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Related: About this forumAre 'Alien: Covenant' & 'Prometheus' Religious Propaganda?
May 23, 2017 at 12:02PM
By Brooke Geller
The recent Alien prequels have taken the classic sci-fi franchise in a very different direction to the originals, introducing a plethora of new concepts and themes. One of the most recurring and surprising addition to this backstory is the high amount of religious references.
What makes this so surprising is the fact that director and writer Ridley Scott is a staunch atheist. In an interview with Collider, he once said that "one of the biggest problems in the world is the word we call religion. That creates more problems than anything else in the goddamn universe."
And yet despite his stance on religion, he still includes an inordinate amount of religious metaphors in his films.
For example, "The Last Supper", which was released on YouTube as a prologue to Alien: Covenant, has obvious and intentional parallels with the Leonardo da Vinci painting of the same name. You can see the similarities between both images above, from the positioning of each subject to the geometric lines framing the background. In fact, Daniels' depiction as Jesus is suggested again when she later dons a metal nail around her neck (much like the nails used to nail Jesus to the cross for his crucifixion). Earlier images of her husband, Branson, also showed him draped in a blanket and looked incredibly Christ-like.
https://moviepilot.com/p/alien-covenant-prometheus-religious-propaganda/4272692
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Are 'Alien: Covenant' & 'Prometheus' Religious Propaganda? (Original Post)
rug
May 2017
OP
yeah, and they folded in textures from the cathedral at Notre Dame into Event Horizon
AtheistCrusader
May 2017
#4
Eko
(7,170 posts)1. Stretching quite a bit.
People see Jesus in toast so whatever. Personally I don't care either way, if the movie is good it is good.
Volstagg
(233 posts)2. Relying on religious imagery is nothing new.
Because it is so common it can be used effectively.
Scott goes all Paradise Lost in Blade Runner. Doesn't mean he believes in the fall of Lucifer, it just means that it fits the theme he wants you to think about.
Bretton Garcia
(970 posts)3. Religious echoes add to the alien creepiness
Anybody see Trump and his glowing orb a few days ago?
Creepier and creepier.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)4. yeah, and they folded in textures from the cathedral at Notre Dame into Event Horizon
to turn creepy as the lighting changed dark and greenish as the movie went on.
So what.