Comments on: Prometheus’s fan dance http://graphic-engine.swarthmore.edu/?p=1483 Bob Rehak's Blog about Special Effects, Videogames, Film, and Television Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:18:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5 By: Bob Rehak http://graphic-engine.swarthmore.edu/?p=1483&cpage=1#comment-362840 Bob Rehak Sat, 03 Mar 2012 19:10:43 +0000 http://graphic-engine.swarthmore.edu/?p=1483#comment-362840 Matt, I too was struck by the coding of Guy Pearce’s Weyland as a baddie, if an ambiguous one; he made me think of another megalomaniacal genius/corporate wizard, Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel) from Blade Runner, who had a similarly slippery quality, both repellent and sympathetic. (I guess the forefather to all of these icy scientists and their externalized death drives is Colin Clive in Frankenstein [1931].)

Although I share your take on the charms of many actual TED speakers, I wonder if the organization isn’t using the Prometheus tie-in to leverage an equally alluring sinister side of high tech: its potential to destroy as well as create, enslave as well as liberate. Like the iconic 1984 Macintosh commercial directed by Scott, dystopian and utopian potentials come together in SF prognostication, and it’s the very undecidability of the future foretold that fascinates.

]]> By: Matt Finch http://graphic-engine.swarthmore.edu/?p=1483&cpage=1#comment-362536 Matt Finch Sat, 03 Mar 2012 05:48:55 +0000 http://graphic-engine.swarthmore.edu/?p=1483#comment-362536 A marvellous post on this unusual piece of movie marketing.

The problem with Prometheus’ TED 2023 is that Weyland is implausibly megalomaniac and charmless.

TED presenters tend to be inspiring, compelling – even funny – during their presentations, whatever the topic.

Think of Hans Rosling – http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_truth_about_hiv.html

Or Pamela Mayer – http://www.ted.com/talks/pamela_meyer_how_to_spot_a_liar.html

Even allowing for Prometheus being a dark vision of the future, shouldn’t Weyland’s TED talk be seductive and appealing – more Steve Jobs and less stock Hollywood baddie?

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