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[Ampersand]

I got in this kind of argument with my mom over the movie. Humanizing them doesn't make sense, because they are not human. It's kind of like going to Africa and calling black people who have never set foot out of their home countries 'African-American', because you've gotten so tied to political correctness in the United States. I can only imagine doing such a thing would be vaguely insulting. In the Case of the Prawns, why would you think they even want to be humanized? Why would you think they want to be seen as equatable to human beings?

They are sapient entities for certain, but they are not human. In an attempt to humanize them, they were given human, English names; I don't think Christopher Johnson was alone in that regard. The effect may be humanizing, but it is de-prawn-izing. When African slaves were brought to America, new, English names were imposed on them for similar reasons, to remove them from their culture and impose a new one that was considered by the Americans at that time as somehow better.

It is not adequate for me to look at an alien entity and feel some sort of equality with this being due to aspects that I could call somehow humanizing. Rather, I feel the proper reason for one to look at an alien as an equal is because we share the common spark of consciousness, something more universal than any human trait.

[Zironic]

By humanizing, I mean, the movie tried to show that the stereotypes about prawns were incorrect. However, this is done through a seemingly intelligent prawn named Christopher. All the other prawns never showed any signs of intelligence that christopher showed. In fact, I don't care about the average prawn, but Christopher... He's maih bre bre. (for those not in California - He's my brother)

[Ampersand]

Sorry to resurrect, but Neill Blokamp had an interview where he answered a few questions about topical material. Spoilerized for spoilers.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

AVC: I only came out of District 9 with one plot question, and it involves a major spoiler, so it's going at the very end of this interview. How was Christopher able to get the mothership started so quickly and easily, given that none of the other aliens were able to when they were originally stranded? Why was he able to just punch a button and get it started after 20 years?

NB: The idea is that-this gets really geeky and insane, but going back to their hive-structure thing-their queen has died, and the elite population of their society has died, which are really the decision-makers. You're left with a bunch of drones that aren't directed on their own goal-setting basis. I like the idea that after 20 or 30 years, that their ESP kind of hive-mind will begin to almost elect members of its population to start-their fundamental brain architecture could actually change, and they start forming leadership roles.

So I think when they're on their ship, and they're all destitute, when you see them at the beginning of the film starving, it's that there is no one thinking on that level. They simply take orders. So it's taken 20 years for that hive to start realigning itself. And so as Christopher has gone through these years, his mind has started to be honed into forming a plan. So that's where it came from. And this nano-fluid that he had to collect, which he would have had access to on the ship back then, it's just simply that the drive didn't exist. The hive is just trying to restart itself.

AVC: If you did do a second movie, do you see yourself getting into more of those details, about how the aliens work, and who they are, the kind of thing you don't see much in this film?

NB: Yeah. Yeah, totally. Though not because I want to explain things to the audience. It's not because I feel like they didn't get things explained to them in the first one. It would be more that whichever particular road you pick within this particular alternate universe, there can be really interesting stuff, depending on which way you go. If that's one of the directions it were to go in, it'd be an interesting one. But I literally have not thought yet about which way it would go.

[Killas[SiN]]

When I first saw the trailer for this, I thought it was a Halo movie.

[Zironic]

Ahhh, Yes. Ironically, the idea Neil gives us fits perfectly in with the story and the set up. Why Chris was in charge and intelligent is a natural function of their species.

[Footkerchief]

Actually, the movie explicitly tells us that they are stupid and simple-minded and the in-movie characters theorize that all their leaders died off in an infection. It's in the movie.

Taking what the movie tells you at face value is rather simplistic, especially for a movie that includes misinformation as one of its key themes, especially for one in which the characters are proven wrong over and over.

[umiman]

Actually, the movie explicitly tells us that they are stupid and simple-minded and the in-movie characters theorize that all their leaders died off in an infection. It's in the movie.

Taking what the movie tells you at face value is rather simplistic, especially for a movie that includes misinformation as one of its key themes, especially for one in which the characters are proven wrong over and over.

Please read the rest of the thread before you accuse other people.

[Zironic]

Read the last few posts especially.

[Footkerchief]

So it was sarcasm or something?  I'm confused.

[Idiom]

I saw it and it was awesome. Worth seeing.

The only thing I did not get was WHY would "Fuel" IE something that just stores energy, very likely chemical energy from the looks of it, completely and successfully mutate foreign never-before-encountered DNA on contact so perfectly unless it was already designed to. That would not be "Fuel". They have a lot of explaining to do there. Christopher seemed to recognize that the main character (with a forgettable name) came across the fuel by the fact it was mutating him. It wasn't some spontaneous mutation then.

In fact, the whole "OMG I'm turning into an alien, the aliens are now the good guys to me as the main character and I have motivation to give a shit about them" came off as a very off-the-wall plot device to accomplish what it did.

[Ampersand]

My guess is that it isn't fuel. The behavior of the substance when Christopher is seen messing with it in the makeshift chemistry lab gives the impression that it's something more interesting than simply fuel.

My guess as to what the substance is also answers some problems regarding interstellar travel.

Nanomachines. The reasoning behind this is that the quantity of it seems far too little for it to feasibly power a spaceship. My suspicion is that they are instead programmed to perform a variety of tasks, including synthesizing fuel from waste or another stored substance. Another possible task they could be programmed to do is medical. During interstellar travel, there is an Extremely massive amount of interstellar radiation. It is kept out of solar systems by the pressure of solar gases and by the magnetic fields of Stars and Planets. Beyond the reach of these fields, radiation is unblocked.

This makes interstellar travel without a way to protect DNA from the damaging effects of radiation dangerous or even impossible. One solution may be using nanomachines to automatically repair the damage. If another organism were exposed to such machines, the genetic code of the creature may be seen as a scrambled version of Prawn DNA, whereupon the machines would act to 'correct' it.

Remember that Christopher never refers to it as Fuel, but as Black Fluid.

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

Well, I just saw it.  It was cool!  Great action, yet also thought provoking.  When I first heard there were no Americans in the film I didn't really think much of it, but setting it in South Africa really gave it something.  That and the action sequences were really damn cool, while still not becoming superfluous to the plot.

[Maric]

Saw it yesterday and I really enjoyed it. At first I was thinking this was going to be a B-movie because of the start and all but 10 minutes later I was all like "Wow pretty cool effects.".

The best part was the end. You guys know that thingy that was used that was super cool? It was super cool (don't know how to use spoiler tags).
Wish I had one of those thingys.

[Puzzlemaker]

I loved this movie to death.  Thought provoking and AWESOME.

[Zangi]

In fact, the whole "OMG I'm turning into an alien, the aliens are now the good guys to me as the main character and I have motivation to give a shit about them" came off as a very off-the-wall plot device to accomplish what it did.

Well, there is a reason why the aliens are now the...  'good guys'.  His human 'buddies' wanted to pick him apart, literally. 

Humanity, as a theme here is not an acceptable bunch.  You see his arm changing into a prawn arm.... and you have the media telling you that he was making love with em prawn and caught a highly infectious disease...

What would you think?  After seeing the media propaganda and him?
What would you do?
I figure that gives you a better look... as to where he would turn.

As for the 'I now give a shit'... it really was only Christopher and his kid.  Christopher, at first, was his lifeline to changing back, it develops with that comrade fighting together thing?  The kid, like a brat... you hang out with him and know him more on a personal level... instead of 'as just another Prawn'. 

Ya know?  Its that whole monkey sphere thing.  Or something similar to it.


Also, great movie.