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.
Hi Aiyana, I think this post brings up the point of how our emotions can affect the way we perceive things that are presented to us. As people with feelings, it is very difficult for us to view something like a film from a completely objective standpoint. We always have some preconceived view point in our head that ultimately affects how we see movies. That is why people re-watch funny movies when they are upset.. not necessarily because the movie was so great but because of the rewarding the memories and emotions rewatching it brings back. Our emotional state ( as per your post) obviously alters the meaning which we take from films in particular as it presents a bias. Someone who is feeling down, may look at district 9 a completely different way than someone who is feeling uplifted and energized.
Hey Aiyana! I just wanted to say, that I can definitely understand your hesitance to watch the film in the beginning. I feel like everyone has those one or two of those films- the films that their friends, boyfriend and family all love but they just can’t get into. I was in a similar position as you at the beginning of the movie. I had seen the movie before and I wasn’t particularly fond of it so coming to class to watch the movie seemed like a waste of time. Similarly to you however, after learning more about what the movie represented and the story behind the movie I began to enjoy the movie more. I agree, I’m still not particularly fond of the movie, however I feel that after watching District 9 we both have a better understanding for why the people in our lives seem to like it so much.