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District 9
Storm Rider:
I liked this movie quite a bit but I was a bit caught off guard at just how violent it was! Not that it was a bad thing, I just didn't expect going in to see guys exploding into bloody paste once every 10 minutes for the second half of the movie.
variable_star:
--- Quote from: Lise on 03 Sep 2009, 11:56 ---I don't know, I interpreted that one alien wearing human clothing and brandishing a human weapon as an attempt to appear well... more human, even though he is clearly a "prawn." I could be wrong of course, it could've been done in mockery or for no particular reason at all.
And variable_star, as for your complaint that no one has produced a list of movies so far that exhibit humans as the oppressors rather than the oppressed, I did a quick search and found this great article:
The Best of Science Fiction's Oppressed Species. It includes some obvious examples where stranded aliens are forced into human slavery (ex. Alien Nation, which you already mentioned) and less obvious examples where the humans have artificially created creatures to serve as a workforce and they rebel (ex. Cylons in Battlestar Galactica or the Exosapiens in Exosquad). Even the mutants in X-men, though they resemble humans and not the traditional "alien," have to fight for their civil rights.
So there you have it, a handful of significant movies where humans aren't the most dignified race. As for upcoming movies that focus on this relationship between humans/aliens, how about James Cameron's Avatar?? (encroaching on another planet in blatant search for materials, which results in violence consequences).
--- End quote ---
Again, those are all really quite borderline. I was looking for films that specifically cast humans as the aggressors/oppressors and aliens as the innocents/oppressed. In BSG, the cylons prove themselves to be much worse than humanity in the end and many of the X-Men prove to be just as evil as the humans who oppose them. They certainly share some similar themes, but ultimately they're much too divergent in their respective narratives to directly compare with D9.
Lise:
There wasn't a need to be hostile Johnny C, but it is kind of anal/irrelevant insisting that "Speciesism" be used instead of "racism" in District 9, when the "alien species" is clearly a metaphor for a particular "race."
The point is, you can use the two terms interchangeably in discussion of D9 and we'd still get your point. It doesn't matter.
PS: variable_star, I don't see how "compulsory alien servitude" in the movies the io9 article listed doesn't illustrate a human oppressor/alien innocent relationship to you. I think by being overly critical, you're missing out on watching some really worthwhile sci-fi. If you're looking for a rehash of D9, I don't have any further suggestions for you. Just because a downtrodden species decides to rebel (in a violent fashion) against its captors doesn't necessarily change the fact that they were originally persecuted or exploited. To compare this concept to a recent film (say, Inglourious Basterds), did the actions of the Basterds or Shosanna in retaliating against the Nazis somehow undermine the fact that millions of Jews suffered? I don't think so.
If you ask me, alien-human relationships (hypothetically speaking) would never be so black-and-white. Even in D9, the aliens aren't completely blameless (for example, the scene at the end when a group of Prawns rips a MNU soldier apart), though there are definite situations where humans are reprehensible (such as when Wikus is forced to shoot a captured Prawn in the science lab). Yes, the aliens were cruelly treated, yes, it was the fault of the humans, but the Prawns are not harmless creatures, either. IMO, a movie dealing with a human oppressor/alien innocent relationship wouldn't be as interesting if the aliens were fragile, defenseless creatures incapable of fighting back.
Orbert:
Damn, lots of deep commentary going on. And of course some sniping and griping, but that's to be expected.
I just wanted to say that I saw it and thought it was much better than I'd expected. There was enough sci-fi to make it interesting (DNA- or bio-based tech is kinda neat) and the story was highly metaphorical but I didn't find it to be the horrible heavy-handed message that some people - not here - are making it out to be. Maybe because I'm not as close to the issue as some. Yes, I know what apartheid is, but I focused on Wikus' journey through it and experiences on both sides rather than getting all upset that someone was being allegorical with the human/prawn stuff. Or is it metaphorical? I'm not sure anymore.
supersheep:
The main problem I had with this film (other than finding the change from faux-documentary to action film a bit jarring at first) is that an allegorical portrayal of racism would probably be a little clearer if it didn't have "evil Nigerians" as a main part of the plot.
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