Disturbing viral marketing for Prometheus: Happy birthday David, from Weyland Industries.

Previously: The Costumes of Alien, Part 2: Space suits, retrofuturism, and Prometheus.

I'm not having the vapours over Prometheus the way I currently am about The Avengers' pre-movie shenanigans, which is probably just as well as Prometheus doesn't come out until June. I am, however, quietly impressed by the direction their viral marketing is taking. These days most sci-fi/geek-oriented movies use viral videos and ARG sites alongside traditional marketing, but quality varies.

In the case of Prometheus, Guy Pearce's 2023 TED Talk (in character as the CEO of Weyland Industries, an early precurser to the Weyland-Yutani corporation of the Alien Quadrilogy) was an intriguing turn, especially since Prometheus takes place decades after 2023. Likewise, the new David8 robot ad from Weyland Industries features one of Prometheus' main stars, but doesn't seem like it's going to appear in the movie itself.

Not gonna lie: I'm kind of fixating on this video. Watch it and you may understand why. Michael Fassbender is just so creepy.

Like most people watching viral videos several months before a film's release date I'm enough of a fanperson that my future film ticket is metaphorically booked already, so I can't really guage its usefulness as a marketing tool (although I guess I am currently perpetuating its ploy by writing about it here...). But at face-value, as an advertisement for a robot as opposed to a film that contains a robot character? WORST. AD. EVER. Let's break it down.

1. David8 (lovingly played by Michael Fassbender's smooth, skull-like face and vast array of teeth) is supposedly a master of human emotion, yet his dead-eyed expression and Swarovski crystal tears are so far down the Uncanny Valley that I'd rate this video at least a PG for pure inhuman disturbia value. He also has the soft, calm voice of Hal 9000 or Hannibal Lecter.
2. He manages to enhale the perfume of a lily (FUNERAL IMAGERY, I see what you did there) in such a way that he somehow resembles a lizard about to kill and eat a small defenseless animal.
3. "I understand human emotions... although I do not feel them myself." SCREAM. Look, I know this ad is aimed at CEOs looking to hire someone with no ethical qualms about doing their dirty work, but David8's demeanour is so disquieting I can't imagine buying him for that exact reason. 
4. When he cries, not only are the tears fake in the sense that he's a robot and therefore has no autonomic function, they're false because he freely admits that he doesn't feel any emotion.

I'm convinced this is all on purpose. The David8 commercial is a masterpiece of subtle horror. Take, for example, his immediate appearance. Even discounting the fact that his facial expressions are seriously off and that Fassbender takes great trouble to move with the calculated smoothness of a machine (there's actually a fake David8 promotional website where you can examine his full range of emotional expression), he looks like... a Nazi. I've been wondering for a while now why Fassbender dyed his hair blond in order to play a robot, and I guess we have our answer now. What with the trim figure, masculine facial features and that blond side-parting he genuinely looks like the Aryan ideal -- plus the uniform shirt buttoned up to the neck.

Screencaps from here.

Oh, and in the background of that scene? Robot skulls.

The chess shot is really an extension of the Uncanny Valley thing as a whole. On top of David8's subtly non-human appearance, here we see two Davids performing what is supposedly a human leisure activity. Except they're doing it in a sterile room, with uncomfortably perfect posture, and expressing none of the body-language of either a person who is having fun, or a person interacting with another person. "THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT ACTUALLY PEOPLE," it screams, and I have to wonder if this is a purposeful marketing choice on the part of Weyland Industries because if a robot was exactly the same as a human, then what's the point in paying for a robot at all?

Another unnecessarily disturbing moment: the filmmaker chops footage of David8 up into little sections and spreads them out across the screen. The right hand side is particularly disturbing, since for a moment it gives the impression of a single, cyclops-like eye above a normal mouth. Also, the supposedly casual poses of the Davids labeled C, D and E are not remotely casual at all. My favourite detail is probably the sandals, which are probably intended to imply relaxation and comfort but in fact are very jarring when compared to David's pressed, buttoned-up clothes and flawless hair and skin.

What's that? David8 enjoys poking at tiny model people with sharp impliments? How delightful and artistic! I must buy one at once! Particularly in order to perform tasks that "humans might find... [ominous pause]... distressing, or unethical". What could possibly go wrong.

In conclusion, David8 is what you buy when you want a really efficient, emotionless version of Patrick Batemen in American Psycho, except he bleeds white blood, never dies, and has a metal skeleton like Wolverine. What appealing employee characteristics. Luckily he's totally obedient and able to work for 24 hours per day. You know... unless he malfunctions. Which never happens to humanoid robots on isolated space missions in sci-fi movies.

I assume it's no accident that David shares a name with the young protagonist of AI: Artificial Intelligence, a role for which Haley Joel Osment trained himself not to blink for long stretches of time in order to seem less human. But if David8 is the eighth iteration of the David series, I hate to think what their developmental process entails because David8 has all the human comfort and appeal of a switchblade.

Not disturbing at all.

Weyland Industries' homepage for David8 provides various ominous details about the robot's basic functions, such as his "Fear center safety program (can be disabled)". David8's marketing seems so skewed towards him being a soulless denizen of the Uncanny Valley that I'm very much hoping he turns out to be the opposite. Not that I want Fassbender's character to evolve into a warm and cuddly romantic hero like Robin Williams in Bicentennial Man, but what with Blade Runner and the original Alien movie, Ridley Scott does have a good track record for creating layered non-human characters.

Links

The timeline for Weyland Industries from Peter Weyland's birth to the "present" day is well worth checking out. This is the kind of constructed reality I appreciate: lots of believable detail, but very little solid information relating to what will take place in the movie itself.

This Twitter feed is an astonishingly well-devised piece of viral marketing. In character as David8, @david8weyland answers questions from fans with tweets like, "Spiders are a most fascinating breed of insect. Arachnids have superior strength, reflex and survivability." and "What fascinates me about humans is their individual interpretation of beauty. I can interpret positive visuals from objects."

There's also a David8 Tumblr, although I'm not sure if it's official or a fan-page and it doesn't seem as interesting as David's personal Twitter.