Captiv8
Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Posts: 8177
Location: Third Coast |
Invisible Robots wrote:
Personally, I was very DISSAPOINTED with 28 days later.
PERSONALLY: it had a 'city of god / minority report / blood diamond' feel to it.
I can't believe you didn't like 28 Days Later. Awesome film full of surreal scenes and some really intense moments. Cillian Murphy, well, kills in this movie. Danny Boyle knows what's up. And let's get our shit right, guys. They aren't zombies in this film, but like zombies. Totally different. See, a zombie comes after you (and whether they're shuffling or running is up to your own interpretation) strictly so they can munch some brains. Everyone knows this. The folks in 28 Days Later were afflicted with the Rage virus which causes its victims to basically become super angry and attack anyone, not to eat, but to kill. It's elementary.
I will agree with the latter part of your assessment, Invisible Robots. |
Sat Aug 22, 2009 8:36 am |
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xX gideon Xx
Joined: 22 Sep 2008
Posts: 142
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SPOILER ALERT!
pedavis wrote:
.....the quick scene in the end of the alien making the flower.
"THE alien?" you're not being specific as to the alien's identity to protect people who haven't seen the film yet, right? i mean....we can all pretty much agree WHO that is making the flower....can't we? |
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Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:40 pm |
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outsect
Joined: 17 Jun 2009
Posts: 59
Location: PDX |
SPOILER
I think it's left open to be what you're thinking, or just an anonymous alien so the viewer can make it up. |
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Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:58 pm |
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Basilisk
Joined: 03 May 2004
Posts: 1781
Location: NH |
outsect wrote:
I think it's left open to be what you're thinking, or just an anonymous alien so the viewer can make it up.
No. That would be dumb. And silly. Dumb and Silly. We know who the alien at the end was. |
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Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:12 pm |
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AirTreesWaterAnimals
Joined: 31 Jul 2004
Posts: 2987
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Basilisk wrote:
outsect wrote:
I think it's left open to be what you're thinking, or just an anonymous alien so the viewer can make it up.
No. That would be dumb. And silly. Dumb and Silly. We know who the alien at the end was.
Exactly. It's no coincidence his wife had an identical flower. |
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Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:34 pm |
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MP3D
Straaaange FAMOUS!
Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 2612
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SPOILER:
and the alien at the end was missing its finger! |
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Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:44 am |
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box johnson
Joined: 25 Nov 2008
Posts: 1123
Location: Denver |
and they set the whole thing up at the beginning of the film where she specifically talks about how he gives homemade gifts because they're more personal.
cc. |
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Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:18 am |
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pedavis
Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 1406
Location: Illinois, US |
finally someone who understands. thank you. really this movie is great, ignore the downers if you haven't seen it and are still on the fence. |
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Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:58 pm |
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Bandini
WIZARD APPRENTICE
Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 4667
Location: jerk city |
you guys are cornballs. |
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Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:12 pm |
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Jared Paul
Joined: 15 Jul 2002
Posts: 3717
Location: www.PrayersForAtheists.org |
The movie was definitely good and made me feel all fucked up the way a good movie should.
Some of the only criticisms I have are, as was already mentioned, how easily they portrayed the notion that previous ghetto residents of any cultural identity and/or working class people of color in Johannesburg would automatically assume careless racist sentiments toward the aliens.
And in the same vein, how easily they portrayed the human gangs, all comprised of people of color, as ultra-violent, barbaric, superstitious/"mystic"/"savage"/prone to "voo doo".
Reminded me of a curious choice in another Peter Jackson project: the "Orcs" from Lord of the Rings, which were just a little too close to exact live screen examples of what scared, pre-civil rights movement-racist depictions of dark skinned people might be like.
District 9 might have been close to flawless for me if those aspects hadn't left such an uneasy feeling in my stomach. |
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Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:23 pm |
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Oh Daesu
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 1847
Location: Vancouver |
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Jared Paul wrote:
The movie was definitely good and made me feel all fucked up the way a good movie should.
Some of the only criticisms I have are, as was already mentioned, how easily they portrayed the notion that previous ghetto residents of any cultural identity and/or working class people of color in Johannesburg would automatically assume careless racist sentiments toward the aliens.
And in the same vein, how easily they portrayed the human gangs, all comprised of people of color, as ultra-violent, barbaric, superstitious/"mystic"/"savage"/prone to "voo doo".
Reminded me of a curious choice in another Peter Jackson project: the "Orcs" from Lord of the Rings, which were just a little too close to exact live screen examples of what scared, pre-civil rights movement-racist depictions of dark skinned people might be like.
District 9 might have been close to flawless for me if those aspects hadn't left such an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
To be fair, he was adapting the racist undertones of the books pretty closely. Don't blame Jackson, blame, JRR |
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Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:26 pm |
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Jared Paul
Joined: 15 Jul 2002
Posts: 3717
Location: www.PrayersForAtheists.org |
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Oh Daesu wrote:
Jared Paul wrote:
The movie was definitely good and made me feel all fucked up the way a good movie should.
