this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2025
244 points (98.4% liked)

movies

2414 readers
403 users here now

A community about movies and cinema.

Related communities:

Rules

  1. Be civil
  2. No discrimination or prejudice of any kind
  3. Do not spam
  4. Stay on topic
  5. These rules will evolve as this community grows

No posts or comments will be removed without an explanation from mods.

founded 10 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] CannonFodder@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Logically, any colonizer will only proceed if they out gun the natives. Otherwise it's not colonization, but war. And even then in war, the attacker usually figures they have a significant advantage, or else they wouldn't attack.

[–] Nalivai@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

As if colonisers are in possession of perfect knowledge and logic.
Plenty of stories of wannabe colonisers eating shit because they underestimated natives, if the " historical realism" for some reason is important in a story about blue space aliens, draw inspiration from that why don't you

[–] CannonFodder@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Isn't that pretty much how all fiction stories of these type actually play out? Much more than in reality, sadly.

[–] DoPeopleLookHere@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Its fantasy, what does logic have to do anything with it?

Like it really comes across as "we can suspend reality, but so long as it's still racist like us"

[–] CannonFodder@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well sure. But even fantasy needs to have internal logic to some degree of it gets stupid. If some colonizer attempt came and attacked, and the natives just wiped them out with superior tech, not only would it be unbelievable, but it would be a boring story. We can have the natives eventually victorious and avoid the 'white guy saviour' trope which certainly sucks. But for a good storey, they have to be the underdogs.

[–] DoPeopleLookHere@sh.itjust.works -2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If you can't tell a story without basing it off of racist stereotypes, maybe it's a story that doesn't need to be told....

[–] CannonFodder@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago

Does it have to be racist? Societies progress in different directions, and when they collide it magnifies this. In the trope where white guys come is with bigger fire power, usually the natives win in the end based on spiritual superiority. Not a bad message really. And in fantasy, the 'races' are arbitrary. In avatar, if the corporation was all black people and the aliens looked very white, would it change the story?