I hate lists, but I know most people won't read things unless it is a list, so to stoop down to the average medium of choice for college students, I decided to list this off.
1. Appropriation- There's a fine line between careful political allusion and out right appropriation. Elysium is the latter. Honestly, if anyone could say Matt Damon didn't look out of place, speaking spanish, living in a predominantly latina/black/people of color neighborhood, while also claiming the very same plight as the people around him, then you are buying into the color blind future the movie wants you to believe in. Also, the hot button they are clearly pushing on is "illegal" immigration, which is an issue predominantly faced by latinos. The main love interest is Latina. The best friend is Latino. In fact everyone in Matt Damon's world, who's on his side seems not to be white, so why on earth is Matt Damon white? And when I say white I don't simply mean skin color, I'm also asking why you couldn't get a light skin Latino to play the role. I mean if you're gonna white wash the cast that's the the least you can do. Some of you might be up in arms, crying out "why does it matter if he is Latino or not". Welp because immigration laws and policy in the United States is a very real issue for many Latinos. To see it shamelessly thrown into a movie for a predominantly non-Latino audience is kind of a jerk move. Also, if he doesn't seem out of place, then I think you might believe society is colorblind too.
1. Appropriation- There's a fine line between careful political allusion and out right appropriation. Elysium is the latter. Honestly, if anyone could say Matt Damon didn't look out of place, speaking spanish, living in a predominantly latina/black/people of color neighborhood, while also claiming the very same plight as the people around him, then you are buying into the color blind future the movie wants you to believe in. Also, the hot button they are clearly pushing on is "illegal" immigration, which is an issue predominantly faced by latinos. The main love interest is Latina. The best friend is Latino. In fact everyone in Matt Damon's world, who's on his side seems not to be white, so why on earth is Matt Damon white? And when I say white I don't simply mean skin color, I'm also asking why you couldn't get a light skin Latino to play the role. I mean if you're gonna white wash the cast that's the the least you can do. Some of you might be up in arms, crying out "why does it matter if he is Latino or not". Welp because immigration laws and policy in the United States is a very real issue for many Latinos. To see it shamelessly thrown into a movie for a predominantly non-Latino audience is kind of a jerk move. Also, if he doesn't seem out of place, then I think you might believe society is colorblind too.
Two clearly Latino men discussing the deets with Matt Damon
2. Technology Dues ex Machina hurts more than helps-
The entire time the movie explains the disparity via cool technology and asshole robots. I mean there's even a machine that changes your atomic structure to cure cancer. The efficacy of these machines are astounding. They can comprehend verbal orders, carry out complex tasks and are physically and intelligently smarter. So if this is the case, then why do we see this?
Instead of having robots make robots, we'll just have humans do it for low wages
Honestly if technology is so advanced, then why don't they just have machines do most labor. Especially for something as technical as machine building. Yet you see Matt Damon work in the factory as if it were an assembly line... you know a rote action that could be easily taught to a machine. We could even have some human supervisors (oops I meant white human supervisors, because that's all we see in the movie). Did they expect me to believe that a society that has cured cancer and pretty much lives in complete lackadaisical bliss can't come up with a way to compensate for their poorer citizens? This is never addressed. The movie seems to just want you to believe that this is the new normal and if it isn't happening today, then it will soon. The issue is the technology doesn't align with the policy.
3. We'll give you a bad white character, but we need to distinguish him- Did you notice that the main bad guy has a bit of an accent (unsure if it is Irish or Scottish, but I guarantee you it doesn't sound English. This just continues the racial stratification. You have the latino/people of color community at the bottom rung of importance. Then you have the clearly ethinically distinguished baddie enter into the fray. With Matt Damon as the White anglo saxon savior to save the day.
Verdict: Elysium is fun to watch, but if you're sensitive to this kind of stuff, you might think it's a bit dumb.
No comments:
Post a Comment