Christian Ashley and Jill Elizabeth dive deep into the 2022 film "Prey," a prequel in the iconic Predator franchise, fresh out of their Drive-In theater experience. They kick things off with a major takeaway: this flick flips the script on traditional storytelling with its strong female lead, Naru, who stands tall against both the titular predator and the colonizing French trappers. Jill's enthusiasm shines through as she praises the film’s feminist undertones and its respectful portrayal of Native American culture. Christian chimes in, relishing the clever nods to mythology and the way the film weaves in themes of ecological balance and colonization. With a mix of insightful analysis and light-hearted banter, they explore how "Prey" not only revives the franchise but also makes a statement about who the real monsters are in a world driven by conquest and survival.

Exploring the cinematic landscape of the Predator franchise, the discussion dives deep into the film 'Prey,' a fresh take that not only revives the series but does so with a keen sense of cultural awareness. Christian, Jill, and Ash break down the film's narrative, which centers on Naru, a young Comanche woman who defies traditional gender roles to become a warrior in her own right. Jill expresses her enthusiasm for the film's feminist undertones, noting how Naru is portrayed not as a mere accessory to the male-dominated plot but as a fully developed character who stands at the forefront of her own story. The dialogue flows effortlessly as they dissect the film's themes of colonization, identity, and survival within a historical context that isn’t often acknowledged in mainstream cinema. They highlight how Naru's journey is emblematic of the struggle against both the literal and figurative predators that seek to undermine her existence. As they navigate through the film's plot points, special effects, and character development, the hosts manage to weave in their personal experiences and insights, creating a rich tapestry of conversation that encourages listeners to rethink what a 'hero' looks like.

Takeaways:

• Christian and Jill dive into the film 'Prey', exploring its fresh perspective as a prequel in the Predator franchise, which brings much-needed female representation to the forefront.
• The duo praises the film's protagonist, Naru, emphasizing her growth from an underestimated hunter to a capable warrior, showcasing a journey of self-discovery and empowerment.
• They discuss the cultural themes in 'Prey', particularly the depiction of colonization and its impact on Native American culture, cleverly intertwining it with the notion of who the real predators are.
• Christian highlights the film's unique setting in 1719, away from the typical American expansion narrative, which adds depth to the story and challenges traditional tropes in action films.
• Jill points out the lack of a 'white savior' trope in the film, which is a refreshing take, allowing Naru's character to shine without falling into cliched pitfalls.
• The conversation wraps up with a humorous take on their favorite movie snacks and beverages for the Drive-In, showcasing their relaxed vibe and camaraderie.

Mentioned in this episode:

Systematic Geekology

Our show focuses around our favorite fandoms that we discuss from a Christian perspective. We do not try to put Jesus into all our favorite stories, but rather we try to ask the questions the IPs are asking, then addressing those questions from our perspective. We are not all ordained, but we are the Priests to the Geeks, in the sense that we try to serve as mediators between the cultures around our favorite fandoms and our faith communities.

In the match between predator and prey. This is systematic ecology. We are the priests of the geeks.

We're asking this question and a lot more in today's drive in episode where we're going through prequel series. Today we are focusing on the film Prey within the Predator series. And I say we because it's not just me.

Christian, Ash, and of course, joined by the esteemed Jill. How's it going, Jill?

I am great. So happy to join you to talk about this film.

Oh, yes. So I love this film. It is a lot of good fun, I think. I think we're going to have a fun conversation with it.

So, Jill, we have just left the drive in seeing this for the first time. What's your first reaction and the first thing you want to say about this film?

Holy cow. I love it. I love it. I'm so happy to hear you say that, too. I just felt like it was a this, like, feminism line throughout is so, so cool.

Let's talk about that. And let's talk about the special effects. This is such a good movie.

Yeah, I think it was like, that was way better than I thought it would be. Like, I didn't think this would be a terrible movie or anything like that, but, like.

But yeah, it was almost shadow dropped to an extent when it first came out. Like, oh, man, I barely saw any marketing for this was like, that's normally a bad sign of something.

But this one blew me away and I was so very happy because I wanted it to be good. I'll tell you, I love Predator.

Like, I was pleasantly surprised.

Yes. All right, so for anyone not in the know, this is Prey.

This is a prequel to the Predator film franchise, which has movies of various qualities within side itself. The original film, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jungle killing a guy. Lots of words we can't say here because this is family show.

But it's a very, very fun film.

