io9 
Enter your username and password.
San Francisco, 4:49 PM
Fri Dec 18
27 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
Editor-in-Chief:
Annalee Newitz |
News Editor:
Charlie Jane Anders |
Associate Editor:
Meredith Woerner |
Assistant Editor:
Lauren Davis |
Weekend Editor:
Graeme McMillan |
Contributors:
Joshua Glenn
Stephen Goldmeier |
Ed Grabianowski |
Austin Grossman
Paul Hogan |
Lauren Davis |
Chris Hsiang |
Lynn Peril |
Ann VanderMeer
Alasdair Wilkins |
Graphic Designer:
Stephanie Fox |
Interns:
Tim Barribeau |
Julia Carusillo |
Alex Eichler |
Cyriaque Lamar |
Caitlin Petrakovitz |
Mary Ratliff |
Josh Snyder |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
04:33 PM
03:42 PM
03:37 PM
Or you could say that as flawed as the story is, he's trying to reach for the dark idea that our current society has developed into something fundamentally flawed, with a large number of people behaving destructively because they have no personal ethical code and no purpose to drive them. He could be trying to say that the majority of people in our society would give this physically easy, consumer-driven life up for something different if they were exposed to it in a fashion which broke through their learned value system and forced them to reevaluate their priorities.
Keep in mind, too, that the USA isn't the only place where settlers screwed over natives. Pretty much anyplace anyone came into contact with other cultures was an epic disaster. In South America it was the Spanish, in Canada it was the French (they seem to have made less of a hash of it than anyone else, to be fair), in Australia it was the British, in India it was the British, in Europe it was the Romans, in Rome it was the Mongols, in Japan it was the Chinese, in China it was the Japanese.... wait, some of those weren't white people. Guess conquest and subsequent stupidity aren't limited by color.
James there is telling an old, old story. Even kids get this one: it's cowboys versus Indians (feel free to swap out those names to include any race since the dawn of time). It's the same damn thing that's been happening throughout human history. The color of the people involved is based purely on the coincidence of our timing in the history of life: that white folks are the people in this section of history on this piece of continent who played the part of cowboy, versus the part of indian. Your anger over the story being about "white guilt" is very US-centric.
03:35 PM
Cameron said it's a about Global Warming (which is anti-human, not really anti-white).
White people are the only race that it's cool to hate though, that's for sure. I guess the rationale is "we deserve it". Works for me.
I actually can handle that stuff, but I hope it's actually a, oh god, FUN movie that takes place in outer space.
Some filmmakers think they're being clever by injecting preaching into a movie, like it's subtle, when it's like being hit over the head with a hammer.
Really don't need to have a filmmaker take it upon themselves to educate me about what matters in life when I just want to see aliens and spaceships.
03:32 PM
If you have posted such a comment, or if you are about to post such a comment, here or anywhere else, let me just advise you: Shut up. Shut the fuck up. Shut your goddamn fucking mouth. SHUT. UP.
First of all, when we analyze art, when we look for deeper meaning in it, we are enjoying it for what it is. Because that is one of the things about art, be it highbrow, lowbrow, mainstream, or avant-garde: Some sort of thought went into its making -- even if the thought was, "I'm going to do this as thoughtlessly as possible"! -- and as a result, some sort of thought can be gotten from its reception. That is why, among other things, artists (including, for instance, James Cameron) really like to talk about their work.
Now, that doesn't mean you have to think about a work of art. I don't know anyone who thinks every work they encounter ought to only be enjoyed through conscious, active analysis -- or if I do, they're pretty annoying themselves. And I know many people who prefer not to think about much of what they consume, and with them I have no argument. I also have no argument with people who disagree with another person's thoughts about a work of art. That should go without saying. Finally, this should also go without saying, but since it apparently doesn't: Believe me, the person who is annoying you so much by thinking about the art? They have already considered your revolutionary "just enjoy it" strategy, because it is not actually revolutionary at all. It is the default state for most of humanity.
