Of the ten films nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars this year, two involved little green men…or big blue women, as the case may be…
But what struck me as interesting was that in both cases, the aliens were portrayed sympathetically, and the humans were the bad guys. On the one hand, we have (as my brother pointed out) DANCES WITH WOLVES in space; on the other hand, we have X-FILES meets THE POWER OF ONE. In Avatar, humans are greedy, imperial tree destroyers; in District 9, humans are racist, arms-dealing vivisectionists.
In either case, we come out looking pretty despicable. I might even go so far as to describe our legacy as “inhumane.”
So here’s my question: why do we see ourselves this way?
And might the answer to that question be related to the proliferation of vampires-as-sympathetic-characters stories with which our generation seems obsessed?
I’m no fan of the undead—thus far, I have avoided Blade (half-vampire fights to protect innocent humans from vampire monsters) and Angel (former vampire struggles for redemption) and Twilight (guilt-burdened vampire loved by human girl). But I think I see a pattern emerging. We identify with the bad guys—whether seeking redemption for, or announcing condemnation on ourselves.
Those of us who are about 30 and under have grown up with an increasing awareness of our complicity in the rape of the environment and the exploitation of countless neighbors so we can have cheap shoes and electronics and well-traveled food in any season. We cannot drive a car or buy clothes or eat a banana without withdrawing from a global account that is rapidly disappearing.
Could this burden of guilt—persistently repudiated by our parents, but assumed true by us—be the source of our identification with fiction’s traditional villains?
What do you think?
'Dance's with wolves in space', I love it! Lets give Two-socks a blaster and a millennium falcon while were at it... that aught to even up the sides a bit.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting question. I haven't seen Avatar yet or even heard of District 9, until now, but I think that the burden of guilt lies upon the Aliens themselves. They are in the way, we need resources.
Okay, so I don't believe that, but like a good vampire flick (even if I sit there terrified, biting my nails). People like vampires who still want to be good. After all, they have been turned into something that has to be evil to stay alive. If they don't like this about themselves and fight to keep some sense of humanity, we empathize with them.
Personally, I think that we (at least me) don't identify with traditional villains (except if they have a really good evil cackle, I love an evil laugh!). I think that we have villains in stories to make the protagonist seem more human. Even if that means that the aliens are more human than the humans.
We know what it is to be good and what it is to be evil. Even if we are evil, we identify with the good, because that is what we want to be. I think that the reversal of roles is there, just to show some reality of what humans are capable of (and to make critics rave over the film, getting more box office sales).
Although, I don't fall into the 30 and under category, I still feel guilt over what I buy.
I feel helpless in this. I wore out my old shoes till they fell apart. I want to repair them so I wouldn't have to buy new shoes. But, I am in the middle of nowhere in France (thus not knowing about the movies) and don't have access to a shoe repair shop. I am forced to buy new shoes, or learn to walk around without them. I bought new shoes. What else can I do? I still want to be a good person.
So, this guilt that we have over the environment and people of third world nations, makes us aware that humans are capable of evil. So I think we will continue to see venues of entertainment where the humans are the antagonist.