Personally I enjoy all of the different ways I’ve seen David 8 portrayed. Evil as fuck, misunderstood, innocent and childlike, or combinations of all those. I like seeing how different fans interpret the character and what they choose to emphasize or minimize about him. It’s fascinating.
I’m a huge fan of redemptive character arcs so I like it best when things head in that direction.
So now I’m curious - what’s your favorite viewpoint of David?
AAAH THIS IS TOO MANY CHARACTERS TO FIT INTO THE ANSWER SFKLGBMKSDL
I LIKE ALL OF THEM. ALL. OF. THEM. but srsly, i like the misunderstood/innocent/childlike/with a combination of bitterness and sass thrown in combo the best. i personally don’t think he’s ‘evil’ or ‘bad’ or anything, something that is not human can’t really be either or. Because he is really restricted by his programming in what choices are truly his to make. thus fore the person that programs him and gives David the orders is the one that would considered as such (which in this case I suppose is Weyland).
i honestly think those two years he had on the Prometheus alone were the closet thing to any sort of ‘freedom’ that he has probably ever experienced (I’m still trying to decide if after the movie counts or not, because even thought Weyland is dead and that directive is over and done with, David is now constricted by his lack of a body and being at the mercy of Shaw…you know what, it doesn’t count.) and ever will.
Watching the same movies over and over and over again is something a lot of children do (I know when I was a kid I ran my VCR into the ground with how many times I rewatched The Last Unicorn omg) but I have no idea if zeroing in on one particular quote, is. “The trick William Potter is not minding that it hurts.”
Peter Weyland says that David is the ‘closet thing that he will have to a son’, but he also mentions that David has no soul. In the hologram video thing Weyland doesn’t even mention Vickers, who is his own flesh and blood. My thoughts on this are the Weyland has no true parental feelings for either Vickers OR David. In fact, I’m sure Weyland resents/hates both of them because they both represent the things that he fears and hates the most.
Vickers represent mortality and how she is to terms with this. “A king has his reign, and then he dies. It’s inevitable.” Weyland is pretty egotistical, and his reaction when she said it was to get really bitter and pouty about it, like a spoiled brat. Vickers is human and will die, but she is also still young, and the fact that he will die before her bust his chops bad.
David on the other hand is practically immortal. He’ll never age and never understand the concept of mortality. This is what Weyland strives for for himself, and (this is a theory) even went so far as to create David to try and possibly live through him in a way. Much like parents will push their children to do certain activities such as sports, music, etc. But since David will never understand the gift of this, and is not truly human, Weyland also has contempt for him.
I think that David, to a point, truly wants to understand humanity and the various concepts that entails. But weather or not he actually wants to be a human is debatable, because as Fassbender has stated in interviews, David has some arrogance and a sense of superiority to him (‘Not too close I hope’) but does this bring David closer to humanity? After all, arrogance and superiority are some very human characteristics, but does David actually feel these things or just express them? Does he understand them? Or is it all programming? I have yet to come up with that one.
And so that brings us back to Weyland’s ‘He has no soul’ comment, and the quote from Lawrence of Arabia. I do think is because David doesn’t understand these humans traits, and even his creator says that he truly won’t, he’s a bit…bitter? frustrated wit the limitations of his own programming during the movie? (“what will happen to you when Weyland is dead?” “I suppose I will be free.”)
And so he attempts to cover that and his ignorance of some aspects of humans and humanity by following the advice: “The trick Wiliam Potter is not minding that it hurts.”
WOW SORRY THIS IS SO LONG HOLY SHIT
PEE ESS: I just realized I pass up the fact of what David did to Holloway. I don’t think that David did it out of some kind of bitterness for what Holloway said. “Anything and everything” was something that David took as consent to find out what the goo would do to a human. This I think is tied in with his programming and Weyland’s orders to find ways that Weyland could prolong his life. There isn’t anyway David could have known what would happen after. He’s an android and can’t look into the future. I’m trying to remember if this was before or after David talked to Weyland while he was in cryostasis. It’s entirely possible that Weyland even gave David the order to do that to Holloway. Hm.
I could go on and talk about how he rubs Holloway’s death in Shaw’s face (“must feel like your god has abandoned you”) but I think I’d just end up repeating everything above.
OKAY I AM DONE NOW OH GOD /JUMPS OFF CLIFF
