I just returned from Prometheus, and I must ask; has anybody besides myself seen the attention David 8 pays to Elizabeth Shaw in the film as an attraction to her? That is, judging by his actions in the film, would anybody else here say that David 8 is attracted to her?
Perhaps 'attracted' is not the correct word, but I wouldn't know what to call it being that he is synthetic, and also given the natures of the past Alien-universe synthetic men (and yes, I know Prometheus is not in the exact same universe as Alien, Ridley Scot has admitted this, but all these characters are Weyland-Corp issues so do please bare with me). Firstly, there's Ash from Alien. While he has negative emotion or smugness, Ash seems to have no 'loving emotion' or sexuality whatsoever, and this is even mentioned in a cut scene where Ripley questions Lambert if she has ever had sex with him (her response is "No, he never seemed interested to be honest" or something to the like). On the other hand, Bishop of Aliens seemed to like Ripley in a certain way, although it's debatable how (I always interpreted it as a friendly way, or maybe a protective older brother or maybe even a loyal dog sort of way - he has an affection, of a type, for Ripley). I'm not going to focus on the Wynona Rider character because that's a female, and David 8 is a male-built model.
But David 8 in Prometheus seems to display (at least to me) a real affection toward Shaw, albeit it a subtle, odd one. I found his behavior regarding Shaw as boarding on stalker-like, although still maintaining a certain sense of 'cuteness' to be perfectly fair.
My theory (or thesis, if you will), is that David 8 'was in love' with Elizabeth Shaw.
I offer several examples to back my theory up:
1) First off, he watches her while she sleeps. Not just watches. He spies on her DREAMS. If that isn't creepy enough, he seems to make it a daily habit along with obsessing over Lawrence of Arabia and bicycle-bouncing a basketball around the ship's gym. He is never shown to use the 'dream-viewing' helmet for anything else, other than communicating with his creator, Weyland. He only watches Shaw's dreams.
2) David pays special attention to Shaw when she is woken up from stasis - even going so far as to personally wrap a blanket around her and comfort her softly as she vomits pathetically into a bowl he's likely also brought for her.
3) Furthermore, David seems to have a real contempt for Shaw's partner/lover, Holloway. Whether this is because Holloway refuses to treat David with any real respect, or whether he is possibly jealous of Holloway's relationship with Shaw. However, it can't be denied that David 8 does not like Holloway, with the biggest red light being that David goes out of his way to infect Holloway (choosing him out of any other crew member).
Scenes that support this (and also David/Shaw) include:
22 MIN in = David mocks Holloway's 'thesis', perhaps in an effort to make Holloway look silly while also attempting to flirt with Shaw. Shaw does seem to smile and laugh, although whether it's at Holloway's determination, or at David's teasing, is up for interpretation.
27 MIN in = Holloway reminds David of David's inhumanity in regards to David not really needing to go through the motions of putting a spacesuit on, as he doesn't really need to breed. (I partially agree, as Bishop spends all of Aliens in his overalls).
51 MIN in = The scene where David infects Holloway. Now, I could spend an entire, separate post on THIS puppy. But all I'll say for now is, to me, it appears that David at first comes to Holloway with the intention of offering him comfort regarding Holloway discovering the engineers to be extinct; perhaps at this point David is still undecided about going ahead with the infection. But when Holloway repeatedly taunts him, David at last decides infecting Holloway is a good road to walk down. HOWEVER, it should be noted that I personally don't think David had any intention of having Shaw get infected/pregnant through Holloway. More on that later.
4) While this one could be argued, when Shaw and the crew are returning to the ship with the bagged engineer head and she goes to retrieve it when it drops, it is David that manages to save both her and Holloway using the retracting cord. However, he may have done this out of instinct (that is, some base programming that tells him to protect humans or the like). BUT he does make a point of specifically asking Shaw if she is alright directly following his saving her, and after she thanks him he responds by saying "My pleasure". (Again, I may be reading too much into that one.)
5) After Shaw sees Holloway burned alive, she faints. When she wakes up, David is inspecting her / looking after her. Not only does he take her necklace for what he claims to be medical reasons (it winds up that he just keeps it on him for the rest of the film), but he also seems to care about her feels regarding Holloway's death, as well as her strange new pregnancy. In fact, he purposefully moves the monitors and screens featuring the image of her alien child aside, or away from her so that she will be spared the horror of knowing just what is growing in her womb. He also gives her a morphine-like shot in order to help with the pain (however, that may just be standard medical procedure at that point). In this scene he also admits to having watched her dreams, but whether this is an attempt to create more of a personal connection with her by telling her this - as a way of further comforting her, or something said to unnerve her in an antagonistic way could be debatable.
