Hiro Antagonist ([info]hiro_antagonist) wrote,
@ 2009-08-25 10:39:00
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Cliche'd Movie Cliches


On James Cameron's 'Avatar':

"While I'm very interested in watching the movie, at this point Avatar looks like it's going to feature the same old contrived storyline featured in sci-fi over the last decade: humanity and industrialization are evil and nature and those connected to it are good. There's been this tendency to depict humans are awful, uncaring monsters."
-MaWeiTao


What I want to see is a movie where the earth is invaded by cruel and uncaring hyper-industrialized aliens with advanced technology that manages to replicate all sorts of human tools and machines yet not out-do any of them, where caring humans teach the invading aliens about the wonders of living with nature, or pull off a reverse of the European colonization of the Americas.

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[info]kayang
2009-08-25 03:56 pm UTC (link)
Did you watch District 9?

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[info]hiro_antagonist
2009-08-25 04:02 pm UTC (link)
Yup! Great movie! The humans are a bit over-the-top evil, but still a great movie.

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[info]kayang
2009-08-26 02:25 am UTC (link)
yeaaa, I really enjoyed it as well.
And we always make the aliens in other movies "over-the-top evil" as well.
It was almost a complete flip from how aliens in action films are generally portrayed.

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[info]hiro_antagonist
2009-08-27 12:20 am UTC (link)
it was a complete flip from a lot of things heh

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[info]cinnamonbite
2009-08-25 04:38 pm UTC (link)
You mean like Wall-E?
Or ID4?

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[info]hiro_antagonist
2009-08-25 04:41 pm UTC (link)
Sort of like Wall-E, but with humans in the 'enlightened' role. Not really like Independence Day, because the aliens in that movie didn't learn squat.

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[info]aikurushii
2009-08-25 06:35 pm UTC (link)
Avatar really looks visually impressive with little to no substance. I'll wait for video.

On the subject of movie plots, the one you're describing wouldn't have very much conflict. It's a little bit like, "Hey, instead of tearing shit up, just be cool, maaaaan." It just smacks of hippie sentiment and flower power.

Also: I want to see a movie where the bad guys win, everything is horrible forever, which ends with a guy laughing maniacally.

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[info]ehowton
2009-08-25 06:45 pm UTC (link)
I want to see a movie where the bad guys win, everything is horrible forever, which ends with a guy laughing maniacally.

I've been waiting for this for a very long time. V for Vendetta came damn close. Kinda. Except for the 'bad was actually the good guy' which messed it all up.

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[info]aikurushii
2009-08-25 06:55 pm UTC (link)
Agreed! I enjoyed V for Vendetta due to the fact that the anti-hero was more anti than hero.

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[info]hiro_antagonist
2009-08-25 08:14 pm UTC (link)
" I want to see a movie where the bad guys win, everything is horrible forever, which ends with a guy laughing maniacally. "

I would pay to see that, if it were well done!

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[info]aikurushii
2009-08-26 12:44 am UTC (link)
That's what I'm saying! A valiant struggle on behalf of the protagonist, and they almost triumph, but then evil wins and there is darkness forever! I should probably try to write this...

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[info]hiro_antagonist
2009-08-27 12:20 am UTC (link)
you should!

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[info]aikurushii
2009-08-27 01:16 am UTC (link)
Indeed. I just picked up a collection of short stories in which the bad guys always win, called, "Villains Victorious."

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[info]hiro_antagonist
2009-08-27 01:22 am UTC (link)
Ooo... I should try to find that

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[info]aikurushii
2009-08-27 10:54 pm UTC (link)
I bought mine for $5 on E-Bay. :D

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[info]flw
2009-08-26 11:44 pm UTC (link)
Being a nature-supremacy type can be just like being a Libertarian, they like to lose nobly. You can always maintain a plausible fiction that if everyone was like you we wouldn't be having this problem. I'm not saying that's the ONLY reason to maintain those positions, or even the main one. But it does "win" a lot of conversations. "If Ron Paul were President..." or "Natural supplements cured my cancer..." Who can "argue" with these types of things?

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[info]hiro_antagonist
2009-08-27 12:20 am UTC (link)
that does sound interesting... What a strange thing to pursue...

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[info]flw
2009-08-27 12:32 am UTC (link)
They DO have legitimate pursuits, and some of them are even obtainable. It's just that they also always get this escape valve that they can throw open at any time to eliminate the strain of an endeavour that is doomed to include more than their fair share of failures. That escape is to a fantasy ideal version of Utopia in which Ron Paul or a Unicorn, or say, a confederation of Linux Sysops blissfully oversees a well-balanced society in which all needs are met and all enemies conquered.

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[info]hiro_antagonist
2009-08-27 01:22 am UTC (link)
You're hitting them all heh. Maybe it's just a standard human conceit.

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[info]flw
2009-08-27 01:44 am UTC (link)
I don't think there's anything wrong with it, nor do I think we should stop striving for better societies and systems. I think technology is our great ally, however, and to focus on its shortcomings (while talking on a cellphone at an air-conditioned Library) is just... stupid and naive. And I think Technotopians do the same thing in reverse... When I get my robot-body I am going to show "nature" what for!

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