It's kind of the ultimate guy film in many respects of like a bunch of dudes just shooting guns in the middle of the jungle against, you know, an alien. You know, it's fine not to say women can't enjoy it or anything like that. Like, when you have films like, who are you going to put?

It's like a film that's like a guy film. This is going to be one of those. So for. We get. Yeah, we get. Not this is any less of a guy film, but we get a very nice female perspective here.

So, Jill, I. I gave you out a list of potential films that we could have Chosen here. And ultimately you're the one who picked it from that list. So, like, why did you pick prey?

Well, because of systematic ecology, I have thrown myself into the alien universe and I wanted to expand on that knowledge a little bit. I. The only movie in the Predator series that I have seen was Predator, and that was in the 90s when it came out.

Um, so I just sort of wanted to reacquaint myself with this series and I didn't know anything about this movie. And to be completely honest, so many of the movies you presented were horror films. And I'm scared of horror films.

I forgot that I sh. I should remember that next time.

Quite all right. I was like, this one, I will probably be able to sleep at night, so let's watch it.

You know what? That's fair. I don't want to terrify you. Like, I used to be the same way when I was much younger. You know, you're done with this. Just watch them.

And like. No, but that was me. Not everyone has to do that. And if that's not what you want to do, I'm not going to be the one to force you.

Thank you.

So part of this, what we're always kind of doing our drive ins, like, we discussed what we love, what we don't love about the movie. Why don't you go ahead and take the reins there and we'll figure out.

Okay. Yeah. So what I loved so much was the heroine. I just think placing a young woman at the center of the story is so.

Yeah, Nauru, it is like the antithesis of what we typically see from these types of films. There was nothing about her that was used as like a. A sex symbol or she wasn't fodder in someone else's story.

Like, she is the story and she's not really. She doesn't have all the qualities of a hero. Like, she's quite vulnerable. She messes up. No one believes in her.

I think she has this belief in herself and her ability to be an herbal medicine healer and a tracker and this hunter that she knows she is deep inside of who she is that no one else sees. That ultimately is the thing that helps her conquer and win and beat the Predator. But I also love, you know, I'm always going to be me.

I love the theme of America, American colonization throughout a film. And I feel like it was done well. Yeah, it was done really well. The trappers are French. The ultimate evil, obviously.

And I feel very much in my Native American, like, historical era. I've read so many Books this year about Native American history and culture.

And that's just sort of a theme that has been carried on like since December of 25 for me. And so this fit really nicely right in the things that I'm studying.

Yeah, I totally agree with you. Naru is a great protagonist here. She is in very many respects the anti.

Hollywood has always had a hard time with female leads and what to do with them. Because guys, it just comes naturally to them because mostly written from a male perspective. So they don't have to justify themselves.

When I think they feel like, oh, we do a woman, we have to justify why she's the main character instead of a guy. And so they go with the I'm not like the other girls or I'm a woman. And like there has to be what's said out loud. But it's never.

I mean, yeah, there are issues because she's a woman in the film, in her culture, in the Comanche culture, there like, hey, stick your lane, don't do this. But at that same time, it's never like, oh, look at me. This is a tragedy because I'm a woman. No, it's like, no, I'm a person.

Being a woman is part of who I am and part of why I'm not able to do what everyone else is initially.

But I'm willing to do these things, which shows initiative, which shows that I'm willing to go through pain and suffering because I'm being tracked down by this creature that I have no context for. At best. Like, another thing I really love is like the, the tie ins to certain parts of Native American mythology with the.

She mentions the Thunderbird very early on. That's huge thing. Cryptozoology as well. Whether they're potential creatures or not, I love that.

I also really love how the predator in our film like kind of levels up as time goes on, hunting specific creatures and then like, okay, I took you out easily, so you're not really kind of my thing. I took you out easily. Oh, what if these human people, let's see what happens with that. And yes, some great fight scenes here.

Love what they're doing with all of that. And I gotta say, I love as well this coming back to a different period in time and using that to its full effectiveness.

Because you would expect we're doing Native Americans where we're going to do American expansion, Manifest destiny kind of thing. But no, this is pre America. This is the French are colonizing this part of the world. It'll eventually be part of the Louisiana Purchase way later on.

Like, I, I mean, love is the word I'm going to keep using because I love what they do with that.

1719. Yes.

It was done so well. There's no white savior, which is pretty rare in Hollywood if we're depicting Native Americans.

