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Part 2 of 3 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here)
II. Deserts Create Monsters and Messiahs
“The Bedouin could not look for God within him: he was too sure that he was within God. He could not conceive anything which was or was not God, Who alone was great . . . He was the most familiar of their words.” — Thomas Edward [T. E.] Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (more…)
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Editor’s Note:
After reviewing Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant, Buttercup Dew decided to revisit its prequel, Prometheus. — Greg Johnson
Prometheus, an omen of the atrocity to come that was Diversity Awakens, is an example of how box office anticipation can propel a franchise into the hands of saboteurs. Unlike the tightly scripted, self-contained stories of the original Alien and exhausting Aliens, (more…)
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I saw Alien: Covenant on the big screen this summer in Budapest. I didn’t write a review then, because another reviewer had it covered. But having seen it for a second time, now on Blu-ray, I feel moved to comment.
Covenant is an excellent film, indeed the best in the series since Scott started it with his path-breaking Alien (1979) — although James Cameron’s Aliens is excellent and iconic in its own right. (more…)
Gustave Moreau, Prometheus
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Gustave Moreau, Prometheus
Prometheus is, probably, one of the most enduring characters in universal mythology and, in addition, one of the most frequent subjects of artistic, literary, or philosophical interpretation. Aeschylus’ version, Prometheus Bound, has generated different symbolic interpretations across the centuries. Starting with the Renaissance, Prometheus has been seen as a symbol of consciousness struggling against arbitrary power.[1]
This was captured in essence by Goethe, circa 1771, who presented the image of the Promethean Man who, decades later, Friedrich Nietzsche would write about in his Birth of Tragedy. (more…)
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With its stunning H. R. Giger designs and first-rate cast, Ridley Scott’s classic Alien (1979) is imaginative, visually striking, immensely atmospheric, and sometimes just plain terrifying. Together with its worthy but very different sequel, James Cameron’s Aliens (1986), it spawned a vast pop-culture “franchise” (which is Hollywood-speak for a mythos) including two unworthy sequels, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, plus two Z-grade Alien vs. Predator movies, (more…)