Some of the only criticisms I have are, as was already mentioned, how easily they portrayed the notion that previous ghetto residents of any cultural identity and/or working class people of color in Johannesburg would automatically assume careless racist sentiments toward the aliens.
And in the same vein, how easily they portrayed the human gangs, all comprised of people of color, as ultra-violent, barbaric, superstitious/"mystic"/"savage"/prone to "voo doo".
Reminded me of a curious choice in another Peter Jackson project: the "Orcs" from Lord of the Rings, which were just a little too close to exact live screen examples of what scared, pre-civil rights movement-racist depictions of dark skinned people might be like.
District 9 might have been close to flawless for me if those aspects hadn't left such an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
To be fair, he was adapting the racist undertones of the books pretty closely. Don't blame Jackson, blame, JRR
Nawp. I blame Jackson. I read all the books. The Silmarilian, all the Lays of Beleriand, and the whole History of Middle Earth. Way before those shitty movies were ever made. If anything Mordor was Germany, and the dark creatures in Middle Earth under its sway were manifestations/representations of the brutal and genocidal actions of the Triple Alliance & Axis Powers during WWI & WWII, respectively (most of it was written DURING WWII.) Not as a reference to people of color. Goblins and Orcs, were created from elves captured by Melkor and tortured/experimented on to make monsters. Once again, nearly an exact parallel to German psychotic military actions; like "Nazgul," sounds almost exactly like "Nazi."
Would a guy make an entire life's work out of creating one of the most elaborate fantasy tales in history, which would hopefully speak to children and adults about the evil of fascist empires (specifically referencing possibly the most racist empire of all time), only to demonize people of color the same way as the Evil antagonist of the story?
No.
Tolkien was Christian, and I clearly differ with his religious views. But he was not racist, and Middle Earth was certainly not a vehicle for latent racist themes.
Fuck the critics, they can kiss my whole ASSHOLE.
Also, fuck those movies. They got a lot of the scenery right, but that's about it.
*Any harshness in this thread was meant for Peter shit bag Jackson and not for you miss Daesu! |
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Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:53 am |
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box johnson
Joined: 25 Nov 2008
Posts: 1123
Location: Denver |
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Jared Paul wrote:
The movie was definitely good and made me feel all fucked up the way a good movie should.
Some of the only criticisms I have are, as was already mentioned, how easily they portrayed the notion that previous ghetto residents of any cultural identity and/or working class people of color in Johannesburg would automatically assume careless racist sentiments toward the aliens.
And in the same vein, how easily they portrayed the human gangs, all comprised of people of color, as ultra-violent, barbaric, superstitious/"mystic"/"savage"/prone to "voo doo".
Reminded me of a curious choice in another Peter Jackson project: the "Orcs" from Lord of the Rings, which were just a little too close to exact live screen examples of what scared, pre-civil rights movement-racist depictions of dark skinned people might be like.
District 9 might have been close to flawless for me if those aspects hadn't left such an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
If anything, the movie portrayed the military (or mercenaries) in a negative light, only responding with bullets and brute force. They set this up well in Vickers (sp?) first encounter regarding the amount of live ammo a soldier was taking into D9. The entire pressure on the military comes from a small number of humans protesting the relocation and probable killings of prawns. You see them, with "I <3 Prawn" signs in tow, at the outset. When his father-in-law damn near chokes him out at his promotion party, it's about the perception of the loss of alien life. The average human in this movie is like the average human in any political matter: absent.
I don't think their sentiments were portrayed as automatic, either. This takes place two decades from the initial landing. And frankly, to imply that the people of Johannesburg couldn't engender ill will to an unwilling occupant of their land is naive. As the one guy (roughly) said, "It'd be different if they were our neighbors, but they're not even from earth." That's a very human response.
There weren't human "gangs", there was one human gang. The gang, singular, was comprised of people from one COUNTRY, and a country which isn't teeming with racial diversity. A country that I've visited and has deep roots in concepts like "superstition" and "voo-doo" that you talk of so condescendingly.
Let me suggest that it is YOU who has the narrow view of this part of the world. Your misconceptions about this continent play like the 1970's textbook your parochial school couldn't update. You're a very smart man. You may have American race relations down, but you've missed your target here. |
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Tue Aug 25, 2009 2:05 am |
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Jared Paul
Joined: 15 Jul 2002
Posts: 3717
Location: www.PrayersForAtheists.org |
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box johnson wrote:
Jared Paul wrote:
The movie was definitely good and made me feel all fucked up the way a good movie should.
Some of the only criticisms I have are, as was already mentioned, how easily they portrayed the notion that previous ghetto residents of any cultural identity and/or working class people of color in Johannesburg would automatically assume careless racist sentiments toward the aliens.
