Alien: In Space, Nobody Can Hear You Go Woke

Started by SiL, Jul 04, 2021, 07:33:14 AM

Author
Alien: In Space, Nobody Can Hear You Go Woke (Read 15,371 times)

Kimarhi

Quote from: SiL on Jul 05, 2021, 06:25:50 AM
District 9 is very blunt, on-the-nose socio-political commentary. It is, again, everything people seem to be worried about -- a blatantly political message underlying entertaining genre fare.

Movies have always been used to express social and political views, and it's been a staple of science fiction since its inception. The entire genre is regularly used, and really best used, to recontextualise contemporary problems in a palatable way that gets people to think. Metropolis isn't just a movie about a lady robot.

If District 9 is somehow the bar for subtlety, what are people honestly expecting in this TV series? How much more overt can you get?

I think District 9 works for American viewers because we aren't as well learned about South Africa's history, so lots of the political messaging went over our heads. 

Now, if you did the same thing and set is in Louisiana or Mississippi or some shit, it would resonate differently. 

SiL

The US doesn't have a history of racial segregation that might've clued anyone in ... ?

Kimarhi

...............Obviously, it is in my last sentence.



However because America is the only country that matters I wasn't automatically equating it to apartheid.  It just kind of came across as a general anti-segregation message. 


SiL

My point is you still got the anti-segregationist message and anti-xenophobic undertones, regardless of how familiar you are with South Africa's history.

I'm Australian, not exactly au fait with apartheid, but it's hard not to get the gist.

Kimarhi

The gist was there, connecting it automatically to apartheid was not.  I didn't even know whats his nuts was South African, or that District 9 was District 6 simply flipped upside down.  I think apartheid was about one paragraph in a middle school social studies book. 



It would be like making a sci fi movie of the burning of black wall street, and then expecting everybody else in the world to be familiar with it.  People could still figure it out, but I feel that it would be more impactful to Americans. 

SiL

But you didn't need to connect it to apartheid specifically, as most countries these days have some history of racial segregation and intolerance. The political messaging is clear regardless of whether you connect it to that country's history or your own.

You can miss it's about South Africa. You can't miss it's about racial segregation.

Kradan

 :D Man, title of this thread is pure cringe

I guess, it's supposed to be

SiL

SiL

#37
It is the cringe I feel any time I hear someone unironically call something "woke"

BlueMarsalis79

Imagine thinking District 9 subtle...

Mr.Turok

To add to this:

Just because you didn't notice it doesn't mean it never was there. I recall many YouTube videos of experts in various fields placing opinions on films of how a certain thing doesn't really work or how it succeeded in doing so. One video was how some former special forces soldier talked about the subway scene in John Wick 2 that the silencers are actually still found in real like and that the people would have panicked by now. Sure its a film that bends the rules to make it fun but for people educated on the area of course its going to be notable to them. Just like how people have awareness of any subject like say politics, they are going to spot things in a film better than others. Not because they are actively looking for them but rather they simply just know what they know and can spot theses things without even trying for it.


Baron Von Marlon

Quote from: SiL on Jul 06, 2021, 09:57:24 AM
It is the cringe I feel any time I hear someone unironically call something "woke"

Because it's not a real thing?

Nightmare Asylum

Nightmare Asylum

#41
Quote from: Baron Von Marlon on Jul 06, 2021, 08:36:53 PM
Quote from: SiL on Jul 06, 2021, 09:57:24 AM
It is the cringe I feel any time I hear someone unironically call something "woke"

Because it's not a real thing?

Because most of the time it is used in this capacity, it is by people screaming their political agendas into the void on social media about how they don't want other people to use media to present their own political agendas... because apparently diversity and using media to explore the current political climate is awful, but screeching about "The SJWs!!!" and wanting to burn Brie Larson and Kathleen Kennedy at the stake is just fine.

Also, these people tend to fail to realize that film – art in general, really – has always been political.

Baron Von Marlon

Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Jul 06, 2021, 09:14:48 PM
Because most of the time it is used in this capacity, it is by people screaming their political agendas into the void on social media about how they don't want other people to use media to present their own political agendas... because apparently diversity and using media to explore the current political climate is awful, but screeching about "The SJWs!!!" and wanting to burn Brie Larson and Kathleen Kennedy at the stake is just fine.

Also, these people tend to fail to realize that film – art in general, really – has always been political.

I'd like SiL's opinion, it's why I asked him the question.

Yes, I'm aware words and terms often get misused.

That art has always been political is pure bs.
I used to draw in class because I was bored. Where do the politics come in?
Or let's say I use clay to make a fake piece of dog poo for my hypothetical son?

Art depends on the eye of the beholder. You're a political person I assume, which is fine, and you see politics everywhere. As a religious person would see religious stuff everywhere.

Nightmare Asylum

Quote from: Baron Von Marlon on Jul 06, 2021, 10:55:44 PM
Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Jul 06, 2021, 09:14:48 PM
Because most of the time it is used in this capacity, it is by people screaming their political agendas into the void on social media about how they don't want other people to use media to present their own political agendas... because apparently diversity and using media to explore the current political climate is awful, but screeching about "The SJWs!!!" and wanting to burn Brie Larson and Kathleen Kennedy at the stake is just fine.

Also, these people tend to fail to realize that film – art in general, really – has always been political.

I'd like SiL's opinion, it's why I asked him the question.

Yes, I'm aware words and terms often get misused.

That art has always been political is pure bs.
I used to draw in class because I was bored. Where do the politics come in?
Or let's say I use clay to make a fake piece of dog poo for my hypothetical son?

Art depends on the eye of the beholder. You're a political person I assume, which is fine, and you see politics everywhere. As a religious person would see religious stuff everywhere.

I didn't say every single piece of art is political. I said art has always been political. Using art to make a statement or explore a political ideology isn't something that some random filmmaker just pulled out of their ass five years ago that has now caught traction, and just because you didn't understand or pick up on a massage being conveyed in an older movie you watched doesn't mean it hasn't been there since day one.

What even is a "political person," honestly? I exist in the world, and engage in what's going on around me and see that influenced in (and influenced by) the media that is made by other people that also exist in this world. So yeah, I guess if that's your definition, I'm a "political person."

Crazy Rich

Quote from: Baron Von Marlon on Jul 06, 2021, 10:55:44 PM
Or let's say I use clay to make a fake piece of dog poo for my hypothetical son?


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