• Most new users don't bother reading our rules. Here's the one that is ignored almost immediately upon signup: DO NOT ASK FOR FANEDIT LINKS PUBLICLY. First, read the FAQ. Seriously. What you want is there. You can also send a message to the editor. If that doesn't work THEN post in the Trade & Request forum. Anywhere else and it will be deleted and an infraction will be issued.
  • If this is your first time here please read our FAQ and Rules pages. They have some useful information that will get us all off on the right foot, especially our Own the Source rule. If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to one of our staff for further details.
  • Please read our Rules & Guidelines

    Read BEFORE posting Trades & Request

Elysium [2013]

elbarto1

elbarto1

Well-known member
Faneditor
Cover Artist
Messages
3,629
Reaction score
1
Trophy Points
53

I'm on board. Glad to see Blomkamp back again. I dig his visual aesthetic.
 
So ready to see this movie. District 9 was outstanding.
 
Yes please! We need a good SciFi movie to come out
 
Am I the only one that thinks this looks like communist propaganda with cool action?
 
not sure about that comment... Neill Blomkamp has proven before that he is not spoonfeeding. district 9 pretty much was avatar done as a sci fi story... so this movie feels like In Time done right without the simplified anti-capitalism idea...

I wouldn't worry
 
Well District 9 had some clear racism/Apartheid commentary, so my guess would be this has some capitalism commentary, which is more than okay with me, and just to be clear, is not the same thing as communist propaganda.
 
While the trailer makes it seem like it's a heist movie, come on, it's about starting a class war. It even says it right there in the trailer: the rich live on Elysium, the poor live on earth. Haves versus have-nots.
 
skyled said:
While the trailer makes it seem like it's a heist movie, come on, it's about starting a class war. It even says it right there in the trailer: the rich live on Elysium, the poor live on earth. Haves versus have-nots.
Click to expand...

so because a movie is about class diffrences it is automatically propaganda?
 
I don't see how anyone can take away from the trailer that this is either A) a straight up heist movie, or B) Communist propaganda.

This looks great. It looks like a really good look at class disparity.
 
Sunarep said:
so because a movie is about class diffrences it is automatically propaganda?
Click to expand...

lol, exactly.
 
I didn't say it was about class differences. I said it's about a class WAR. Throw off your chains, overthrow the rich oppressors, etc. The trailer is shoving it right in your face.

Back in the day when I was in college, I took a sociology class about race and ethnicity and the professor was an admitted Marxist. The entire thing was about trying to get people to stop focusing on race and race issues and instead focus on class. The thinking (and all the class readings were about this) was that if enough people would focus on class they would get angry, start a class war, and then we would finally have communism. That's how I look at stories with this model. Just look at Metropolis. The rich in their high towers living at the expense of the oppressed masses. It's pure Marxism. How can you watch this trailer and not see the parallels?

That being said, it does look pretty entertaining.
 
the discussion came about because of your usage of the word propaganda. You can have subjects in a film and discuss the ideologies without creating a propaganda film.
 
It certainly has a tinge of the 1% "propaganda" that could easily be expected from a Hollywood movie, but if it's handled as well as the subtle apartheid commentary in District 9 I can't see it being an annoying distraction from what looks like a kick ass sci-fi flick. I have high hopes for this.

For the record, I enjoy political commentary, I just don't like it being show-horned into a movie that isn't specifically political in nature. I watch movies to escape the misery of certain aspects of society, not to be forcefully reminded of them.
 
reave said:
It certainly has a tinge of the 1% "propaganda" that could easily be expected from a Hollywood movie, but if it's handled as well as the subtle apartheid commentary in District 9 I can't see it being an annoying distraction from what looks like a kick ass sci-fi flick. I have high hopes for this.

For the record, I enjoy political commentary, I just don't like it being show-horned into a movie that isn't specifically political in nature. I watch movies to escape the misery of certain aspects of society, not to be forcefully reminded of them.
Click to expand...


I understand that concern. Hollywood likes to slap things over the viewers head. Good storytelling and film making can avoid that though. I also don't think sci-fi has to be limited to evil guy vs good guy in space asplosions. Sci-fi can be a canvas to tell a more important or specific story. District 9 did that well, and this looks like a really good movie about class inequality, using sci-fi as the medium to tell that story (not a generic sci-fi movie with a political viewpoint imposed on the viewer).

Like I said earlier, you can have movies with political commentary that aren't propaganda.
 
ThrowgnCpr said:
Like I said earlier, you can have movies with political commentary that aren't propaganda.
Click to expand...

True story.
 
Just saw this movie.

