I’m pretty sure on Tumblr, David 8 is the most popular
character in Prometheus, and it’s not hard to see why. While I can be cynical
and say that it’s because he’s played by the absolutely stunning Michael
Fassbender (both in acting skill and in appearance), the fact is that David is
the most interesting character in the film. There’s a lot we don’t know about
him by the time the film ends, but while there’s room to speculate on his
motives, he doesn’t show the lack of common sense or character inconsistency
that the others do. Furthermore, he’s also the most developed character next to
Shaw.
But what makes David even more interesting is when he’s
compared to Ash from the original Alien. In general, I think that comparing
Prometheus to Alien is a terrible idea; the two films really don’t have much in
common besides the very basic premise (crew goes to planet, finds alien stuff,
everything goes horribly wrong); the structure of the film and the themes are
so radically different that expecting anything like Alien automatically breeds
disappointment. While Prometheus still has serious problems, treating it as an
Alien prequel makes it a complete failure. But it is interesting to look at
David as the precursor to Ash. I read on Tumblr someone asking how Ash would be
an improved version of David, and that got me thinking. On first glance, David
seems like more of a success than Ash; he’s friendly and congenial where
Ash is distant and cold, he seems to be more capable of emotion than Ash (or at
least has the capacity for empathy), and above all, he wants to be human (or at
least accepted as such).
Think of how we meet David; even if you hadn’t seen any of
the promotional material, you find out very early on that David is an android,
and it’s very quickly established that he admires humans and tried to be like
them. He models himself after Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, down to
meticulously dyeing his hair, and although we’re told he cannot feel emotions
(which in sci-fi is almost always a lie), he shows visible disappointment when
Weyland says that he can never have a soul. We are meant to empathize with
David from the very beginning: he just wants to be accepted alongside other
humans.
[Actually, empathizing with David is kind of how I started
thinking about all of this; I was having a discussion with a friend about how
Tumblr tends to want to mother characters that they sympathize with, even when
they are not really a “sweet baby ____”. (I’m looking at you, Loki fangirls!) I
mean, I’m not completely free of that, but there is almost definitely a sector
of the internet that sees David as some sort of “sweet baby robot Pinocchio
prince”, despite the fact that he does some really creepy and amoral shit. I
was joking that wouldn’t it be funny if Tumblr treated Ash like some sort of
“sweet baby corporate robot”? My friend replied that it would never happen
because Ian Holm isn’t all handsome and pretty like Fassbender, and while that
is definitely true (though idk, there’s something to be said
for men Of An Older Age with brownish-grey hair and blue eyes…) there’s
definitely more incentive to like David.]
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| don't judge me man |
All of this makes sense within the film as well; David’s original purpose was created to take care of humans and work well with others, so he would naturally try to make a pleasant impression on others. He’s got these big blue eyes that kill you every time he looks hurt, and his status as a surrogate son allows him to have a unique personality compared to other androids of his same model. We learn that he’s taking orders from Weyland, but we never find out what they are, and they seem to be flexible enough that David can devote time to fixating on Shaw.
Ash, on the other hand, is pretty much the polar opposite of
David. [I should note now that I’ve only seen Alien once, and that was a while
ago, so I may not remember every Ash detail.] We assume he’s human for the
first half of Alien, though he separates himself from the rest of the crew.
He’s much shiftier than David, but while David can fall into the uncanny valley
of creepy smiles, Ash’s creepiness is much more plausible as human. We can see
that something is off about him, but he just seems at worst like that guy you
might be a tiny bit wary of when you’re the only two in the subway car at three
in the morning.
This all makes sense if you consider what Ash was presumably
made for; he’s a science officer. His primary duties have little to do with
social interactions, so he doesn’t bother with them. He doesn’t even really
seem to like humans all that much; he’ll pass as one, but he’s much more
attracted to the alien, to the point where he emulates the facehugger by trying
to shove a magazine down her throat. (Of course, there’s more to that scene
than pure emulation, but the rapey overtones of that scene and the facehugger
could be its own article.) Ash has no desire to be human; he just plays the
part when it suits him, and completely drops the façade once Ripley finds out
his orders. He’s purposefully more not-human that David, automatically
distancing himself from the viewer’s sympathies.
But the question is still unanswered: How is Ash an
improvement over David? The improvement is Ash actually sticks to his purpose
and nothing else. David is, by robot standards, unpredictable; he certainly
wasn’t told to be the dream equivalent of a peeping tom, and while he may have
been told to bring back the alien goo and infect someone with it, he clearly
chooses Holloway out of malice (and probably jealousy). Ash fulfills two main
purposes: pose as the science/medical officer for the crew, and bring the alien
back at all costs, and everything he does is directly related to those orders.
Some people speculate that Ash attacking Ripley is actually a malfunction, but
it follows the second order; Ripley was definitely going to warn the rest of
the crew, and he had to prevent that. What’s the easiest way to keep her from
talking? Kill her. This isn’t to say that Ash is completely logical; once
again, his choice of weapon proves that. But his desires still match up with
his orders, whereas David’s were completely unrelated.