So when you go out of your way to suggest that people should be thinking less -- that not using one's capacity for reason is an admirable position to take, and one that should be actively advocated -- you are not saying anything particularly intelligent. And unless you live on a parallel version of Earth where too many people are thinking too deeply and critically about the world around them and what's going on in their own heads, you're not helping anything; on the contrary, you're acting as an advocate for entropy.
And most annoyingly of all, you're contributing to the fucking conversation yourselves when you make your stupid, stupid comments. You are basically saying, "I think people shouldn't think so much and share their thoughts, that's my thought that I have to share." If you really think people should just enjoy the movie without thinking about it, then why the fuck did you (1) click on the post in the first place, and (2) bother to leave a comment? If it bugs you so much, GO WATCH A GODDAMN FUNNY CAT VIDEO.
03:46 PM
03:47 PM
03:48 PM
03:52 PM
04:07 PM
04:35 PM
Such people might try expanding their horizons and realizing that some folks are capable of both deep analysis of popular artworks AND mindless enjoyment of funny cat videos.
I am large, I contain multitudes, I contradict myself, I read both io9 and Cute Overload daily. I can discuss White Man's Guilt at the same time I am enjoying a floofy purring kitteh on my lap. Like, right now.
03:30 PM
03:39 PM
What I find fascinating are the people who feel that someone is trying to take away their simple enjoyment of a film by writing pieces like this. Why do essays like this elicit such insecurities or worries? You want to say "a movie's just a movie"? More power to ya.
Me, I'm interested in it ALL.
03:14 PM
I'm assuming that the primary audience for this film is middle to early high school students. The story, and the dialogue is written perfectly for someone who has no history with culture clash.
And that is what this is. This is not white guilt, this is what happens when one culture meets another.
What I get from this, when you remove the bad dialogue, is Guns, Germs and Steel.
Its a fantastic book that will disabuse you of years of bad sociology lectures.
02:56 PM
02:56 PM
02:55 PM
I see things on the news and feel angry, then I feel guilty because I have'nt done anything about it. Theres numerous charitys set up, but ive not joined one. Now I feel really bad.
What im trying to say (and im sure im not the only white guy to say this)...is this. I feel like we owe something. For the sins of our past. For the shit talk of the racists white guys that class themselves as 'desent white folk'...pah! And I think that will always come across in films, weither they be historical or not. The white director will always potray the white man as the raper of the natural world, the killer of the village, the nasty bastard you just cant stand!! Yet the natives will always be missunderstood or victims to the white mans rage and stupidity.
I mean Avatar and district 9 (as far from the real world as they are), they are also very close to the truth in their tones. We turn a blind eye and something else goes wrong. I think with Avatar its a case of 'some' desent white folk seeing the errors of their ways and helping the villagers. Even if they do it blue.
These films might not be the best films (unless its District 9), but I think with more films like this that have desent moral codes the better. It doesnt have to be force fed down your throat like 'Fern Gully', it just needs to tap into the real world problems around it. Then suddenly you've got a million people that didnt really know the situation in Africa until after watching District 9.
Trust me, I have friends that stupid!
I say keep it coming, but not to thick and syrupy.
03:19 PM
But her point goes even further in saying that stories in which white protagonists give back by assuming leadership are really more about white people than they are about the people they claim to want to help. In a way, it robs the minority of the very voice white filmmakers claim to want to broadcast by not allowing them to speak for themselves.
I agree with her that a more refreshing story of this type might be told from the perspective of the blue folks, not the white knight. These blue folks might even decide they'll have an easier time making their point if they can find a white guy on the inside as a communicator or font of information so that inter-blue/white relations are cooperative. None of this precludes awesome special affects when it all goes wonky and they have to fight it out in some mind-blowing battle sequence.
I ramble, but I really like what you said and I wanted to respond to it.
PS - It's ok for white guys to drink black coffee. It's even more ok for white guys to ask their friends for their perspective on race relations. Cheers!
03:24 PM
I always wonder (with any film or genre of film), what it would have been like if another director had directed it. Like Speilberg instead of Jackson for LOTR's. I now wonder what Avatar would have been like if Spike Lee had done it.
