UNIT G325

COLLECTIVE IDENTITY

LO s Analysing the treatment/representations of aliens in the media. Considering why representations of aliens can be an important political metaphor.

WHAT IS SUB TEXT?

DISTRICT 9 (2009)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18ftwv_district-9-2009hd_shortfilms Producer: Peter Jackson Director: Neill Blomkamp In 1982, a massive star ship bearing a bedraggled alien population, nicknamed "The Prawns," appeared over Johannesburg, South Africa. Twenty-eight years later, the initial welcome by the human population has faded. The refugee camp where the aliens were located has deteriorated into a militarized ghetto called District 9, where they are confined and exploited in squalor. In 2010, the munitions corporation, Multi-National United, is contracted to forcibly evict the population with operative Wikus van der Merwe in charge. In this operation, Wikus is exposed to a strange alien chemical and must rely on the help of his only two new 'Prawn' friends.

DISCUSSION POINTS
What is dystopia? How are the aliens portrayed? How are humans portrayed? What is the significance of the films setting? What do you understand of the term apartheid? Is the human fear of the prawns a metaphor for real life fears struggles? What is the effect of Wikus transformation?

INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3a0kv1sJxg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoLywiaM6PA Producer: Roland Emmerich Director: Dean Devlin On July 2nd, communications systems worldwide are sent into chaos by a strange atmospheric interference. It is soon learned by the military that a number of enormous objects are on a collision course with Earth. At first thought to be meteors, they are later revealed to be gigantic spacecraft, piloted by a mysterious alien species. After attempts to communicate with the aliens leads to hostilities. An ex-scientist turned cable technician, discovers that the aliens are going to attack major points around the globe in less than a day. The narrative focuses on a disparate group of people who converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4, the same date as the Independence Day holiday in the United States.

DISCUSSION POINTS
What is the significance of the date 4th of July? What is achieved by representing the aliens as hostile and aggressive? What is the effect to the story and the audience? Who is saving the world and why? What is cultural imperialism? Hegemony/Globalisation?

CONTEXT AND SCI-FI THROUGHOUT HISTORY

The cold war 1945 onwards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFnSxeDfENk Threat of communism and the atom bomb. Later representations. Star Trek: Gender, equality, the Vietnam war 1964-1975. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqoZ0C0cnRE

THE IMPORTANCE OF A trope or figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made METAPHOR between two unlike things that actually have something in common.
The function of metaphor in literature is twofold. The first, and more practical, function is to allow the reader greater understanding of the concept, object, or character being described. This is done by comparing it to an item that may be more familiar to the reader. The second function is purely artistic: to create an image that is beautiful or profound or otherwise produces the effect that the writer desires. For these reasons, writers have used the metaphor since the earliest recorded stories.

TASK:
In pairs your task is to create a 5 min presentation for next Thurs on the topic of

Representations of aliens in contemporary films.

Things to consider: Choose specific textual examples from at least two contemporary media texts to support your presentation. I want you look at a film but also consider TV, radio, video games. Show a clip from a film/TV/video game/radio show you have chosen and analyse how cultural thoughts and fears are being expressed through narrative and representation. Also consider/discuss camera, mise en scene, performance style, editing. Include academic theory. Which theory applies to the metaphors in your textual examples? Please ask/email me if you get stuck on this! SCOWAN. How does the device of metaphor allow film makers to explore political ideas through the representation of aliens?

DO NOW (IN THE NEXT 10 MINS):

Pair up. Decide write down the media texts you want to explore and choose a clip to illustrate to the class/discuss in your presentation. Decide (in the case of each film) what the representation is a metaphor for. By the end of the lesson divide up the responsibility between each other as to what you will look at. Arrange a time to meet to practice briefly, decide the order of your presentation.

Under the Skin (2013)

TEXTS TO CONSIDER?

District 9 http://theculturecraft.wordpress.com/comments/film-review-district-9-who-is-human/ http://asubtleknife.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/science-fiction-in-the-ghetto-loving-the-alien/ http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2009/sep/08/district-9-racism

WEBSITES TO HELP YOU

Independence day http://www.examiner.com/article/independence-day-is-a-patriotic-film-even-with-its-over-the-top-plot

Alien and Prometheus http://www.tft.ucla.edu/mediascape/blog/?p=1199 http://www.ctzine.com/the-rise-of-ripley-gender-and-alien-part-1/ http://www2.bgsu.edu/departments/theatrefilm/projector/04-01-12/page112302.html Star Trek http://www.ibiblio.org/jwsnyder/wisdom/trek.html General http://moviepilot.com/stories/2014/01/22/when-politics-and-sci-fi-collide-5-sci-fi-movies-with-something-tosay-1216243?lt_source=external,manual http://www.academia.edu/370171/The_Alien_as_Other_Spiritual_Political_and_Cultural_Representations_of_t he_Alien_in_Late_20th_Century_Cinema http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/12/kim-stanley-robinson-our-greatest-politicalnovelist.html

THINGS TO BEAR IN MIND

What collective identity is being explored in the representation of the alien/aliens in your text? Theorists? Names and theories? http://theory.org.uk/ http://homepage.ntlworld.com/deemcintosh/mediathe orists.htm What is the subtext? Is there a political message? What is it? How is metaphor used? What is the context? Your presentation needs to be 5 mins.