Comments on: Thoughts on District 9 http://blog.mikefullerton.com/2009/08/30/thoughts-on-district-9/ photography. wisecracks. life. Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:41:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Mike Fullerton http://blog.mikefullerton.com/2009/08/30/thoughts-on-district-9/comment-page-1/#comment-3214 Mike Fullerton Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:23:44 +0000 http://blog.mikefullerton.com/2009/08/30/thoughts-on-district-9/#comment-3214 Hi Chan, Thanks for the comment. However, I don't agree with you. I don't think the movie was racist. In fact this is a very surprising point of view simply because one of the main themes of the movie is about how evil prejudice and ignorance is. I think you may have missed one of the main points of the movie by a very large margin. Also, all movies borrow from each other. All fiction borrows from other fiction. If you judge your movies on THAT then you're going never enjoy another work of fiction ever again. This is simply not a criteria for judging the movie, or any work of fiction. The fact is that it told a good story. And told it well. With regards to the setting being in South Africa, I really don't think that really was an integral part of the movie. It could have really taken place anywhere in the world. From my point of view, South Africa's role in the movie is largely irrelevant. It could have be in Rio, Hong Kong, Cairo, or NYC. And the comment about the World cup seems a simply bizarre. IMHO, with all due respect, I think the movie challenge you, and you didn't like what it brought up for you. It touched a nerve. Fine. I don't live in South Africa, and have never been there, so I get why this may be the case. I'm not telling you to react differently to it. You're entitled to your feelings about it, but to sit there and say that it was racist and unoriginal, and say it was a bad movie based on that, really destroys the credibility of what you're saying. Seriously. You didn't like it. Fine - say that. That I respect. Hi Chan,
Thanks for the comment. However, I don’t agree with you.

I don’t think the movie was racist. In fact this is a very surprising point of view simply because one of the main themes of the movie is about how evil prejudice and ignorance is. I think you may have missed one of the main points of the movie by a very large margin.

Also, all movies borrow from each other. All fiction borrows from other fiction. If you judge your movies on THAT then you’re going never enjoy another work of fiction ever again. This is simply not a criteria for judging the movie, or any work of fiction. The fact is that it told a good story. And told it well.

With regards to the setting being in South Africa, I really don’t think that really was an integral part of the movie. It could have really taken place anywhere in the world. From my point of view, South Africa’s role in the movie is largely irrelevant. It could have be in Rio, Hong Kong, Cairo, or NYC. And the comment about the World cup seems a simply bizarre.

IMHO, with all due respect, I think the movie challenge you, and you didn’t like what it brought up for you. It touched a nerve. Fine. I don’t live in South Africa, and have never been there, so I get why this may be the case. I’m not telling you to react differently to it. You’re entitled to your feelings about it, but to sit there and say that it was racist and unoriginal, and say it was a bad movie based on that, really destroys the credibility of what you’re saying. Seriously.

You didn’t like it. Fine – say that. That I respect.

]]> By: Chan http://blog.mikefullerton.com/2009/08/30/thoughts-on-district-9/comment-page-1/#comment-3213 Chan Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:30:18 +0000 http://blog.mikefullerton.com/2009/08/30/thoughts-on-district-9/#comment-3213 I thought the movie was one of the worst I'd seen this year. Not only was it completely unoriginal, it was also racist, and, in the context of post-apartheid South Africa, nothing more than pro-white propaganda. All the movie does is reinforce the existing stereotypes of the role Nigerians play in South African society, and the idea of a white Afrikaner saviour - much like the the settlers who thought they would "save the indigenous people". Within the current socio-political climate in South Africa, I find it quite telling that Blomkamp has not one strong black character or hero in his movie. One day people will sit back, look at this movie objectively, and ask themselves why the hype machine is working over-time on Distric 9. Could it be because we'll be hosting the World Cup next year and they're trying to get the world excited about all things South African? I honestly can't understand why any self-respecting movie fan would think this movie is good. When I stopped thinking about how bad District 9 was, I reminded of all the movies it borrowed from: The Fly, Transformers, RoboCop, The Terminator. I thought the movie was one of the worst I’d seen this year. Not only was it completely unoriginal, it was also racist, and, in the context of post-apartheid South Africa, nothing more than pro-white propaganda. All the movie does is reinforce the existing stereotypes of the role Nigerians play in South African society, and the idea of a white Afrikaner saviour – much like the the settlers who thought they would “save the indigenous people”. Within the current socio-political climate in South Africa, I find it quite telling that Blomkamp has not one strong black character or hero in his movie.

One day people will sit back, look at this movie objectively, and ask themselves why the hype machine is working over-time on Distric 9. Could it be because we’ll be hosting the World Cup next year and they’re trying to get the world excited about all things South African?

I honestly can’t understand why any self-respecting movie fan would think this movie is good.

When I stopped thinking about how bad District 9 was, I reminded of all the movies it borrowed from: The Fly, Transformers, RoboCop, The Terminator.

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