This past year two films have been released that deal with the basic issue of humans relating to aliens. And make no mistake that both of these films are obvious allegories that reflect directly on human behaviour in history.
District 9 was more low key in the sense of budget, but it was still making the point that we can have a tendency to treat anyone we see as different as essentially disposable and not worthy of any consideration we would give anyone else we would normally identify with. But even on a limited budget I think they accomplished a lot with what they had. I also thought it was clever to have aliens that many in the audience would find disturbing and difficult to identify with. I think it made the film's message more poignant.
Avatar is visually spectacular and I think this is one of the reasons for much of the fanfare over it. Story wise it's rather blunt and to the point: the alien Navi are living right on top of something the humans want and the humans are mostly just playing lip service to diplomacy. They really have no hesitation in bullying or killing the natives to get what they want. One failing I see with the film is that the design of the Navi is not very convincing: they're comical looking humanoids, at least sufficiently to evoke easy sympathy from the audience.
Both films are rather blunt in their message, but I think District 9 is a bit more clever in trying to get its message across. Avatar is clearly the visual and action spectacle, the kind of thing that tends to dazzle audiences from paying too much attention to story and logic flaws. A big logic flaw in the film is the idea that the humans will go quietly never to return.
It's a feel good ending. District 9 is more ambiguous.
I think both films could have been served better with more subtlety in how both humans and aliens are depicted. The military and corporate types in Avatar are blatant two dimensional cliches except for two characters. In District 9 the humans also come off badly except for the central character who changes his views because of circumstance.
It's easy enough to like both films for different reasons. I like Avatar for some of its concepts and visual splendour. The story is not badly told even though it's rather predictable and practically paint-by-number. I like District 9 primarily because I think it is generally smartly done and gets the most mileage out of limited resources.
I will also say that I was predisposed to be cynical of Avatar because I'm generally suspicious of excessive hype over a film or television series. That said I come away with a favourable opinion of the film even though I see where it could have been much better. I knew next to nothing about District 9 other than its intriguing trailer and I found little to disappoint me when I saw the film.
So the question is: which one do you prefer?
I'm also not giving the option of choosing both equally. I'm putting folks on the spot to make a choice.
District 9 was more low key in the sense of budget, but it was still making the point that we can have a tendency to treat anyone we see as different as essentially disposable and not worthy of any consideration we would give anyone else we would normally identify with. But even on a limited budget I think they accomplished a lot with what they had. I also thought it was clever to have aliens that many in the audience would find disturbing and difficult to identify with. I think it made the film's message more poignant.
Avatar is visually spectacular and I think this is one of the reasons for much of the fanfare over it. Story wise it's rather blunt and to the point: the alien Navi are living right on top of something the humans want and the humans are mostly just playing lip service to diplomacy. They really have no hesitation in bullying or killing the natives to get what they want. One failing I see with the film is that the design of the Navi is not very convincing: they're comical looking humanoids, at least sufficiently to evoke easy sympathy from the audience.
Both films are rather blunt in their message, but I think District 9 is a bit more clever in trying to get its message across. Avatar is clearly the visual and action spectacle, the kind of thing that tends to dazzle audiences from paying too much attention to story and logic flaws. A big logic flaw in the film is the idea that the humans will go quietly never to return.
It's a feel good ending. District 9 is more ambiguous.I think both films could have been served better with more subtlety in how both humans and aliens are depicted. The military and corporate types in Avatar are blatant two dimensional cliches except for two characters. In District 9 the humans also come off badly except for the central character who changes his views because of circumstance.
It's easy enough to like both films for different reasons. I like Avatar for some of its concepts and visual splendour. The story is not badly told even though it's rather predictable and practically paint-by-number. I like District 9 primarily because I think it is generally smartly done and gets the most mileage out of limited resources.
I will also say that I was predisposed to be cynical of Avatar because I'm generally suspicious of excessive hype over a film or television series. That said I come away with a favourable opinion of the film even though I see where it could have been much better. I knew next to nothing about District 9 other than its intriguing trailer and I found little to disappoint me when I saw the film.
So the question is: which one do you prefer?
I'm also not giving the option of choosing both equally. I'm putting folks on the spot to make a choice.
