3.21.11 'Illuminati' Symbolism and Architecture in Sci-Fi In a previous Room 101 column, I wrote about 'Illuminati' or secret society symbolism in Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner, a film based loosely on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? In that film, there are numerous examples of symbols and ideas often associated with the 'illuminati' and other popular secret society conspiracy theories on the web. "The Owl of Bohemia," the "all-seeing eye," even David Icke's Reptilians (an extra-dimensional race of reptiles, of which, Queen Elizabeth II is supposedly a member of) are given a nod to in the form of a replicant snake! And all this in 1982 … which was more than a decade before the internet gave conspiracy theorists the power to reach millions around the world with their exciting mix of in-depth research and New Age paranoia. The best and most obvious example of 'Illuminati' architecture in Ridely Scott's sci-fi dystopian Los Angeles of 2019 has to be the immense pyramid skyscrapers that dominate the skyline, however. This was Christopher Knowles response when I asked the author of Our Gods Wear Spandex and The Secret Sun blog about this strange aspect of Blade Runner: "Well, we know that Dick was all over anything weird or mystical, but I don't think he had much involvement in the movie itself. Blade Runner kind of presents us with this kind of technocratic dystopia that some of these elite cult types would see as the paradise of their apotheosis. The cognitive elite in their penthouses and the poor, teeming masses huddled in the streets and the middle class a distant memory. The constant rain is kind of like the piss of the new gods in that regard. Maybe Scott incorporated some of those symbols as part of the overall social critique of this world that runs throughout the film. Maybe it was the screenwriter David Peoples, who also did similar films like Twelve Monkeys and Soldier." A stargate or portal between Heaven and Earth, pyramids have always been an icon associated with Divine power and authoritarian rulers. So Ridley Scott and/or screenwriter David Peoples couldn't have picked a more appropriate design for the headquarters of the powerful Tyrell Corporation. The megacorporation that dominates the Earth and "off world colonies" in the year 2019, and whose motto is "More Human Than Human," a reference to the artificial beings or NEXUS-6 Replicants they create in the 'image' of their company's God-like founder, the billionaire genius and artificial human slave trader Dr. Eldon Tyrell. In Ridley Scott's first science fiction film 1979's Alien, another "company," this time called Wyland-Yutani dominates human inhabited space in the 22nd century. Most casual fans of the Alien franchise are familiar with the company's second logo designed by James Cameron for the second film in the series, Aliens, with the interlocked W/Y, but the original logo designed for Scott's film was an Egyptian winged-sun emblem. According to David Icke and other well known researchers in the fields of parapolitics and alternative history, "The Illuminati" (which Icke defines as a network of interlocking secret and quasi secret groups) are the "continuation of the Mystery Religions of Babylon and Egypt" in ancient times that practiced "sun worship." With this in mind maybe the title of Ridley Scott's new Alien prequel "Prometheus" shouldn't be that surprising then when you take into account the abundance of potential 'Illuminati' symbolism in Blade Runner and Alien. Prometheus was the Titan in Greek mythology who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mankind. But Scott's science fiction films aren't the only examples of 'Illuminati' architecture in Hollywood films. A pyramid on Mars is featured in Total Recall (another Philip K. Dick film adaptation) starring Arnold Shwatchenegger, who according to Alex Jones' 2000 documentary film, Dark Secrets Inside Bohemian Grove, has been an attendee at the mysterious summer camp event in northern California, at which the bizarre "Cremation of Care" ceremony supposedly involving the mock human sacrifice of an infant to a giant forty-plus foot stone owl deity called "Moloch" is alleged to take place. In July 2010 it was even reported that the California "Governorator" had given a speech at the super secret rich man's retreat where political, business and Hollywood elites from the Bush's to the voice of The Simpsons' Mr. Burns, Harry Shearer, have admittedly attended. Anti-New World Order filmmakers and secret society researchers suggest that, for the 'Illuminati' conspirators the pyramid represents the compartmentalisation of secret knowledge from mankind. But even if the conspiracy theorists are correct about this why would any secret society (whether you believe 'Them' to be the Bilderburg Group, the Skull and Bones Society at Yale University, the Freemasons, or even a conglomeration of all these and other secret and quasi secret groups) put their secret symbols in big Hollywood films for everyone to see? "I have heard that the popular culture is used as a tool by whatever elite, business, govt, Illuminati, etc., to both gauge and control the populace. That is, the conspiracy is the conspiracy theory itself, making its way into the mainstream culture, thereby usurping the power of the populace to alter it, because one can diminish some researcher or whistleblower as someone who 'just watches too much X-Files,'" Dean Haglund, better known as Langly in the popular 1990s TV series The X-Files told me in 2010. In a correspondence on Facebook filmmaker and Bilderburg researcher, Timuçin Leflef, told me, "there are several facets to it - including sacred geometry." Other researchers such as Texe Marrs, author of Codex Magica, have suggested that the secret rulers of the world believe that they get paranormal powers from putting their secret signs and symbols on display, or hidden in plain sight. Hence the pyramid and all-seeing-eye on the back of the one dollar bill. While you can't rule anything out, readers who are conspiracy inclined should remember that there is some overlap between fans of sci-fi and the conspiracy genre. Books and films like George Orwell's 1984, H. G. Wells' Things To Come, and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World have almost become required reading and watching for anyone who wants to attempt to untangle the great conspiracy. Might a simpler explanation be that the scriptwriters or directors of these films might have been inspired by the New Age or paranormal book section … of course, it could all just be a coincidence too. Whatever the truth I think 'Illuminati' symbolism and architecture in films and TV shows is a subject that deserves more research. Richard Thomas, BoA UK Correspondent and Columnist.