Avatar and District 9

[cheese_wizington]

Wolves. Dance with them.

/thread

Poca. Hontas with it.

 

[lasherman]

That's pretty funny indeed. Though you have to respect District 9 because it did it with 1/10 of the money Avatar used, and District 9 had WAY more style, AND District 9 did it in a much cooler, more original and engrossing manner.

Yeah... I'm so not bias!

Exactly my feelings as well. I was kind of disappointed with Avatar; it was just multi-million dollar eye-candy.

I actually liked Avatar more, District 9 was too dark for me to enjoy fully. But hey, that's just my taste.

I still liked it, but I just found everything about it to be so unoriginal; even the awesome alien life-forms were mostly just mixups of random Earth animals with extra legs.

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

1.) No, this is not a "which is better" thread
2.) This contains SERIOUS SPOILERS, you have been warned. If you havn't seen one of these, GO SEE IT/THEM RIGHT F&@*ING NOW, they are both that good.

I noticed some odd similarities between District 9 and Avatar.

A.) Both Vikus and Jake start out working for the oppressive human Corporation
B.) Both Vikus and Jake are chosen by their corporation for a special mission.
C.) Both Vikus and Jake go into the domain of the aliens and get over their heads.
D.) Both Vikus and Jake enter into a grey area between alien and Human, Vikus with his hand, and Jake with his avatar.
E.) Both Vikus and Jake are on the Human's side up until it is too late to prevent a conflict, then they switch sides.
F.) Both Vikus and Jake are about to get killed by the main bad guy, but then get saved by an alien or aliens.
G.) in the end, Both Vikus and Jake become fully alien.

Thoughts?

EDIT: i'm not suggesting that Cameron cribbed notes from District 9, considering that Avatar was in development years before Distict 9 was.

I came out of Avatar with that feeling as well. I felt there were a lot of similarities between the two.

I would call it a funny coincidence.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Who gives a shit, they're both amazing and two of the best movies I've seen in years.

 

[sagacious]

Who gives a shit, they're both amazing and two of the best movies I've seen in years.

I agree, I just thought it was interesting...

 

[Zetsubou]

They both have roots in the basic "Find a new way of life" story archeatype. Neither is a copy of anything else, except that very story frame.

If I said I loved you, would you be concerned?

....Let's be friends first.... *sends friend request*

Also, awesome avatar.

 

[scorch 13]

Prawns are more awesome.

So is the accent.
"What the fook?"

I say District 9 wins. Even if there isn't a battle.

i second that

 

[Ghonzor]

They both have roots in the basic "Find a new way of life" story archeatype. Neither is a copy of anything else, except that very story frame.

If I said I loved you, would you be concerned?

....Let's be friends first.... *sends friend request*

Also, awesome avatar.

That was a better reaction than I expected.
Anyway, yes I appreciate that someone finally understands that the frame is what is similar, not the overall story.

 

[Puzzles]

I think Avatar just has such a generic and overused storyline that one can draw similarities between it and a large portion of movies.

 

[Ocelot GT]

It's simply how stories develop, you can grab any multitude of stories and see similar development points.

-Turning point
-Rising tension
-Recurring motif

etc

 

[viperthejedi]

Prawns are more awesome.

So is the accent.
"What the fook?"

I say District 9 wins. Even if there isn't a battle.

Fookin' Prawns!

OT: the movies are nothing alike. Nice try though.

 

[TheodoreLuke]

It's a coincidence.
Or, Avatar stole District 9's idea and replaced the aliens with smurfsN'avi.

Avatar was written first.

 

[matnatz]

I find South Africa (Suffafreeka) to be a very interesting country, much more interesting than the world of Pandora. So it's District 9 for me.

 

[T3h Merc]

District 9 was infinitely better. Moviebob says it best. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/876-District-9)

 

[cleverlymadeup]

yes both movies were overly preachy and had similar messages to them.

however District 9 leaned more towards the whole apartheid thing, where Avatar added the environmental stuff along with the forced resettlement.

hating apartheid is a lot more acceptable than the other things, so there's more love towards the message District 9 is shoving down our throats

 

[demoman_chaos]

Avatar was Dances with Wolves crossed with modern US foreign policy.

District 9 had much cooler weapons and a infinitly more epic mech-scene.

 

[MR T3D]

Spoiler: I mean, really.

While I liked Avatar, breaking new ground in storytelling it was not.

have to admit, changing "growing crops" to "TAMING DRAGONS" is fucking awesome on its own.

 

[inmate655321]

Anyone mention The Last Samurai yet?

 

[nart_21086]

Similarities are notable. Though I would say that Jake's experience in contact with the aliens differs from Wikus' in that his was more voluntary and he was more accepted.
Wikus pretty much had nowhere else to go and only had extended contact with one or two Prawns.

 

[Omikron009]

Wow. You have a point there. The main difference between the two is the fact that District 9 is utterly superior.