If you are one of the many people who saw Prometheus this weekend, you might have stayed through the credits to see if there was an extra scene. You then may have been too disappointed in not seeing any more footage (spoiler alert?) that you might have missed something even better: An image that leads to a new viral website. Get the details after the jump.
The image after the credits (seen above) has the Weyland logo, with the date October 11th, 2012 and the link to the company’s timeline. If you check the timeline, you’ll see that is the date that the Weyland Corporation is officially established. As the timeline states…
Weyland Corporation is recognized as a legal entity and corporation under United States law and receives their Certificate of Incorporation from the Companies House in the United Kingdom. Due to the combined value of Sir Peter Weyland’s various patents and patent-pendings, the company incorporates with a higher fair market valuation than any other company in history.
So, the question quickly became about the purpose for putting this image and information at the end of film. The tried and true solution for most viral campaign questions is to try it as an URL. Thus, WhatIs101112.com was discovered, asking the same question we were. Unfortunately, this new viral website still doesn’t give us any answers, just more questions. Why is the Friedrich Nietzsche philosophical book Thus Spoke Zarathustra featured? The swiveling image of the book itself reads “WHAT IS GREAT IN MAN IS THAT HE IS A BRIDGE AND NOT AN END.” The module on the left states:
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None is a philosophical novel by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885. Much of the work deals with ideas such as the “eternal recurrence of the same”, the parable on the “death of God”, and the “prophecy” of the Übermensch, which were first introduced in The Gay Science.
Right underneath the module is a video of a young Peter Weyland (played by Guy Pearce), which looks to be taken at his TEDTalk, given his physical appearance and attire. In it, he recites Nietzsche to himself, saying “I am a law only for my kind, I am no law for all.”
I haven’t seen Prometheus yet myself, but our reporter Kris (who reviewed it on Friday) has told me that he doesn’t see a meaningful direct connection between this video and the film itself. I will be seeing it this evening, so if I catch anything, I’ll provide an update. Until then, it all seems a bit too philosophical to me, but maybe there is something significant to this new site and video. The source code has the description, “The next phase of Project Prometheus is coming…”, so could there possibly be more to this campaign? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Thanks to Unfiction for the heads up and deciphering Weyland’s whispered words.