Avatar (2009) Vs. District 9 (2009)

 

Avatar (2009) vs. District 9 (2009)

By Eric Maus

"You are not welcome here."

   Imagine that you stand in the presence of a Far East merchant. He holds in each of his hands a stone. The stone in his left hand is amazing; a crisp, dazzling blue orb that shines like glass. The other stone is dirty, rough, and ugly. With a twinkle in his eye, the merchant tells you to chose the stone which is the most beautiful. You quickly chose the blue, because it's the obvious choice. The question is, did you choose correctly?

  There are many alien movies out there, and they all have the same plot: massive UFOs cluster over major cities, and begin to decimate the world's population. All hope seems lost, until the extraterrestrials realize that something in our atmosphere doesn't sit well with their stomachs, and they quickly zip back to Mars or wherever. Yeah, we've all seen about five of those. However, in 2009, two alien films were released that were very different from the norm, and these films are Avatar and District 9. These movies are very similar, but also very, very different.

   In Avatar, wheel chair bound marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) decides to take the place of his recently killed scientists brother in a special mission on the distant planet of Pandora. This place is a lush jungle, filled with precious stones that sell for big bucks back on Earth, and the humans are doing what they can to mine as much as possible. However, the jackpot of these stones lies underneath the great Hometree of the Na'Vi people, the indigenous of Pandora. With the help of Dr. Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the humans created Avatars, Na'Vi bodies that are linked to the minds of sleeping people. Jake takes over his brother's old position, and relishes each second in his Avatar body, because of his newfound ability to walk again. He is sent on a mission to attempt to reconcile with the Na'Vi, and persuade them to relocate. After getting to know the ways of the people and falling in love with the Princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), it becomes more and more difficult for Jake to assist the humans in the destruction of this beautiful world. Before long, he completely sides with the Na'Vi, and helps them prepare for the massive battle to come.

     In District 9, a messy situation has come to earth. A massive extraterrestrial ship, carrying over a million very ill aliens, breaks down over Johannesburg, South Africa. The humans initially welcomed the aliens with kindness, and helped to nurse them back to health. They came to live among us, since their ship was non-functional, and remained floating over the city. In the present day, about 28 years later, things have changed. The Prawns, as they have been nicknamed, have been forced to reside in the slums of District 9. Violence between the Prawns and local gangs is a constant hassle. Drug lords realize that the Prawn's are addicted to cat food, like we are to drugs, and bring them into submission because of their addiction. When Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a munitions corporation operative, is assigned the task of relocating the prawns to a cleaner, though more contained, area known as District 10, he barges into their current residence and roughly begins to get things moving. After a mishap with one of their biological tools, Wikus begins to become very sick. As his teeth, fingernails, and skin all begin to fall away, he realizes with horror that he is becoming a Prawn. After nearly being murdered by organ-harvesting scientists, Wikus runs to the only place where he can fit in: District 9.

  From a technical standpoint, both of these films are masterpieces. Avatar (rated PG13 for violence, language, and some sensuality) displays brilliant visual effects, making the world of Pandora seemingly real. From floating mountains and giant trees, to the massive fleet of futuristic human warships and helicopters, this film seems to come to life right before our eyes. In District 9 (rated R for strong language and violence), we are also given a very realistic and vivid depiction of the slightly less beautiful slums of Johannesburg. The acting in both films is superb. Zoe Saldana's role as Neytiri is excellent and moving, definitely making you feel for the Na'Vi. Giovanni Ribisi as the greedy Selfridge and Stephen Lang as Col. Quaritch both played the role of rotten bad guy extremely well, and Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Augustine was also stellar. In District 9, Sharlto Copley's performance is just riveting; one of the best acting jobs I've ever seen. While neither of the plots are extremely complex, both are gripping, moving, and emotional.

