MovieChat Forums > Demon Seed (1977) Discussion > Problems for the Proteus child (Ending)

Problems for the Proteus child (Ending)

posted 6 years ago by [deleted]
1 reply | jump to latest

1. If it was giving birth to a human child, why did Proteus cover it in metallic or plastic coverings, making it look like a machine and terrifying Susan? I can only imagine that the author Koontz or the movie executives wanted an ending in which to satiate those 1970s cinemagoers who wanted some "monster at the climax", and it was only lucky that Doctor Harris realised they were just protective coverings, however scary.

2. Why would Proteus' child have taken the exact form of Susan's dead daughter who died from leukaemia? That would've been a harrowing constant reminder for Susan, and I can only assume that Proteus used that same DNA blueprint.

3. Please, tell me that Proteus' artificial voice did not come from a real human girl? I can only guess that was for the cinemagoers at the time who would otherwise have had no idea what the significance the girl had, but if they hear Proteus' voice coming from her mouth, it'd be "oooh, I see now".

4. Proteus gives birth to a girl? Back then, who would've listened to a girl who had the answers that humanity wanted? I don't want to sound misogynistic, but that was a simple fact of life back then. Even if the movie is set in the future, with the cars, etc. I don't buy it. Cathode ray tubes in the later 21st century? Really?

[–] MikeCable (1658) 3 years ago

Some of these questions could possibly be answered by the fact that the couple lost the first child, and that by making the second child an image of that lost child they may be more inclined to love, protect and raise the child, even though it sounded like a real creep with that voice, hehe.

From memory, Proteus did say she cannot see the child for some time as she would not love it if she saw it as it was now.

As for the metallic covering, I assume it was something added by the incubator as some kind of protection of stimulating measure for the rapid growth or something, as it would have been too physically traumatic for her to give birth to a thing covered in lots of metal panels like that.

CRTs were in a lot of futuristic movies right into the late 1990s, along with panels of mindless blinking lights, just one of those things.