Oh District 9. When I read that we were watching this film in the ASTU100 Syllabus, admittedly, I rolled my eyes. So many people have tried to get me to watch the movie in the past and I am just never intrigued by the opening scenes. I always make excuses after the first 15 minutes such as “I’m just so tired, I need to get to bed” or “Oh my goodness! Do you know what we should do right now? Leave and get ice cream cones!”. Or worst of them all, intentionally just allowing myself to fall into a deep slumber right there on the couch in the living room to avoid watching the rest of what I knew had to be a terrible film.
The last person who tried to make me watch this film was my ex-boyfriend who told me it was his favourite movie. (I was super tired that night, so we were unable to finish it). Coming to class and to watch District 9 this week truly left a sour taste in my mouth. All I could think about was him and I didn’t want to go to class and subject myself to the memories of our relationship and the breakup.
I decided to grow up and not let my love life (or lack there of) interfere with my education. Although unsure how this horrible movie could possibly relate to ASTU100, I watched it.
To my surprise, I found that it connected to a lot of subjects that we have discussed in ASTU and even my other courses in Law and Society.
I’ll admit that I watched the second half of the movie at home and once I felt that it was no longer relating to Human Rights, Social Justice, or Government, I took a couple of power snoozes until it was over.
I didn’t enjoy the entire film, but paying attention to the beginning scenes which I had ignored so many times before really struck my interest and I started making connections to a lot of the things I have learned this semester. I’m looking forward to more class discussion over the film and I hope we do some writing about the issues that come up in the beginning of the film.
So let me conclude:
Has the experience of District 9 and ASTU100 taught me a lesson?
Yes
What did I learn?
1. “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. Maybe I should give more films a chance. When so many close people to me love it, maybe it’s actually alright.
2. Don’t let a broken heart interfere with my education. He’s not worth it.
3. Trust that our assignments will somehow connect to the program we are enrolled in. H-Latimer knows what’s up.
3. Write a better blog for the next posting.