It was good, but maybe not as good as the subject deserved to be.
All in all it ends being a nicely done science fiction/action/"political" movie but with a pretty straight forward story like we (at least I) saw a countless time. It was strange to watch a very "2013" looking movie on a serious subject having a plot of a B movie from the 80's. Not that it is a bad thing at all, but I don't know, I guess I wanted a little more than what I got. And if you're someone who watches a lot of movies (as most of you are around here!) then you'll more or less always guess some of the plot from the various hints here and there that are shown before. Like I often say: the problem with good movies is that everything serves the purpose of the movie, so... well, if your mind is "accustomize" to that way of telling a story, then things becomes pretty obvious, fast.
There are some very cool moments though and i'm sure a lot of people will like it, like I did.
I just hope that they'll like it a bit more than me.
 
Saw this last week in IMAX, totally worth it. Favorite film of the summer. Sharlto Copley steals it, effects are great, message is great, action is great, just an awesome movie.
 
skyled said:
Back in the day when I was in college, I took a sociology class about race and ethnicity and the professor was an admitted Marxist. The entire thing was about trying to get people to stop focusing on race and race issues and instead focus on class. The thinking (and all the class readings were about this) was that if enough people would focus on class they would get angry, start a class war, and then we would finally have communism. That's how I look at stories with this model. Just look at Metropolis. The rich in their high towers living at the expense of the oppressed masses. It's pure Marxism. How can you watch this trailer and not see the parallels?
Click to expand...

Well, in the US most people, even intellectuals, seem to think class doesn't apply to them - even though it's obviously one of the most class-based societies on the planet, with its own ridiculously rich aristocracy with its ows set of exclusion mechanisms. Marx (who, btw, said that he "was not a marxist" (even though he co-wrote the Communist Manifesto, that's not really his main work)) would be puzzled at the American society of today, I think, where pretty much everybody think they can get rich if they just work hard, but where most of the working class has no chance in hell to even ascend to middle class without marrying someone from it. The British working class (or pretty much any other working class, really) has historically had a much more fatalistic attitude, and less starry-eyed dreams of grandeur. I think Americans - who, rightly, are very race-conscious - should be reminded every once in a while that the question of class is very real, and probably a more burning question than race since a lot of racism is really more about fear of the unwashed, poor masses than genuine fear of African- or Asian-looking people. That said, your professor sounds like a doofus if you're quoting him (her?) correctly. There are other ways of class revolt than communism, as most marxists would be able to tell you.

I have two questions about this, though: What do you think a legitimate revolt against oppression would look like (is it even possible)? And does your interpretation of Metropolis as a marxist/communist film (which I find borderline ridiculous, btw) mean that enjoy it less than you would otherwise?
 
I enjoyed the film but definitely wanted to see more. It felt like it was too purely focused on Damon and his "mission", and I would have loved another 10-15 of world building to establish the world in which these characters are inhabiting.

Also, what the hell was Jodie Foster trying to do with that accent?:-(
 
theslime said:
Well, in the US most people, even intellectuals, seem to think class doesn't apply to them - even though it's obviously one of the most class-based societies on the planet, with its own ridiculously rich aristocracy with its ows set of exclusion mechanisms. Marx (who, btw, said that he "was not a marxist" (even though he co-wrote the Communist Manifesto, that's not really his main work)) would be puzzled at the American society of today, I think, where pretty much everybody think they can get rich if they just work hard, but where most of the working class has no chance in hell to even ascend to middle class without marrying someone from it. The British working class (or pretty much any other working class, really) has historically had a much more fatalistic attitude, and less starry-eyed dreams of grandeur. I think Americans - who, rightly, are very race-conscious - should be reminded every once in a while that the question of class is very real, and probably a more burning question than race since a lot of racism is really more about fear of the unwashed, poor masses than genuine fear of African- or Asian-looking people. That said, your professor sounds like a doofus if you're quoting him (her?) correctly. There are other ways of class revolt than communism, as most marxists would be able to tell you.

I have two questions about this, though: What do you think a legitimate revolt against oppression would look like (is it even possible)? And does your interpretation of Metropolis as a marxist/communist film (which I find borderline ridiculous, btw) mean that enjoy it less than you would otherwise?
Click to expand...

Just because I don't agree with a film's message doesn't mean I can't get enjoyment out of it. For example, I hated the movie Inception, but it provided loads of thought and research on other movies and ideas that I felt were far superior than it. In other words, it forced me to think about why I hated it. For most movies though, it's usually just I liked it or I didn't like it and that's the end of it. No why involved (this goes for me also). There are also movies that you disagree with but still enjoy a lot despite the message. For Elysium, I don't agree with the message and reading the reviews it also doesn't seem like it's very enjoyable. Pass.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom