Comparisons and Contrasts between Avatar and District 9

Right now I have a jumbled mess of ideas instead of an essay. Can somebody help me find a little bit of direction? I would like to have my essay be explanatory with a large emphasis on how much Avatar sucks.

I'm not asking you to write this for me, but instead give me a few ideas and a little bit of direction.

How bout saying it doesnt suck?

similarities:

both use advanced cgi technology

both protagonists are people that turn into the alien race of the film

both place emphasis on politics

both have a love story

both garner sympathy for the alien race

both are a situation where the alien race is being mistreated by evil fuckwads

both used mech suits

differences:

avatar uses cute aliens, district 9 doesn't, making the emotional attachment with the audience more difficult to create

avatar was 3d, district 9 was not

district 9 was shot in that handy-cam style

avatar has bright happy colors (mostly) while district 9 is a lot of browns and neutral tones

avatar lacks plot, but district 9 has one

district 9 used relatively unknown actors while avatar had famous ones

avatar was gay

district 9 took place on the human's planet while avatar took place on the alien's planet

god i love DIstrict 9

edit: actually district 9 was R.

Colonialism is the most obvious theme between the two.

Prawns are given homes (to a detrimental effect) and the Na'vi are deprived of theirs.

I'd tear the shit out of that essay if I went post-colonial on it.

  On 2/22/2010 at 2:56 AM, Hoodie said:

similarities:

 

both use advanced cgi technology

both protagonists are people that turn into the alien race of the film

both place emphasis on politics

both have a love story

both garner sympathy for the alien race

both are a situation where the alien race is being mistreated by evil fuckwads

both used mech suits

 

differences:

 

avatar uses cute aliens, district 9 doesn't, making the emotional attachment with the audience more difficult to create

avatar was 3d, district 9 was not

district 9 was shot in that handy-cam style

avatar has bright happy colors (mostly) while district 9 is a lot of browns and neutral tones

avatar lacks plot, but district 9 has one

district 9 used relatively unknown actors while avatar had famous ones

avatar was gay

district 9 took place on the human's planet while avatar took place on the alien's planet

I read this post nodding at each point then lol'd.

If you wanted to go a bit abstract you could approach the humans in both films as the alien-race.

Back on the post-colonial tip: in both films the oppressors are transformed into the alien. One happens as a result of biology (evolution, cross-breeding?) and the other as a tool of science.

similarities:

both films were shite?

Avatar was shit

District 9 was the best Movie of 2009

I thought both were "pretty ok."

District 9 could have been great if it had fulfilled the potential of "Alive in Joburg" rather than spiraling off into Peter-Jackson-land.

  On 2/22/2010 at 3:36 AM, Gary C said:

Colonialism is the most obvious theme between the two.

 

Prawns are given homes (to a detrimental effect) and the Na'vi are deprived of theirs.

 

I'd tear the shit out of that essay if I went post-colonial on it.

Colonialism in District 9? I'm pretty sure that the word you're looking for is apartheid.

  On 2/22/2010 at 4:25 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 2/22/2010 at 3:36 AM, Gary C said:

Colonialism is the most obvious theme between the two.

 

Prawns are given homes (to a detrimental effect) and the Na'vi are deprived of theirs.

 

I'd tear the shit out of that essay if I went post-colonial on it.

 

Colonialism in District 9? I'm pretty sure that the word you're looking for is apartheid.

Main Entry: co·lo·nial·ism

Pronunciation: \kə-ˈlō-nē-ə-ˌli-zəm, -nyə-ˌli-\

Function: noun

Date: 1853

1 : the quality or state of being colonial

2 : something characteristic of a colony

3 a : control by one power over a dependent area or people b : a policy advocating or based on such control

it definitely fits, but I also mentioned apartheid for district 9

colonialism may be more for avatar

that's not really a fair comparison

avatar is an engaging film

avatar is like a big puddle and district 9 is like a fairly deep well

  On 2/22/2010 at 4:42 AM, Capsaicin said:

  On 2/22/2010 at 4:25 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 2/22/2010 at 3:36 AM, Gary C said:

Colonialism is the most obvious theme between the two.

 

Prawns are given homes (to a detrimental effect) and the Na'vi are deprived of theirs.

 

I'd tear the shit out of that essay if I went post-colonial on it.

 

Colonialism in District 9? I'm pretty sure that the word you're looking for is apartheid.

Main Entry: co·lo·nial·ism

Pronunciation: \kə-ˈlō-nē-ə-ˌli-zəm, -nyə-ˌli-\

Function: noun

Date: 1853

1 : the quality or state of being colonial

2 : something characteristic of a colony

3 a : control by one power over a dependent area or people b : a policy advocating or based on such control

 

it definitely fits, but I also mentioned apartheid for district 9

 

colonialism may be more for avatar

Colonialism is fairly explicit in being reserved for control over peoples (and exploitation of said people) in foreign lands.

  On 2/22/2010 at 4:12 AM, lumpenprol said:

I thought both were "pretty ok."

 

District 9 could have been great if it had fulfilled the potential of "Alive in Joburg" rather than spiraling off into Peter-Jackson-land.

ziff

Alive in Joburg was just an interesting short film, and couldn't really have been anything more. No heart, just an interesting idea.

dont do that god awful "more indie than thou" act

yeah, district 9 doesn't really have anything to do with colonialism because the prawns were the foreigners in the movie.

edit: i hit 3000 posts. wow. i have no life.

That's true, although you could compare the techniques of oppression used between the two.

lol @ techniques of oppression. that sounds like the subject of a convention rich white men might go to.

I can't remember them, but I'm pretty sure they'd include othering, displacement and derisive mimicry.

  On 2/22/2010 at 5:04 AM, Backson said:

  On 2/22/2010 at 4:12 AM, lumpenprol said:

I thought both were "pretty ok."

 

District 9 could have been great if it had fulfilled the potential of "Alive in Joburg" rather than spiraling off into Peter-Jackson-land.

ziff

 

Alive in Joburg was just an interesting short film, and couldn't really have been anything more. No heart, just an interesting idea.

 

dont do that god awful "more indie than thou" act

lol, should I rephrase by saying "lived up to the promise of its firt act", which was, essentially, Alive in Joburg the extended cut? My point was I liked the idea of shooting it as a mock documentary, making it gritty, immediate, and laced with dark humor. I just thought it fell apart during the second act. I didn't mind that it became more action oriented and I didn't mind the violence, it just became very cliched. It seemed they didn't know what tone to strike - if they wanted to go the Hollywood tear-jerker route, or the Veerhoven social satire plus ultraviolence route, or what. It was a mess.

i bleed from my ears when i think about district 9. what a fucking piece of trash crap shit rotten dead smelly dog