When fiction lies

[baxil]

(NOTE: If you were linked directly to this post instead of reading it on my journal or your friends list, it contains many spoilers. Beware.)
I have a bad habit, and I'll admit it: I nitpick movies

Comments

An alternate viewpoint

[baxil]

mmsword gives a different take on it, and also points out that for a film about racism it's also awfully blind to its own gender faults: Here.

I would say that's simply further evidence that the film is blind to its own insensitivities, rather than trying to make a meta-critique.

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[dancinglights]

...either that or appreciate the fact that it raises more questions than it answers, and have useful dialogues about the problems it purports to bring up. I think this is a story we're meant to fill in a lot of.

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[pathia]

I've always been confused as to why Wikus was proposed as the 'hero'. He was the main character, but I viewed Chris as the 'hero' of the movie

Additional Thought: Regarding weapons, wasn't he collecting everything to drain of it's power source to fix the bits for that ship? Likely none of the weapons he had in there actually worked anymore, he needed weapons, but for salvage, not blowing shitup.

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[baxil]

Has anyone called Wikus the hero? He is definitely the protagonist, as you point out, but that's a different thing.

I don't recall seeing any weapons in Chris' residence; the busts were done elsewhere in District 9. Whether Chris was collecting weapons for power sources is an open question -- the only scene I recall that gave any exposition on that was on the trash heap, where they were just looking for canisters of "alien technology."

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[pathia]

1.) Why the condescending tone? I'm well aware of what the word protagonist means.

2.) Where do you think those canisters came from? They were probably the equivalent of spent shells or gunpowder residue.

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[baxil]

1) It was not my intention to be or sound condescending. I'm sorry if I came across that way. My comment did give the link for other readers' clarity, but I tried to specify that you had made that distinction yourself and so I wasn't trying to lecture you.

I responded that way because I was seriously asking: has anyone (here, or in the movie, or elsewhere) called Wikus the hero? You said Wikus was proposed as the hero and that's something I certainly never said.

2) My assumption had been that they were Generic Technology Bits, fallen from the mothership or scavenged from human looters. This is just an assumption, it's not supported by the movie. But I don't remember seeing any parts on any of the alien weaponry that matched the junk Chris et.al. were finding for power sources. If they did match something weapony, I'll concede the point.

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[kadyg]

That was sort of my take on it. At the end we can see that Chris was clearly the ships captain or engineer (the brains of the operation, at any rate). It's also mentioned early on that this was a ship of worker types who wouldn't have a lot of smarts anyway. For all we know, Chris was the last member of the command staff still alive, he was probably looking for some way to fix/help the situation WITHOUT needing a lot of other people.

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[baxil]

> The director confirmed (OOC, unfortunately), that the aliens were at least somewhat eusocial and that Christopher was a member of their leadership caste; with the rest gone they were rudderless at best.

Thanks, good to know.

Though this reminds me that I forgot to mention the one scene where the rudderless aliens do resort to mob violence. Naturally, it's to tear apart the mercenary threatening Whitey Wikus.

I wish the movie didn't challenge its own backstory for Whitey's convenience. :-(

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[kadyg]

If I recall correctly the number of figures in the scene consisted of Wiktor on the ground, the Henchman and three or four aliens - which does not a mob make.

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[ngarewyrd]

IIRC, they actually did mention this, at least, in the version I was watching, Right about the point of time when they were explaining the past history, when they first encountered the Prawns.

so, yeah...

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[baxil]

FYI, Wikus is supposed to be an idiot, racist, selfish clod. But a rather realistic human being - and he is. You're not supposed to like him; he's pretty disgusting most of the time - but you can pity him.

I'd really advise most people here to just watch the movie themselves and make up their minds; the overview being presented here is very lopsided and misleading. It is, however, framed and spun to ignite the sensibilities of people who are primed for suspicion of racism, insensitivity, and "big hollywood".

Re: An alternate viewpoint

[baxil]

That's a fair criticism -- I did distill as much of the film's objectionable content down as I could in as small of a space as I could, and in the process I've left out story elements that are probably mitigating factors. My summary above is not objective and I'm open to reinterpretation.

But again, here's my beef: the movie deliberately invites my reading by being explicitly about racism.

I am a cis white male; I have the luxury of being able to view movies without being on privilege watch. But because of the narrative framework the movie uses, even to a guy like me these things leap off the screen. I can only imagine how it would be received by people of color.

(Welcome to my journal, by the way! Feel free to identify yourself and stick around.)