    Emotions. They're easy to stir up. James Cameron, the director of Avatar, knows this. In fact, it's his primary weapon, his way of twisting his worldview into you, his means of manipulation. The film Avatar is dripping with sentimentalism.  As he did in his earlier movie, Titanic, Cameron uses emotions to make us believe that the 'good guys' are the good guys, and that the "bad guys' are bad guys. We sit there rooting for despicable characters, hoping they defeat the respectable characters, and don't even ask ourselves why afterwards. The emotions do it all. Now, am I saying persuasion through emotion is bad? Of course not. District 9 does the same. In fact, the use of emotion in District 9 is a lot heavier. We feel twice the amount of sympathy for the Prawns as we do for the Na’Vi, and that sympathy is not tricked out of us. Let's look at the facts. In Avatar, the image given to the Na'Vi people was designed to make them as sympathetic as possible. They are beautiful and graceful, their faces are peaceful, their ears are similar to that of elves, their skin is blue, they have large, curious eyes, and above all, they are 'one with nature'. What's not to like? Now, take a look at the Prawns of District 9. They're repulsive; kind of like a cross between a cockroach and a lobster. They speak with a disturbing clicking language, while their creepy antennae sway back and forth. They have huge clawed fingers, they eat garbage, they live in houses built of trash, and they urinate in public. The Prawns are gross. It’s not hard to see this. Back to Avatar. When the humans begin unleashing missiles upon the homes of the Na'Vi, we are both saddened and angered. How could anyone do this? How could anyone destroy something so beautiful? It's the destruction of beauty that grabs us. Now, look back to District 9. When the humans discover an egg-hive in one of the Prawn's houses, they set it on fire. We're appalled. Why? That thing was gross. But it was wrong. District 9 appeals to our sense of morality, while Avatar remains at merely an emotional level.

   Now, wait a minute. Am I saying that the destruction wreaked by the humans on the Na'Vi wasn't wrong? Of course not. Those humans in Avatar are evil. If I were there, I would have sided with the Na'Vi just like Jake Sully. But see, that's just it. It's all based on situation. Because of the evils committed by Selfridge and Col. Quaritch, we feel hatred towards those choppers as they soar over Pandora. That's exactly what James Cameron wants you to feel. Col. Quaritch, whose character is meant to represent soldiers in general, is represented as a rash, bull-headed warmonger, someone who loves to kill, destroy, and bark orders. As the son of an Air Force pilot, seeing such a deceptive and disrespectful image stamped on military men upsets me greatly. But Cameron hates the men in uniform, and wants you to do the same, and this film is very persuasive in that area. When Jake is praying to Eywa, the goddess of the Na'Vi, pleading for help, he says about planet Earth, "There's no green there. They killed their mother, and they're going to do the same here." That's what Cameron thinks of humans, his own people.

   In District 9, we see how Wikus treats the Prawns, and as he begins his transformation, we kind of feel that he's deserves what's coming to him. We think the Prawns will rip him to shreds after what he's done. Instead, they take him in, and incidentally, he realizes that the only way he can be returned to his former human state is if he assists them in escaping. Wikus is brought down to the very level of those he abused, even resorting to eating cat food, and learns a valuable lesson. He changes. His is a true redemption story.

  Let's return to the stone analogy. The merchant raises the stones above his head, and drops them to the ground. They both break. The beautiful blue stone turns out to be cheap glass, and shatters in a million pieces. The ugly brown stone breaks in two to reveal shining crystals on the inside. Apply this concept to these two films. If all we see is surface material, Avatar wins. To the average person, it seems beautiful and clean, whereas District 9 looks like a bunch of F-bombs and blood. When we dig beneath the surface, we realize that Avatar is nothing more than a bunch of nice visual effects and emotional tricks slapped on top of a far-from-original plotline (Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas) and all we have is a very preachy propaganda film. I didn't even mention the whole earth-is-god, nature-is-divine current running it's course through this film, let alone that 'plug your hair into your alien horse's antennae/earlobe/tentacle thing to experience brainwaves', or whatever. When we dig deeper into District 9, however, we realize there is a lot more to this film than alien versus man. Wikus learns his lesson, and so do we. Am I recommending District 9 for all ages? Of course not. It’s a rough, gritty, and at some points, nauseating picture. But I think District 9 is definitely a lot more Christian, let alone a lot safer, than Avatar.