And in the same vein, how easily they portrayed the human gangs, all comprised of people of color, as ultra-violent, barbaric, superstitious/"mystic"/"savage"/prone to "voo doo".
Reminded me of a curious choice in another Peter Jackson project: the "Orcs" from Lord of the Rings, which were just a little too close to exact live screen examples of what scared, pre-civil rights movement-racist depictions of dark skinned people might be like.
District 9 might have been close to flawless for me if those aspects hadn't left such an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
If anything, the movie portrayed the military (or mercenaries) in a negative light, only responding with bullets and brute force. They set this up well in Vickers (sp?) first encounter regarding the amount of live ammo a soldier was taking into D9. The entire pressure on the military comes from a small number of humans protesting the relocation and probable killings of prawns. You see them, with "I <3 Prawn" signs in tow, at the outset. When his father-in-law damn near chokes him out at his promotion party, it's about the perception of the loss of alien life. The average human in this movie is like the average human in any political matter: absent.
I don't think their sentiments were portrayed as automatic, either. This takes place two decades from the initial landing. And frankly, to imply that the people of Johannesburg couldn't engender ill will to an unwilling occupant of their land is naive. As the one guy (roughly) said, "It'd be different if they were our neighbors, but they're not even from earth." That's a very human response.
There weren't human "gangs", there was one human gang. The gang, singular, was comprised of people from one COUNTRY, and a country which isn't teeming with racial diversity. A country that I've visited and has deep roots in concepts like "superstition" and "voo-doo" that you talk of so condescendingly.
Let me suggest that it is YOU who has the narrow view of this part of the world. Your misconceptions about this continent play like the 1970's textbook your parochial school couldn't update. You're a very smart man. You may have American race relations down, but you've missed your target here.
There's no target for me to miss here, Box. I appreciate you taking the time to type all that, but all I did was describe how the movie made me feel. You seem to have a very detailed knowledge of the film and you've visited the area, so maybe the movie has special significance for you; I saw it one time and thought it was a great movie, but I'm not sure that it was blatantly obvious via one viewing that there was only one human gang in District 9, and I didn't say it was impossible that "the people of Johannesburg could engender ill will to an unwilling occupant of their land" or that there aren't deep roots in superstition, all I said was that it was a little too easy, and that made me feel uncomfortable.
Who are the foil bad guys to the mostly all white racist soldiers running around killing and beating people? Why the super violent all back local gang of course. And they're all evil and exploitative of the residents of the ghetto like District 9, and of course they smuggle guns, and swindle and beat the aliens for fun, and naturally the leader is the wickedest of all... super scary with a half crazed medicine woman crawling around on the ground telling him to eat alien body parts in order to transform into one of them.
I've reread my post after seeing your response and I don't think I typed anything that warranted such a defensive response from you, nor do I feel like what I typed is condescending or naive. Of course those normally guilty of condescension and/or naivety rarely do, I suppose, so I will continue to think on it.
All in all it was a dope movie. I'm still not totally comfortable with all depictions.
*Maybe it was the other post about me thinking the Lord of the Rings movies were unforgivably mis-representative? I can't apologize there, though they did a great job with much of the setting- the casting, unnecessary dramatizations, reinventing of core characters personalities, trumped up romance angles, and blatant/ridiculous/unnecessary changes to the story make the whole thing irredeemably gross in both my Dad's and my opinion, and I'm glad I walked out of the second one, and skipped most of the third. Peter Jackson definitely has skill, but fuck those movies. And those racist ass orcs. And Malfoi's father as the head of the Lorien Guard. And the absurd notion of elves of Lorien looking like a Nazi Reich or marching a couple thousand miles South across the wastes, through Fanghorn, and then the vertical distance of Rohan, or AROUND the forest and then west across the entire kingdom to fight at Helm's Deep where they never ever went in their entire lives... and most completely, the idea that they could ever cast Vego FUCKING Mortensen to play Aragorn or a grumbling, bumbling crotchety, homely ass Agent Smith from the Matrix to play Elrond. It's beyond insulting.
I'll take District 9 ANY DAY.
Last edited by Jared Paul on Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:29 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:00 am |
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Confidential
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 2041
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I didnt see the movie but i knew what jared was speaking of right away. i had the same feeling just from reading wikipedia's plot synopsis. The unease for me has little to do with whether or not there really are gangs and voodooism in foreign lands, but that that is the sole representation of people of color- either as needy or savage- in movies not just this one. it has little to do with the individual motivations of the filmmakers, but more the ingrained representations of other peoples in hollywood. as a person of color its really fucking frustrating that this happens about every single time i go to the movies. its not always outright savage representations though. a lot of times its a subtle exoticism or mystery attached to people of color. i guess you either see it or you don't. |
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Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:19 am |
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