One Of My Biggest Weaknesses: "Nouveau" Alien Movies
May 02, 2009
Maybe it's not really a trend worthy of a pretentious made up name, but I like them anyway. As panned as it was, I liked M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (see Fig. 1) a lot. It had a fresh perspective on the alien invasion situation, and it had some awesome suspense (and Macaulay Culkin's little bro, and a pre-crazy Joaquin Phoenix).
Figure 1
The recipe for Signs
While one viewing of Cloverfield was certainly enough, I still enjoyed it. Hell, even Spielberg's remake of War Of The Worlds was pretty fun. And although it was a remake, it was definitely more this-gen than last-gen. It didn't have any childhood nightmare-inducing scenes like the original's revealing of the aliens, but the destruction was harder-hitting than the original's soundstage-y look. (Speaking of remakes, that reminds me: I still need to see the remake of Day The Earth Stood Still... but, uggh, I really find Keanu (see Fig. 2) hard to stomach.)
Figure 2
Keanu now-and-then. Or then-and-now? Does it matter?
Hmmm. Maybe there's not really a nouveau trend. I also want to lump Fire In The Sky in with all these, and maybe even Independence Day. Maybe I've just got a thing for all alien movies...
Regardless, I'm really looking forward to District 9. Peter Jackson (see Fig. 3) has his name all over the ads and trailers (you can find a trailer here) and stuff, but I think the props should really go to Neill Blomkamp. Check out his short (or is just a trailer for his short?) Alive In Joburg for a pretty good preview of what to expect from the movie. If the movie strays from the tone and concept of the short, I'd be surprised.
Figure 3
Never forget: before LOTR, there was MTF.
Now, what I really wanted to talk about is how America (see Fig. 4) is handled in District 9. From what I intuit, it's going to take place in South Africa. That is definitely a refreshing change of pace for sci-fi. But from the trailer, I saw very few (if any) Americans. Now, I am definitely not America-centric, but America itself certainly is. So, if aliens were to visit Earth and hang out in South Africa, you can bet your ass the American government would get involved.
Figure 4
Typical Americans
So, how will District 9 handle America? Unless it just ignores the subject, I don't know how it could explain US non-involvement. Maybe the trailer was just a little misleading.
Posts
May 2, 2009 at 11:08 AM
I would categorize Spielberg's War of the Worlds as a 9/11 movie, along with World Trade Center, Flight 93, and, of course, Final Destination 3.
At first, I took your interpretation of the nouveau alien movie to be those moves about aliens that are not focused on how the world government's fight the aliens, but instead are about how a single man, or family, or group cope with it. Signs and WotW met this, but then you included Independence Day, which would seem to be the anti Nouveau Alien movie, so...????
May 2, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Yeah, you're right, Jesse. I got away from thesis with Independence Day. As to the single man/family coping approach, I'm not sure if District 9 will fit that bill either... I'm going to need a longer, more spoiler filled trailer.