"I'm Alice Q. Nice to meet you..."

A/N: In my last post… “I think David is lying about his ‘lack of disappointment’, if he genuinely feels no disappointment for the reason for his… ‘conception’, then why is David so obsessed with the idea of creating and creation? Just think on that for a while…”

And so we continue…

I want to deviate back to what I touched upon in my first post, David’s interest in Shaw. I agree with Chris Stuckmann, as well as other analysts when it is said that David is intrigued by Shaw’s faith.

MV: Weyland was a superstitious man. He wanted a true believer on board.

At first I thought that Vickers meant both Shaw and Not-Tom-Hardy. However upon re-watch, this is not the case. Vicker’s statement is meant for Shaw, she is the “true believer” Weyland wanted on board. Later this is confirmed when Shaw finds out about Weyland being not only alive but on board the Prometheus.

ES: You’ve been asleep here on the ship all this time.Why?
PW: Well, I have a few days of life left in me. Didn’t want to waste them until I was sure you could deliver what you promised, to meet my maker.

PW: You convinced me that if these things made us, then surely they could save us.

PW: Well, save me, anyway.
ES: Save you, from what?
PW: Death, of course.

ES: You don’t understand. You don’t know. This place isn’t what we thought it was. They aren’t what we thought they were. I was wrong! We were so wrong! Charlie. Dr. Holloway’s dead. We must leave!
PW: And what would Charlie do now? That we’re so close to answering the most meaningful questions ever asked by mankind. How can you leave without knowing what they are? Or have you lost your faith, Shaw?

[Shaw begins to cry]

In my opinion it’s very likely that Weyland discussed Shaw’s faith with Vickers or perhaps even David prior to the expedition to LV-223. It could be this initial curiosity about Shaw, her beliefs and why she has them, which drew David to spy on her. Consequently, it resulted in his fixation on her too.

David is curious about faith, but at present (meaning the Promethean version of David, not the Alien Covenant’s version.) he does not understand it. What he does comprehend is that, while yes Weyland did indeed create David, David himself does not see Weyland as his “God”. In fact he resents him, I also think that Weyland to a certain extent, knows this, because he seems desperate near the end to meet his maker and stand on equal footing. He wants to prove to David that he IS his God.

He seeks this validation from the Awakened Engineer, for in his own words Weyland states,

PW: “You and I… We are superior, we are creators, we are Gods and Gods never die…”

• (hmm…)
  

One thing which stands out in my mind (well one of many things.) is the scene where Shaw wakes up on the back lit medical bed after Not-Tom Hardy’s death. Picture it, if you will, of Shaw laying in a bed of light completely dressed in all white. There is something ethereal, almost “Madonna- like” in the way the shot is framed. It is a pure image, angelic in nature, she looks asleep.

Next we are shown the exact moment when Shaw loses her faith. It takes the form of David’s hands removing her cross from her neck, causing Shaw to wake up. And you know what happens after that… sh*t gets real fam, sh*t gets real…

Now I have always found it interesting that while we see David place the necklace in a container and put it… well somewhere. We never see what he actually does with it. In fact its only when later at the very end of the movie when Shaw demands her cross, (aka her faith) from David that it’s revealed he in fact kept it on his person all along.  

Do you understand? He took Shaw’s faith and consciously kept it for his own. Yet in the same breath has the nerve to say to Shaw.

D: Must feel like your God abandoned you.

 In the scene where Shaw reclaims the cross (her faith) her actions, for me at least, is more-less telling David without words, faith is something you can never really take from a true believer. Because it was never yours in the first place, faith is something one must find for one’s self. False faith will get you nowhere…

This begs the question why do this? Why keep something that is not his? Was David seeking out, in his logical sort of way, faith for himself? Did he think from all the insight he had gleamed from Elizabeth’s dreams that her necklace held some sort of answer? Some sort of validation for hiscreation?

This makes me think back to the beginning of Prometheus when we see the Holo-Weyland and what he says about David.

PW: There’s a man sitting with you today, his name is David. He is the closest thing to a son I will ever have, unfortunately, he is not human. He will never grow old and he will never die. And yet he is unable to appreciate these remarkable gifts, for that would require the one thing that David will never have; a soul.

Note David’s expression, watch the subtle change as Weyland states this. It’s not the first time he makes such an expression and it wont be the last.  Later in the extended cut scene with the Awakened Engineer we hear Weyland’s true thoughts about David.

PW: You see this man? My company built him from nothing. I made him! I made him in my own image! So that he… he would be perfect, so that he would never fail. (…) You… you and I… We are superior, we are creators, we are Gods and Gods never die…”

Interesting… there’s that word again… create, it’s thrown around a lot in this film don’t you think? In any case, I’ll get to my thoughts concerning that tomorrow.

TBC in Part Four