And there's even a moment, you know, when Nauru is in the field, she's looking for the Predator. She doesn't know what she's looking for yet.

And she comes across a field of buffalo that have been skinned, which is just the ultimate disrespect, the ultimate sin in this culture because they didn't use the meat from the buffalo. They didn't. The. They being the French trappers. But at this point in the movie, we don't know.

So we're kind of trying to decide, is this an act of the Predator or is it something else?

And she takes a moment to take a plant from the ground and put it on the buffalo and say a prayer over the buffalo and the injustice that's been done in this field. I was like, this is the coolest thing. And it kind of takes us back to the conversations I've had in the Alien franchise of who's really the monster.

Yeah, Weyland Yutani is the answer. Outside of Alien Earth. Well, there are plenty of other corporations that fit that bill. But yeah, no, that's perfect. The setting of where the film is.

I mean, things are going to be brought up, like, culturally and everything there.

Like, why are there a huge difference between these people, these interlopers who come in thinking they can do whatever they want with these people have lived here for, however long live for thousands of years. I forgot to say earlier, actually, before we head that way, is there anything about the film you really don't like at all?

Oh, no, I loved the action. That was probably my favorite. And that tends to be the thing that sometimes is too cheesy. No, there is. Well, I will say this.

I. I still have a hard time watching women get. Get their butts kicked. Five men.

I get that. Like, I can't. I can't even watch, like, women MMA fights, like between women hitting each other.

It's like, call me, I don't know, whatever you want to call me for that. Like anti feminist or whatever. I can't do that. Like, I don't like seeing women get hurt. I totally get it.

Yeah.

So there were a couple moments, like, first of all, there's some men in her tribe that are really Violent with her because they're trying to get her to come back home. That was a little bit hard to watch. And then the. The French trappers, when they get her, I just.

I had in my mind there was going to be some type of sexual violence, and thank goodness there wasn't.

Yeah, that would have been the easy thing to do. And, like, definitely something that has happened historically many times over.

I mean, it wasn't a pretty conflict on either side, but yeah, choosing, like, putting the threat there but not actually going through with it, I think shows this as a better film, is if this had been made in like the 80s, I think we would have seen more of the violence and we definitely would have seen some undressing as part of that. You know, centralize the audience, as it were.

Yep. Yeah. Was there anything you didn't like about the film?

Yeah, I'm trying to think of that. Like, it's not a flawless movie, but I'm trying to think. It's been three years since I last saw it. I'm not really remembering anything.

I don't think there's. I don't think there's any pacing issues that I remember because we get enough, like, Predator appears, we get Naru story, we get action scenes.

Um, I mean, there are French people. I guess that's always a negative for me. Some of us have never forgotten the Years of Freedom prize. No. So funny.

I'm sure that's something I'm forgetting, but I love this film immensely. Like, so I skipped over a question, and that is, like, how we were introduced to the movie. Do you remember how you were doing that? How that happened?

Sorry, let me speak in English language.

Oh, no, it's okay. So it came out on Hulu. Did it actually go to the theaters or was it straight to streaming?

Want to say there was a limited release.

Okay.

Because I. I remember something about the Comanche dub being mentioned for something like that because it was an option on Hulu and like, the whole movie being Dublin Comanche as part of the process, I still haven't done yet. That's something I need to do later on, you know, because how often do you get that opportunity?

Right? Yeah. Yeah. Ever. So my introduction was probably just seeing it on some type of ad through Hulu and thinking like, oh, yeah, I'll put that on the list.

But never, like, was important.

I remember I saw a couple months before it was released, like on Reddit. Like, I think the movies subreddit that someone mentioned it was going to be a prey movie. It's like, the first time I've heard of this.

And, like, okay, what. Let's see what goes on.

And they're released on Hulu, and I saw people talking about it because, once again, I remember very little marketing for this film. I'm sure there was some, but maybe I was just in the wrong places. And, like, okay, you know what? Love Predator.

I love going back in time, exploring new options. That's like, Was a killer of killers. Was the animated film. Have you seen that one?

No, we were just talking about it in the barbershop yesterday.

Okay. I won't say anything outside of the fact that there are different periods in time shown there to great effect.

So bringing that into a film really made me love it more and watched it as soon as I could and fell in love.

Okay.

Yeah. So we kind of danced over, like, you want to give, like, a brief, like, synopsis of the film? I can help out as needed.

