GÆLEN MIBECK'S BLOG
I had forgotten how fun microscale building is. It forces you to look at pieces in a different way. It also (usually) involves more building and troubleshooting, and less digging around looking for pieces.
While my siblings and I were playing in my room the other day (with LEGO, what else?), I chanced to pick up piece 50860. The more I looked at this piece, the more I realized what it looked like. It was almost the exact shape of the Prawn robot-suit’s torsoe in the movie District 9. I quickly set about building this vehicle.
What I thought of District 9
District 9 is a story about two races (Humans and Aliens) that are at odds with each other. The hero is forced to see things from the aliens’ point of view. There are robots in it. District 9 is like what Avatar could have been.
In Avatar, all of the humans are evil corrupt bad guys (with the exeption of a few), and all of the aliens are perfect both morally and phisically. This is totally unrealistic. Sure Avatar is set on another planet with glowing plants and hexapedal animals, but peoples is peoples. Peoples should feel like peoples.
In Avatar, the top badguy man was like “Let’s steal from the Na’vi!”, and all of the mercenary dudes were like “…Okay!”.
In District 9, neither the Prawn nor the Humans are perfect. The Prawn are shown killing humans for their wallets, and the humans are shown opening up fire on the Prawn at the slightest provocation.
This makes more sense and seems closer to real life.
The the objective of the humans in District 9 is to relocate all of these bugs so that they won’t be a menace to society. The humans have a reason for being mean to the Prawn, and the Prawn have a reason to fight back.
In Avatar, I had no idea what half of what they were saying meant.
Another thing that struck me about this move was the visual effects. They were amazing, but very subtle. After a while you forget that one of the main character is a puppet in a computer.
The special effects in Avatar were awesome, but they were at times more convincing than the characters and the story they were supposed to tell.
I also liked how the Prawn technology was similar, and at times compatible with human technology.
District 9 is a film about humans and aliens, but in the end it’s about neither. It’s about people.
Wikus, the main charecter, learns that “just following orders” and “looking out for number one” are what make the world such a messed up place. He gives up what he hoped for most when he returns the kindness shown him by Christofer the Prawn.
All in all, District 9 is a wonderful film, and I highly recommend it. Be aware, however, that there is a great deal of profanity, dismemberment, blood, gore, and exploding body parts.
I don’t want to give anything away, but the story did remind me of this quote by G.K. Chesterton:
“Over-civilization and barbarism are within an inch of each other. And a mark of both is the power of medicine-men.”
