin’s (also known as Ian Holm) character, Ash, slept in a sleeping tube on their journey to LV – 426. This was to disguise the fact that he was an android. But what would Vickers have to hide? Questions, questions, and look…more questions. Regardless, the sleeping tube does not prove that she is a human either!
• We never see Vickers bleed. Human- red blood. Android- whole milk.

“This…this isn’t what it looks like!”

I have researched both options a lot lately, and I still can’t decide what she is. I have come to a few conclusions:

1.) She is a closet Scientologist and has achieved one of the highest levels of that cult and has distanced herself from almost all emotion – see Will Smith in After Birth.

2.) She is a human who has been so emotionally and psychologically abused by her crazy father, that she just cannot feel much anymore.

3.) She is an android.

All of this is speculation anyways. We will all just have to wait for the sequel to Prometheus, which has been planned since before production of Prometheus began. This film left me with just as many questions as the original Alien (1979) did.

Here’s a video explaining away all our questions with the film- if you’ve got the time. Stuckmann knows his stuff.

This entry was posted on 12/05/2013 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Whatever with tags android, charlize theron, prometheus, theories, vickers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.