I also wonder what the world would be like if Uwe Boll had'nt directed bugger all!!!!
04:31 PM
04:44 PM
LOTR directed by Spielberg is a nightmare I shudder to contemplate. It would be about as subtle as if X-Men (the first one) had been directed by MIchael Bay. Yuck!
04:47 PM
So, I'll either have to write the story myself (yeah right!) or what for the great Native American takeover of scifi. I bet that would provide some awesome stories!
02:52 PM
That's why I'm unsure whether my plan to write my own story about colonialism vs. native people is anything potentially better, or just more of the same.
I certainly have no plans to make a hapless invader "go native" and come to lead the poor native people -- as if they have no heroes of their own; but I do think such tales (tales about colonialism, not about some ideal of racial superiority) need to be told.
I mean, does Ursula LeGuin's The Word for the World is Forest qualify as a meaningful take on this issue, or does it also fall into the category of badly addressed white guilt?
I happen to be white, and my understanding of native peoples is second hand. Does that mean I can't tell a good, sympathetic story about an indigenous culture being overrun by colonists? That remains to be seen, I guess.
Personally, I think I can sympathize at least on one level, as I've never really fit into my own culture and have often felt oppressed by it myself, as well as witnessing all the stupid extensions of colonialism of non-White people that continue to this day.
I guess for me it's not an issue of race at all, but of a fundamental ideology or attitude toward life. It's about a culture based on greed and fear, control and ignorance versus freer, more enlightened ways of life.
Obviously, I have no idea what it's like to be a native person or a black person, or whatever, but I understand what it's like to be near the bottom of the heap, wishing there was no heap at all instead of trying to claw my way to the top.
03:03 PM
Well, actually I suppose the first step is finding something write with.
03:16 PM
But you're right--it has to start with identifying with the people you're talking about. But in a lot of ways, I feel I can identify with native people, and the outlook of living simply and in harmony with nature, dedicating oneself to spiritual betterment, and so on...
I suppose some might consider that worse than racism--being a wannabe of some sort and hating one's own culture.
Then again, I have to consider that my predominantly Celtic ancestors were more or less native people, conquered by the Romans, and various others.
Still, I think if my native protagonists also have some sympathy for the lost people that come to conquer them... maybe there's a way to be sympathetic to all sides without too falsely representing any of them.
03:38 PM
04:19 PM
I think the difference is that with a simpler lifestyle, and more cohesive communities, the drama generated by someone acting selfishly is kind of minor by our standards--the sort of thing that most of the time people laugh about later on.
But it really depends on the society in question.
04:46 PM
I have known people of various Native American and Mexican tribal origin who are still biased against Apaches!
02:45 PM
This was done very heavy-handedly in Hellboy, and I never understood the need to awkwardly shove in a new cast-member who served basically no purpose but to introduce the audience to the different characters. It was especially unnecessary, since Hellboy already had a normal human character with no powers in the comic, Kate, that they could have used just as easily but didn't for whatever reason (is it because she was a woman? I have no idea).
Hell, the Alien movies should be enough to convince movie-makers that audiences will accept a woman lead in a sci-fi movie (granted, she's still white). Even Wikus was a nice change from the norm, albeit a small change, seeing as he wasn't an American saving the day (or an American actor pretending to be South African...). I'd just like to see movies shake things up a little every once in awhile when it comes to casting.
02:42 PM
I'm mostly gobsmacked that they actually call the resource "unobtanium". That'd be like a remake of The Maltese Falcon called The MacGuffin.
02:40 PM
02:33 PM
1. I never saw Enemy Mine as a movie about race but as the utlimate guy movie.
2. Race issues is one of the big conversations no-nos, right up there with politics, religions and gender and there are movie constantly made with at least one of these as an undercurrent. Dune could be seen from the religous of the prophisied Muadib or from the political viewpoint of breeding the perfect leader. I'm not saying it's right but the great movies alays shift your thinking afterwards.
3. As a black female, I'm kinda tired of Will Smith being the go-to black guy dying for/saving the world. Can we have someone else for a little while? Heck, we'll even take Vin Diesel, lol.