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.

[circuit_four]

I'm glad you did this.

I'm bracing for it to fall on deaf ears, because critiquing the thematic content of a popcorn movie -- even one that pretends to be more -- doesn't seem to be a terribly popular activity.

I'm still really glad you did this.

[baxil]

> even one that pretends to be more

Especially one that pretends to be more. Movies whose subtexts contradict their texts are problematic.

And thanks. ♥

[circuit_four]

Hee, I'd say movies whose subtexts contradict their texts are inevitable, but that's just the crochety freshman Theory nerd in me talking. In some films, the contradiction is MUCH WORSE, and much more uncomfortable in its implications, than others...

[pathia]

Regarding the 'hypocrasy' of prawn:

I use queer, tranny, fag, etc. It's a concerted effort to take the word back and remove it's power as an insult by bigots.

[natetg]

One of those things that I'll never understand. People basically choose to be offended by something. Of course, I'm an insensitive clod, so what do I know.

[pathia]

Well, for me it's always been context, context, context! If someone means no harm, then they mean no harm. They're either simply curious, or unaware. Why be offended by that?

Now if it's someone beating my head with a bible and screaming things at me, well, that's another matter, but the distinction between the two is pretty easy to make out ;)

[elynne]

*eyetwitch*

http://www.derailingfordummies.com/#sensitive
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/#enjoyit
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/#personally

[dancinglights]

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you on the basic premise that in my mind Whitey is never sympathetic as a human being. He doesn't save a damn thing until he already fucks it up for everyone else. I don't consider him a heroic protagonist in the least, and thus do not excuse his behaviour. Nor do I find him forgiven for it; I find the other, actually sympathetic protagonist doing what he can in situations Whitey has repeatedly messed up for him, moving toward his goals, and then ditching Whitey for a period of years (at least) while Whitey quite literally transforms into something possibly sympathetic.

Maybe it's a blindly wishful reading. Either way, the movie has brought up this and many other similar dialogues online and off. I consider the ability of the media to spur such dialogue and bring up far more questions than it answers to be its its value as a film above and beyond a summer blockbuster.

[baxil]

> I'm going to respectfully disagree with you on the basic premise that in my mind Whitey is never sympathetic as a human being.

Thanks for speaking up. I can also see that being a fair reading of Wikus' assholery. Are we being told by the movie not to like him? If so, that would go a long way toward nullifying my point.

I can see signs that support that reading. Wikus attacking Chris, and then later running away instead of saving his life. (And the other examples I cite.)

But what brings me up short is seeing the moral framework the movie surrounds him with: the real evil are the corporation and the gangs, who are doing really bad stuff like killing for their ends. By pitting these directly against Wikus and making Chris a bystander, it seems like the film wants us to be on Wikus' side. Also see Wikus' conversations with his wife and his quest to restore their relationship; whereas Chris' friend(?)/partner(?) simply dies in a horrible way and Chris is left with just vengeance (which he doesn't actually take, unless he

pardon the edits

[dancinglights]

I'm going to expand on this a little because I've been driving myself crazy since yesterday trying to achieve something articulate.

Here's the Wikus-centred storyline I saw:

The setup for the movie introduces us to a bumbling, possibly affable corporate tool. We immediately realise we are not going to be Inspired by a Heroic character; in fact, we are to pity this guy a little, because a: he obviously loves his wife, b: by the nature of the type of movie, he's about to be caught up in something big and ugly, and c: he doesn't see it coming. We follow the guy for a while and watch him blindly throw his privilege around. If one is used to dealing with privilege issues, one already starts cringing at his and everyone else's behaviour. Not very long into the film, just in case the audience harbors ideas that the aliens are an exact allegory to human beings and/or out of some good-old-boy ignorant outlook actually like the guy or haven't noticed him thoughtlessly perpetuating the problem, we are shown him killing a shack full of alien

Re: pardon the edits

[baxil]

> > When good fictional stories lie, it's in the service of exposing deeper truths about the sapient condition. They set up what-ifs to provoke thought. They shake us out of comfortable expectations.

> I suspect you and I and many other folks who hold the privileged end of this allegory get our hackles up because we spend so much effort trying not to suck like that. We're outraged because we're paying attention. We're supposed to be.

Touché. By my own standards, this is a strong argument that D9 was actually a good movie (modulo a few storytelling flaws).

I really appreciate you taking the time to expand on your point. I don't know if it's going to change my opinion of the movie, but I'll let it roll around in my head for a while, and I'm happy to point other people here.

[elynne]

I find the Geico cavemen a fascinating narrative, and those commercials make me hate Geico for being insensitive assholes. So as advertisements, on the one hand, they work; on the other...