The Aliens


So this is just The Aliens http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5458832/
with Aboriginals/Yowies instead of Chavs/Aliens.

Both based on District 9 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/

RIP Star-Crossed http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2657262/

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I watched the Aliens and didn't really care for it. I did think the entire time that the background story was very similar but this seems to be a little more serious which makes it look more promising.

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It is hard not to sound condescending when you are explaining things to an idiot!

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It's not a very original idea in general-you'll find many films and TV series/individual eps thereof that explore similar ideas.

"What is an Oprah?"-Teal'c.

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At least you can tell the difference between the hairy people and non-hairy humans

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Except when they shave, trim their nails, and wear colored contacts.

~
My list of 1,000+ weird wild movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls053942167/

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It looks like it. Science fiction have been doing these lefty "lets substitute aliens/vampires/etc for ethnic/sexual/etc minorities to show how evil white men are" since the year dot.

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It looks like it. Science fiction have been doing these lefty "lets substitute aliens/vampires/etc for ethnic/sexual/etc minorities to show how evil white men are" since the year dot.


I wonder if there's any historic evidence out there that might shed light on why people have this perception of (some) white people discriminating against people with different skin tones?

Certainly the Australians have never treated their Aboriginal population deplorably.



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Certainly the Australians have never treated their Aboriginal population deplorably.

I beg to differ from this view. Colonisation history of Australian natives is just as bad, if not worse, than other countries.

The first colonies, considered the Australian aboriginal peoples as "too primitive" to be "human" and hence the first colonies declared the entire continent as "Terra Nullius" (ie empty land). The aborigines were considered as "native fauna" and were massacred with rat poison to clear land. Smallpox and measles were released deliberately, and recorded in writing by governments-of-the-day. Early settlers committed widespread massacres and lynchings, along with mass transportation over borders to remove them from goldfields for example.

This concept of "terra nullius" and aboriginal peoples being a species of native fauna, was embedded in the Australian Federal Constitution of 1901, with the deliberate exclusion of them - and to this day, Australian aboriginal peoples are still not officially recognised in the Constitution as citizens, but as wards of the State.

And as such, different States had different laws governing aborigines rights of location (imprisoned on State Reserves) to travel across state borders, access to public spaces (eg swimming pools, beaches, pubs), health care, education, public transport or employment etc.

As non-citizens, non-people, Australian aboriginal people were not counted in censuses, and not allowed to vote until 1967, following a national referendum. In the years following the referendum, into the early 1970s, all such laws were eventually repealed.

For generations, part-white Aboriginal children had been taken from their parents (see "Rabbit-Proof Fence" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252444/?ref_=nv_sr_1) In the late 60s, 1970s, Aboriginal civil rights activism began in earnest, including Freedom buses travelling around, Land Rights claims in the courts, and the development of their own Aboriginal Flag, and re-naming Australia Day as "Invasion Day".

More recently successive Australian governments have embarked on a process of Reconciliation - including amongst other things, a National Sorry Day, holding a referendum to change the Constitution, introduction of 'welcome to country' recognition statements at all official events etc etc.



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Yep it is just a different take on a familiar theme that has been around for years.

My favourite in that sort of thing was first the movie Alien Nation (1988) and the subsequent TV series Alien Nation (1989) and Telemovies that followed Alien Nation: Dark Horizon (1994), Alien Nation: Body and Soul (1995), Alien Nation: Millennium (1996), Alien Nation: The Enemy Within (1996) and Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy (1997). Was a great premise and one that caught on much later, as the series only lasted 1 season and ended in 1990, however over time it gained enough interest to create 5 Telemovies.

However, I do like what I have seen in Cleverman so far and the take on the theme it seems to be doing. Hopefully it will fully flesh out the story as it goes along and with being renewed for a 2nd season (http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2016/06/renewed-cleverman.html) already I am confident it will.

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Only a few minutes in, but I do like it and it's good to know that it's been renewed.



"I could've sworn there was one more peanut butter left." -- Morgan, The Walking Dead

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Oh good. I liked both of those, so I should probably like this too.




"I could've sworn there was one more peanut butter left." -- Morgan, The Walking Dead

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What say you now?

"What is an Oprah?"-Teal'c.

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Themes recur when they are timely and when they continue to resonate with audiences. Discrimination continues to exist in modern societies, and as a result shows based on prejudice--especially institutionalized discrimination will continue to be produced and aired. It's certainly not the only theme to be explored over and over again--how many star-crossed lovers have we seen since "Romeo and Juliet"?

The fact that it is a familiar theme does not mean it isn't worth watching. "District 9" was an excellent exploration of the subject (I can't wait until the promised sequel), while others not so much. I loved "Alien Nation" but there are numerous films and television series that deal with bigotry--and you can hardly say they are the same whether they deal with aliens or other humans or both (and all too often the bigotry cuts both ways from the start): "Firefly"; "Defiance"; "American History X"; "X Men"; "The L Word"; "Star-crossed"; "Philadelphia"; "To Kill A Mockingbird"; "Milk"; "Men of Honor"; "Schindler's List",even "GI Jane". It's a common theme because it's a common source of conflict--past, present and darn it--likely in our future, no matter how much we try to stamp it out--even if it starts as simple grade school bullying. It seems we're always looking for someone or something to marginalize or put down. It doesn't matter if the topic is familiar when it's the treatment and the characters that matter. There's plenty of room for originality in how the story unfolds.

Let's face it; nothing that deals with relationships of any kind is truly original--and any show that doesn't deal with some kind of relationship inequality and bias-whether it's between people ("Saved!"; "Boys Don't Cry"; "Mississippi Burning";"Skin" ...), or ]between alien species ("V"; "The Event"; "ET"; "Star Trek"--even more pointedly--and disappointingly in the reboot) frequently with humans as the bad guys- or even Technological ("AI"; "Bladerunner"; "Humans"; "Almost Human") and many, many more), supernatural beings ("True Blood"; would be very boring. The only exception are extreme survival stories--and even then it takes an extraordinary tale to be even remotely interesting. They exist--Revenant is a current example, but it takes an extraordinary tale (best if it's an outrageous almost unbelievable true story) and an incredible actor (and writer) to pull it off without another person to play off. Voice overs are tedious, so film makers have to rely heavily on alternative tools to dialogue.

This is why you rarely see a film or even read a book that doesn't contain at least one other "entity" that allows the main character to explore their thoughts and conflicts--even when they are "in love". All too often when you dig deep enough, conflict is due to fundamental prejudice of some sort between parties. Hate crimes, marginalization, bullying, snubbing, alienation, apartheid all arise from the same well of ignorance and prejudice; all come from a place fundamental to our nature. Evolution has enabled us to classify and group things together quickly and efficiently--good? Bad? Eat? Danger? As well as our adaptive social instincts--one of us? A stranger? An outsider? An outsider is an unknown and instinctively raises alarms. In a hunter-gatherer society with primitive weapons any of these instant judgements can mean the difference between life and death. Modern life has made these instincts more problematic as we've had to learn to adapt and often alter our initial reactions. In our modern world we have to recognize a different sort of danger, but these instincts serve us well--even today, and because of the constant potential for internal and external conflict, these instincts make for good story-telling. It's no wonder we see these themes so often--even when it's so subtle that we don't initially recognize them.

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