How Many Secrets Should a Director Reveal About Their Film?

Alien director Ridley Scott has had mixed opinions regarding his sci-fi epic Prometheus – mostly due to the fact that it left more questions than it did answers, and whilst we all love a good discussion many found this frustrating as they felt the film was incoherent and muddled.

Directors lead the narrative of a film, for they will dictate what they want you to see and what they do not want you to see. They will tell you what they want you to hear. They won’t give anything away that they didn’t want to give away.

The question-provoking nature of Prometheus’ narrative lead to an abundance of forum discussion threads surrounding events, settings and characters in the film, provoking many intelligent debates all over the Internet.

Why, then, would Scott reveal a bundle of plot points regarding the more ambiguous moments of Prometheus, as Movies.com reported? Surely now, it seems that not only has the speculation been spoilt for those who watched the film (even if some members of the audience hated it, they were still involved in many deep discussions) but it makes it seem as if completing the narrative coherently in the real production was an afterthought, making it seem as if the film was directed even more badly than critics had previously claimed.

Should Scott have spoiled the speculation for everyone? Surely one shouldn’t serve up every answer – particularly when it comes to the rich and diverse world of sci-fi, one of the most speculative genres in film, which spawn thousands upon thousands of threads of rich discussion online? However, on the flipside Prometheus’ lack of definition led to many frustrated moviegoers complaining.

Films such as The Matrix and 2001: A Space Odyssey don’t reveal all the answers in their narratives, as two sci-fi classics that have a multitude of dissertations and editorials written about them all over the world. But their narratives where coherent enough and the semiology was obvious enough to make their films fascinating instead of infuriating.

How many questions should one leave unanswered in a film before it becomes a frustrating experience? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

News source – Movies.com