*As I said in example 2, I don't think David intended for Holloway to infect Shaw - at least intentionally anyhow. David does suggest she go back into stasis, although whether that's because his programming (like Ash's) suggests he should return her alien baby to Weyland Corp for weapons testing/ etc., or whether he is generally concerned for her well-being (he claims the procedure can not be done aboard the ship as nobody, including himself, is qualified to do so, hence her best chance being stasis) is up for debate. Still, he shows a tremendous amount of concern for her regarding her infection/pregnancy.
6) Following Shaw's impromptu, automated surgery to remove the alien creature inside her, she stumbles into Weyland's private room where David and a number of other doctors just so happen to be. Upon entering David immediately runs to her side and wraps his coat around her, and wordlessly helps her to take a seat. While he does return to Weyland's attention, the point is that he was already at Weyland's side when Shaw came in - the fact that he rushed to her despite his main programming, which must be to serve Weyland first and foremost, could be taken as a real sign here.
7) (This one's a bit of a stretch.) David compliments Shaw's strong survival instincts, which he admires. He and Shaw discuss the concept of 'want' right before they set off to find the last, remaining living engineer. David explains that he would gain freedom from Weyland's death, and that despite his inability to feel 'want', he suggests that all children want to see their parents die. This may suggest that David does in fact feel a sensation similar to 'want', and while he may want Weyland dead and thusly his freedom, he could very well want Shaw as well in one way or another (as a new owner, lover, companion, friend, sister, etc.).
8) En route to the last living engineer, David 'admits' (in a very vague, subtle way) that he infected Holloway. Granted, he never truly says 'I infected Doctor Holloway', but still. Was this him being antagonistic again, or could it have been his inability to keep secrets from somebody like Shaw? Could he have been feeling guilty that he caused the violent death of Shaw's lover, and her subsequent mutant pregnancy?
9) Also, it's worth noting that David acts without direction - flat out ignoring Holloway and the others. This could be argued that he acts without consequence, fearing nothing because of HIS immortality. Despite this, David 8 directly listens to Shaw when she asks him to do something. Demonstrated at least twice, to my memory, in the film, with the first instance being when he opens the helmet for her. But the most important one being that he doesn't touch the jar - even apologizing for attempting to touch it after Shaw directs him not to. The only times he acts AGAINST her will, are when it's to protect her well-being (this could be argued in the case of him denying her a view of the monitor, or an abortion of the alien child).
10) After David has been decapitated, the rest of the crew killed by the engineer or the Prometheus crashing into the derelict alien ship, he goes out of his way to contact Shaw - explaining that the engineer has left the derelict and is coming for her. Even in his state of disrepair, he is still worried about Shaw enough to warn her.
11) After Shaw's seen her enormous alien squid-baby face-rape the engineer that had come to kill her (I couldn't have put that any more gently), and she is laying outside Vickers' escape shuttle weeping, David contacts her yet again. He is genuinely worried she has been killed, and admits to being relieved she is still alive, saying "I was afraid you were dead." He explains that, despite their differences, he now needs her help, assuring her that if she assists him he will in turn aid her in leaving the planet. If she saves him, he'll save her.
12) When Shaw finds David she asks where her cross-necklace is, and he admits to having kept it on him in his utility belt following his taking it from her. Afterward, when they've decided to hunt down the other engineers to get proper answers, David seems confused as to her motives for seeking them out, but also happy to be going with her. Even when she puts his head into her bag, his smile is wide and perpetual. She even apologizes for having to store him like this, but he seems perfectly okay with it.
NOTE: I understand full well that most of David's highlighted actions here could just be a result of his programming to be helpful to human beings. I know I might be looking into things a bit too deeply, but I only wanted to post it as a question to start up a dialogue.
Other questions that deserve asking are - have David 8 and Shaw spent time together prior to her going into stasis? One would think so, as David apparently had the 'homework' of studying/learning ancient Earth languages in order to possibly speak to the engineers (if contact was made). Was there a briefing before the ship took off where in which Holloway and Shaw prepped David for this task? If so, this may have been the seed that would later sprout into David's theorized affection for Shaw.
But the main point to keep in mind that my main question isn't "WHY does David 8 like Shaw?" It's "DOES he like Shaw?" If people decide to agree with this little theory of mine, then feel free to present your ideas for why he might like her/be attracted to her. And also feel free to make the argument that a synthetic could never actually love. I want to open up a discussion with this one . . .
