South African film "District 9, 2009" is a science fiction. The film tells the story of 1.8 million aliens emigrating to the earth, but science fiction is just a coat, and the core lies in its political meaning. For South Africa, the film alluded to the apartheid policy of the year; when it was screened in the United States, aliens became synonymous with immigrants (especially illegal immigrants)—not only pronouns, but also had two meanings. "Xingren" is the same word as "foreigner": "alien".
This Sony-invested and global-released film has a group of contradictions. Nigerians play a role similar to the underworld in the film. They are mainly engaged in illegal arms trafficking and the eating of alien organs. After the film was released, the Nigerian government was very upset and announced that it would be blocked. I don’t know much about the relationship within Africa, and I don’t know why the film’s director named another African country like that. Of course, not for the entire country, but for a group of people. From the perspective of American audiences, the thief and scams of this group are understandable, because the e-mails of American netizens are flooded with "Nigerian Bank Letters", which are all very low-tech scams. However, the film is not a light comedy, and the negative positioning of this group of people does not seem to be related to the American people's superficial understanding of the country.
In any case, it is obvious that South Africa does not need the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make such films. Although the diplomatic turmoil has occurred, it seems that the relations between the two countries have not been harmed. If the gang belongs to Japan or South Korea, perhaps the film will lose the two film markets. In recent years, the biggest headache in Hollywood has been to find contradictions in movies. Many people think that Hollywood is wantonly vilifying other countries, but in fact this is an overestimation of its political sensitivity. What Hollywood expects most is to occupy every market in the world, but every time it opens a market, it loses the opportunity to portray that country as a contradiction. Although the Hollywood market includes Nigeria, it is obviously not large enough for Hollywood and its films to modify the script.
China's fate is far better than Nigeria. MGM's remake of "Red Dawn" (Red Dawn, 2010) depicts China's invasion of the United States. After the filming, I think about it, which offends people. As a result, a major change was made and the villain was changed to a North Korean. It is said that a lot of money was wasted. Who is to blame? It can be seen from this incident that large American companies do not have a position of political counselor, and even the management does not require a minimum IQ.
Enemy country as a
contradiction Throughout the history of film, the safest contradiction is the Nazis, but you can't always shoot World War II themes. Before the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and China had contradicted 007 films. In fact, this is more determined by the values and aesthetics of the 007 series. Everything is beautifying or ugly, not based on authenticity. (Among the Oscar-nominated American films in the 1960s, there were works that positively shaped the Soviet Union.) The end of the Cold War deprived Hollywood of this superficial “fun”. (From a cultural point of view, 007 should belong to a British movie.) After deliberation, a relatively undisputed villain is the international drug lord. I suspect that if drug lords invest in such films, they will still position drug lords as a contradiction, just like Hong Kong gangsters invest in gangsters, as long as they make money, they will not hesitate to destroy their image.
Before long, terrorists in the Middle East appeared. At the beginning, some Middle Eastern organizations protested. Films such as "True Lies" (1994) have long been defensive. They argued: The Middle Easterners in my story are both bad and good. After the "September 11 Incident," Hollywood screenwriters no longer need to evade, at least no one in the United States will protest against the appearance of Middle Easterners doing bad things on the screen.
Out of commercial motives, Hollywood has no intention of offending other countries; however, action movies require intense drama conflicts, and bad guys must do bad things, otherwise the heroes will not be able to shine. Hollywood has several major countermeasures: 1. Animation: If the hero is Spiderman Batman, the bad guys certainly don't need a real nationality or ethnicity. Second, obfuscation: fictionalized a country or dilutes the regional ethnic color, so that audiences from other countries cannot be seated. Even if they can be seated, they can still shirk their responsibilities in law. Chaplin filmed "The Great Dictator" and changed Germany and Hitler into Tominia and Hingel. Even so, he still took a big risk, because at that time Germany and the United States had not yet started war, and Britain banned the film from being staged because of its appeasement policy. (When the film is released, the current situation has changed. The hot potato has become a propaganda weapon, and the box office has also received good news.) Third, self-sacrifice: take all the evil deeds to your own body, Xiaoshi may be from other countries, But the ultimate villain is a member of the American "revolutionary force", such as mad scientists, justices, large business owners, and high-level politicians. On the screen, the number of suspected murders by the US president has made this trick have long lost its shocking effect. "The Ninth District" is well versed in this trick. Although the Nigerian gang is fierce, the biggest opposition is the South African government and military.
Recently, the latent type of film and television dramas are popular in China. For example, the gimmick of the movie "The Wind" lies in who is a good person. I once guessed that the worst in it might be the lurker, and found that this trick does not work, because it belongs to Hollywood logic. In Hollywood movies, the good guy with the highest position is usually the worst bad guy. The problem is that if these tactics are used too much, they will become abusive, and they will not be able to create surprises. No one can afford to offend these years. Zhao Benshan made a joke, and the disabled will protest. Comedy is already like this, let alone action movies.
"Your Big Bad"
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