Director's Note

After spending five years studying theatre at the University of Southern Oregon, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, I developed a reverence for Shakespeare, and especially the Greek Classics. Of particular interest was the degree of pathos and catharsis playwrights such as Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus infused in their work. These were the great Spielberg’s and Kubrick’s of their time, and their stories continue today to resonate and affect the human soul.

Of these myths, Prometheus Bound, by Aeschylus caught my attention. The tale of a god, punished for betraying his own kind, in order to save the race of man from Zeus’s destruction. Chained to a rock, with an eagle sent to devour his liver daily, Prometheus endured with righteous faith and unswerving belief his cause was just.

It was in fact this unswerving arrogance towards Zeus that I found particularly funny for a Greek tragedy. While I was enamored with Aeschylus’s story, Prometheus Bound, it could work as play, but certainly not an entire film.

It was from this necessity that I created the ultimate “What If?” story. What if, the eagle was transformed into a human butcher, and forced to endure the same events with Prometheus. How would he feel? Would he be morally responsible for his actions?

In Prometheus & The Butcher, the Butcher is forced to cut out Prometheus’s liver and eat it to stay alive. This action is the will of Zeus who has forced this upon him. Unable to control his actions, morally he cannot be blamed. While the Butcher may feel ashamed of his deeds and despise himself; he is still morally clean of guilt. However, according to the philosophical “Principle of Alternate Possibility” a person is not morally responsible for what he has done if he did it only because he could not have done otherwise.

In other words, the moment the Butcher realizes he has a choice and can stop the cycle is the moment he is in now morally responsible for his actions. If he chooses to let Hercules die, when he could have saved him, he must now live with the guilt, that he is responsible for the daily punishment of Prometheus. Therefore the Butcher must decide whether to sacrifice his life, or sacrifice his soul.

Sincerely,
Aaron Torres
aaron@prometheusandthebutcher.com