Friday, February 5, 2010

District 9

I will admit right off the bat that I am a complete alien, fantasy, comic book movie geek...er...lover. I love them. I love Star Wars. All 6 of them. Even the ones with Jarjar Binks. I love Superman. I love Christopher Reeve as Superman. At one point as a child I wanted to marry him and have little dark haired babies. I still have my R2D2 and C3PO under-roos tops from my preschool days along with my Princess Leia hairdo for preschool graduation. I love the movie "Predator". All of them. The whole idea that an alien comes to earth as a sport and only hunts the humans who are armed was a great idea to me. Plus Arnold Schwarzenegger is in one of them. I just watched Watchmen and Monsters vs Aliens and loved them. I also finally got to see District 9. Netflix Rocks!!


So. This is my post about District 9, Avatar, and a little of what I thought of them and how I felt about them. I am sure this is not the popular idea or even how it is. My interpretation of things. That's my disclaimer. I wanted to see District 9 when it came out, but it's hard to find girlfriends to go with. They usually want to see things like... oh, I don't know... not what I want to see. And nothing against my husbands friends who are also my friends, but it's weird to go out with them and not the hubs. Also, I just get to tired at night when I am up 2-4 times nightly and getting up for the day at 7am. Call me a wuss if you want, but that's how it is. I need my sleep. So, since I don't like to ask for help babysitting so Matt and I can go to the movies together, he goes and sees the cool ones with his friends and then we both watch them when they come out on DVD.

District 9... well, it was great. For how much they spent on it, the special effects and graphics were amazing. I liked the message behind it, much like there being a message behind Avatar. Matt and I got to see that one together thanks to the Grands. The message behind Avatar was very similar to every Native American/white man movie. And quite frankly, I wish there were more people that were willing to accept the ways of the native people in lands they invade. Maybe we should be more understanding of the Middle East and their ways. They aren't the United States and it's great that we are trying to help the people of those countries, but maybe we should be a little more understanding of their culture and their beliefs. Wouldn't that go a lot further than, "here, we are here to help. do things our way or die. you are either with us or against us". District 9 was more along the lines of Shindler's List and other Nazi/World War II type movies.

I think I really liked District 9 so much more because I have much more of an interest in World War II. I can't wrap my head around how a crazy, fanatical man started the idea and led a movement that ended up killing millions of people.  Granted, many good things came out of the testing and what not, but that doesn't in any way, shape, or form make me think that it is justified or ok. I would rather not have any of the medical, technical, or mechanical advances. If Hitler never happened, we would never know what we were missing. The whole Avatar/ Pocahontas story similarities don't hold as much of an interest because I think that the "whiteman" were in the wrong totally, but unfortunately it is human nature to want to control and rule and conquer. The part of District  9 that was just so sad to me is that it took 20 years for the aliens to produce enough power to go back to the ship to leave. The Earthlings did not want them there, but as soon as the "prawns" tried to leave, the government tried to shoot them down. Don't stay but you can't go. The

I was so surprised and saddened at both movies to see how awful but true our human nature is.

"That is not our way so we are going to change it or kill you trying to change it."
"You are different and therefore bad, evil, and unwanted."
"We don't want you here, but if you try to leave, we'll kill you."
"You are different and so are not intelligent and can't feel."

So so sad to me that there are so many now and in the past in a position of power who have felt and acted that way. And yet, we keep on trucking and we keep on killing and we keep on trying to better the next generation regardless. Again, these are my random rantings, feelings, whatever. It isn't meant to be an anti-American post. It isn't meant to be an anti-military post. It isn't meant to be a hateful post. It's just how I feel about the movies, the parallel to real life, and how my idealistic mind perceives it.

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