(no subject)

[dreamer_easy]

Finally caught up with District 9. In many ways a very straightforward SF/action story, but told with such verité and intensity that I had to ask Jon to hold my hand. (I recall there were questions raised about the racial politics of the movie - if it was me, I'd've left the witchdoctory stuff out, tho OTOH it provides a disturbing parallel for what the geneticists are up to.)

Comments

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

The people of Nigeria felt unfairly targeted, and the scenario reeks of that paternal attitude of "If we Europeans had not interfered you own people would have exploited you" attitude one encounters whe discussing European slavery or the liberated African nations. I was watching a historical program the other day, when the English Narrator suggested that Europe had brought modern medicine and deomcracy to Africa, then he admitted it was for the Europeans and for the most part, except for experimentation, the Africans were cut off from both medicine and a voice in the so called democratic colonial government.

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

The witchdoctor/cannibal stuff jumped out at me at once, as it's such an intergral part of the Western caricature of "Africa". But I figured there must be context I was missing - why Nigerians, in particular? - and yeah, there was. What a shame that a movie that's otherwise so complex and thought-provoking should fall back on the local "criminal immigrant" stereotype.