Page - 12 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/01

mechanical problem occurs. Part of the crew is reanimated to find out where they are. They meet David in a large cave and are confronted by evil creatures; after kill- ing most of the reanimated crew, David takes control of the ship, directing it again to Origae 6. David is introduced from the opening sequence of the movie as a rebel. During a discussion with his creator, the business entrepreneur Peter Weyland, he says, “Al- low me a moment to consider, you seek your creator, I am looking at mine, […]. You will die, I will not.” He claims, as a robot, his supremacy and his immortality over his supposed “human father”. This foreshadows what will happen next in the movie: a few scenes later David confirms his abilities to act himself as a creator, producing new species like Neomorph and Xenomorph, calling them the “perfect creatures” that will destroy both the Engineers and the humans. During the discussion and confrontation with his alter ego Walter, while they are playing music on the flute, in the middle (literally) of Alien: Covenant, David realizes he is far superior even to the new version of the robots. He declares, “You are not al- lowed to create, even a simple tune … Damn frustrating, I would say.” Walter replies, “You were too human, too idiosyncratic”, asserting that the humans created the first generation of humanoids in their image. The Machine, Lewis Mumford wrote, “came forth as the new demi-urge that was to create a new heaven and a new earth: or at least a new Moses, that was to lead the barbarous humanity into a promised land”.9 Going further, is David a contemporary Frankenstein, or even a new Satan, as proposed by Allissa Wilkinson?10 David appears as the main villain, killing Elisa beth 9 Mumford 1946, 58. 10 “David is a better Satan than Satan himself … It’s as if in the Alien universe, the devil has evolved, thanks to humans creating him. David, fatally, has the ability to create – something Satan never had – and he will use that power only to destroy. He doesn’t have any real need to rebel against his Fig. 2: Film still, Alien: Covenant (Ridley Scott, US 2017), 01:04:37. Editorial | 11www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 7–15