District Friendly's

I got to spend some Dad + Daughter time today. Since we were the only two interested in seeing District 9, we decided to go see it and then go have dinner. After reading reviews and blog posts that said how good this movie was, I was psyched. Could not wait to see what made this such a cool movie.

Well I have to say, what were the reviewers on? I can't even decide IF I even liked the movie. I mean it WAS good (Boy in the Striped Pajamas was good too, but do I ever want to see it again? NO!), but I also think I have decided, I found it depressing. The way the humans treated these aliens was disgusting. Sticking them in slums that were more like concentration camps. And I hated the documentary feel to the majority of the movie, and I LOVED Cloverfield (not the end that much, but it is good!), so that was weird. Hated Blair Witch Project though. But let's get past the filming. The effects were absolutely amazing for such a low budget movie, AMAZING. The "prawns" were so real looking and COULD express emotion and such. The humans are the bad guys in this movie, the aliens are the ones who are wronged. White guys are the bad men who run the company, but the black Nigerians are even worse than the corrupt white business men, because they go in District 9 and force the "prawns" to pay big time for cat food, which they love for some reason.

What they want to do in the movie is take the "prawns" and move them 200 miles farther away, because they blame them for all the looting and riots and such. They have built a new district, but it is made of even smaller "dwellings", a worse concentration camp than the one they already were forced into. These poor aliens have been stuck on Earth for 20 years, and some are trying to find a way to go home. But with Wikus heading up informing the "prawns" that they have 24 hours until they will be evicted to District 10, things take a different course. Wikus ends up making some big...changes.

When I was talking to my Mom and Sam about how I hated the treatment of the aliens, Mom said that was the point. That it was a comparison to past events and how certain people have treated other people because of their religion or ethnicity. I veer from the movie for the rest of this paragraph, sorry. I get the comparison, I just have a hard time with such a concept of hating a whole religion or ethnicity or "species". I mean I hate a few people, some of the people who made school hell for me. But they did something directly to me. Again and again. But hating a group of people when you don't know them personally or such? I don't get it. Maybe I am too naive or whatever, but I am not going to hate an entire anybody because someone who shares a commonality with them did something bad. Some people hate Muslims because of 9/11, but I don't. A group of Muslims decided to do that, NOT all Muslims!! So why would you hate people who did nothing to you? They are innocent too. Would I want someone to hate me because I am Mormon? Australian? Irish? Czech? German? New Zealand? No. On some things like tv or radio, you see that people of other religions/countries hate Americans, but why? Why do you hate me, when we haven't even met? Maybe you'd like me if you actually got to know me. You can't generalize Americans either. Sure, there are bad Americans, just like there are bad German, bad Mexicans, etc. But then you flip that coin, and you see that there are more good Americans than bad. That goes for everybody. There will always BE bad people, but that doesn't mean people who share something in common with them, are bad people too. And yes, I may be naive, but I am not going to hate anybody unless I have a real reason. I can understand in some instances, why some people hate a whole nationality/religion, etc. Take 9/11. I get that the people who lost their loved ones may hate all Muslims, but that is personal and their grief makes them hate. Something was taken from them and they can't distinguish that it was just a group of Muslims. Some people hate Germans because they are Jews and were put into the concentration camps, and saw their Mom or Dad killed in horrifying ways. They hate all Germans. I find it sad, but I also can understand it. And I am 1/4 German. It is not just hate, these people fear. Fear and hate can be so deeply intertwined. Anyway, you can think I am naive, but unless you wrong me terribly, Hi. My name is Wendy. What's yours?

Now back to the movie. All these thoughts connected in my head to the way humans treated the aliens, and I just decided, while this WAS in it's own way, a good movie, it is also a depressing one. And one frankly, I never need to see again. The end leaves you wondering. Will Christopher return and...what? Did you think I would tell you who Christopher is or what his plans are? And what about poor Wikus? Will he ever be the same again? This movie does make you think...obviopusly look above, so it might be a good movie to make sure you see once, but this is not one I will rush out to buy or rent. I saw it, I get the comparisons now, thanks to my family. I am so bad with history, they helped a lot! So if you love movies that make you think, this is definitely for you.

Anyway my Dad and I went to Friendly's for dinner. It was just a weird night all around. The service sucked big time, it took 25 minutes for them to get us our drinks. I tried one of the new smoothies, the strawberry one. It is strawberries and fat free frozen yogurt, so yay for healthy smoothies. I also had the new Cheeseburger Step Up or whatever. Basically a burger with bacon, cheese, lettuce and mayo on toasted white bread. It was yummy. But it was so hot in there, and hot in the theater, that we couldn't get comfortable, so I hope we can get another chance for Daddy-Daughter time. We talked but it was hot so you get quiet to keep from making more heat. So we decided between the weird movie and meal, it was just a weird day in general.

I got to measure my bed and we decided I better order the King size quilt because otherwise it might look starnge on my bed, so I did. 7 to 10 business days supposedly. It better be with 15 dollar S+H!! Man!