Yeah. The film follows. Is it Nauru?

That's how I believe it. It's N A R, U. If I'm mispronouncing that, it's because, you know, I've only ever. It's been, what, three years since I've seen it.

And I'm looking at the word written.

Down, and I don't remember anyone calling her by her name, honestly. So that's why the pronunciation escapes me. But we follow Nauru in her Comanche village. She desperately wants to be a hunter.

She wants to join the hunters of the village. And she goes out and practices on her own with this axe. Gosh. And discovers that there is a strange entity in the sky.

She doesn't have any language to describe it, but instantly knows there is something and more powerful and more nefarious than the animals that they're hunting that is out there hunting the animals and then them. And as the villagers are trying to figure out what to do with this predator, she becomes the last. The last one standing.

And it's up to her to stop this alien predator from taking over.

In the process, we see this other great evil in the land, which is the French, these colonizers and fur trappers that are also wreaking havoc on the land. And there's just an intertwining of, who is the predator, who is the prey? Who's the monster? Who are the heroes?

And it gets to a point where she's forced to face off against the predator, and just to the point where she's able to kill it using its own kind of technology against it. Kind of learning from previous Experiences previous battles, and she becomes the new war chief of her tribe.

And yeah, something I also remember, too, she calls the predator at one point a mipitzi, I believe that's how you pronounce it. That is the. I think it's a giant man eater Owl is the little translation of that. And it's part of Comanche mythology.

It's kind of like a boogeyman designed to scare children. So it's like I knew nothing. I knew enough mythology because I studied these things, but I didn't know exactly what that was.

So what this film forced me to do, which is always a good thing, is to research things. Like, what does that term mean? Like, why would you call it that? It's like, oh, calling it the boogeyman because it, like, you can't really see it.

It's killing the people around you. Well, that makes perfect sense to me.

Right. And this predator has, like, really advanced technology.

Yeah.

And they have no context for that. Mean, they're just discovering guns and gunpowder. And this predator has laser beams.

Like, how are you supposed to contextualize that outside of your cultural understanding of how the world works? Yeah. Right. So this is part of our drive in series as well. The faces behind us has been our theme for the whole year.

So, Joe, how do you think, like, in light of other Predator movies, anything, or even in the film itself, like, how does that play into our. Our annual theme this year?

And this film, which I love, this theme of the faces behind us, I think. I just think it's really cool. It is for me. I drew the connections in.

What is it that causes or what is the catalyst that causes people to step into their true selves, to either become the heroes of their story or become the villains of their story. And for this, it's where her belief meets opportunity, in my opinion. Right.

She has this deep belief in herself that she is a hunter, that she is gifted with these talents that will allow her to ultimately become the war chief. But she doesn't have a chance to prove that until this, you know, horrible villain comes on the scene.

It's just like the match of those two perfect things.

Yeah. I think since people have seen other Predator films, there's a moment in Predator 2 where I can't remember character names for the life of me.

One of the main characters is gifted with a flintlock pistol, and this is the flintlock pistol retroactively that is used in this film to attack the Predator and everything there. It's like. It's a great way of using previous Canon to like make a new story here, build up on something like that.

And the idea is, okay, let me show you honor by giving you a weapon that helped take down one of our own.

So we, we, that's our huge thing in the Yautja predator culture is like, you know, the hunt, the honor that's involved with that and like showing respect to your enemies, even if they kill one of your own, well, that means that they're, they're worthy of your respect.

So let me show respect to you by giving you this, which wouldn't have happened now that we know without, you know, what Nauru does in this film and learning one of the French trappers there. I can't remember names and everything. It's been a while. So that's a huge focus here.

I will say also there are tie ins to killer of killers that I can't say because I want you to watch that first because there's going to be revelations that are brought up there.

Let's go with certain characters in this film and other films in a Predator franchise that kind of tie into the faces behind us of how much the predators kind of respect them. And that's as far as I'll go.

Okay.

So, yeah, I think that this funny thing like with the tribal step tooth, with the idea of who she is expected to be versus who she becomes and how that kind of affects the tribe as a whole based on how she was taught and how she rejects part of her culture, but still embracing parts of her culture, that's a huge part of it too.

Yeah.

Right. So moving on from there, kind of brought it up earlier, but going a little more in depth.

Like, how does this film factor in to the history of American colonization? I mean, colonization of the Americas.

Right. I mean, it like gives us that ultimate question, who are the real monsters? What's really happening here and what is the story?

And the story, to me, what's illustrated in this film is these outside forces coming in and just abusing and extracting from the land and from the cultures in a way that is horror movie level tragedy.

It's that whole thing of you get them in here and they're not setting up a city, they're not trying to reach out and trade or anything.

They are bringing, taking things from the environment so they can be brought out elsewhere and not even using the totality of what they're taking because they only care about this part of it and the, the abuse of the environment that comes with that.

The abuse of the people who are native to that Area as well, because, I mean, that's one less thing that they're going to be able to hunt or then you keep going down. We're just going to take the pelts and yeah, those are very valuable things that, that are used for a good thing and that being clothing.

But how do you obtain such things? Yeah, the, the ethical consumerism, that kind of comes in. And that idea too. Yeah.

At, at this point in time to, for them to come this far once again, they're not setting up a city, they're barely setting up forts. And we're just gonna say, well, we. We're here and therefore we own it because we are who we are.

And which, I mean, that's every human civilization, including native tribes like that. The. And you ask who's the good guy here? Well, not really. I was. Naru's our good guy.

And Comanche themselves don't do anything to earn the ire or do anything to disrespect the French trappers here. So they're our ultimate human villains here.

So.

Yeah, I mean, it's. When you learn your history, it's very complicated. You can't just always say, yeah, sometimes it's easy.

Sometimes you say, Nazis, bad guys, wouldn't want to be one of them. Like, it's like you're easy out when it comes to things like this was. Settlers came in like they just wanted to make a living and. Yeah.

At that cost of other people's lives. Like, that's not what their intent was and.

Well, I'm not sure about that. I mean, I think that the intent is to extract, steal and profit.

Well, I mean, for the trappers, absolutely. Yes.

Yeah. Oh, I'm talking about settlers.

Yes. Yeah.

People who actually wanted to live there, find a new life for themselves, unfortunately, at the cost of other people who had already been here previously. Which.

Yeah. And it doesn't have to be that way. There is also history, and it has been done where someone goes to a new land to.

For a better opportunity and assimilates with the culture and doesn't conquer it. There's plenty of example of that all over the world and in parts of the U.S. yeah.

And this isn't just an America's thing. This is, this is a human thing all over the place.

It's everywhere.

And I think, like, it doesn't focus too much on it to where it becomes overbearing. It's just enough to go, okay, I see what you're doing. And it's not like shouting in my face, this is wrong. And Evil.

It's like, no, I can see from what you're showing me. Yeah, this is wrong and evil. I don't need to be preached act. I'm being preached too.

Yeah. It's enough to make you think, which is a good thing. Which I think is the purpose of art.

Yeah.

Not to preach at us, but to make us think.

So, Joe, one of the questions we are always asking here is what kind of flavored tea or lemonade would you bring for the drive in? I did not make this question. I'm a simple man. I drink my southern sweet tea and I'll add nothing to it because why mess with perfection?

So I'm curious to see what you think.

Do you drink it so sweet that it hurts your teeth?

Yes. And I'm not supposed to anymore with the pre diabetes and all. But if I'm going to do it, if I'm going to do wrong, I'm going to do wrong. Right.

I am right behind you. I never go to the south without ordering sweet tea. And they'll ask me like real sweet tea. Yes, honey. So sweet.

One of the most disappointing times of my life. I went up to New York City to go to the U.S. oakland with my dad.

We went to a restaurant and I asked for sweet tea and they kind of gave me this weird look and they gave me tea with sugar, I guess in.

But it's this garbage water.

Yeah, it was awesome.

But I am gonna have. There is a sweet tea flavored vodka that is pretty amazing.

I can't think of the brand right now, but we always have it up in Michigan and we go there for our summers. And so I'm gonna have an Arnold Palmer with that sweet tea vodka because I like a little spiked drink at my movies.

What an interesting combo. I never would have thought to do that. Okay, so Jill, thank you for your time here. All right, it's time to wrap up guys.

Thank you for everything you do. Please have a chance to. If you get a chance, please leave a review on a podcasting platform with your Choice.

Head to YouTube, Discord, excuse me, fourth wall and more to get more content from us. You can also suggest future episode topic ideas to us. We love doing that with a shout out to supporters. Real quick.

Thank you to Aaron Hardy, Daniel Sigman, Trick Fuller and James Barrett. You guys are the best. But remember, we're all the chosen people. They geeked them of priests.