MovieChat Forums > Mars Attacks! (1996) Discussion > Misunderstanding?

Misunderstanding?

posted 12 years ago by nephihaha
15 replies | jump to latest

While the Martians, once they get going, are pretty "bad-ass"... a few other thoughts...

I'll be accused of taking this too seriously, but bear with me...

* The translator didn't work. That was painfully obvious. Considering what a mess it made of Martian, it probably translated English back into Martian even worse. Note the puzzled expressions of the Martians when they hear the translation.
* Prof Kessler mentions a probe recently sent to Mars. This could be interpreted as a weapon.
* The Martians watch Godzilla, Dukes of Hazzard and other stuff, probably giving them a stilted vision of what Earth is like.
* They hate birds, which is probably why they fried the pigeon, and hate the presidential seal. They probably saw this as hostility.
* When they turn up for the first time on Earth, they're surrounded by tanks, soldiers and generals. All hostile.
* They presumably don't trust the president, because they think he double crossed them.
* When the General salutes, tries to shake hands with them, and draws a circle in the air, they don't know what the hell to make of it. The circle thing could mean a planet etc.

So despite all the crap, they bring over... they could have genuinely come in peace...
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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!

[–] Cobra1986 12 years ago

Okay, here we go lol

1: Yeah, the translator probably did get a lot of things wrong in my opinion. But then again, there's not much to confirm nor deny this.

2: Yes, I didn't think of that. You might be onto something.

3:LOL come to think of it, that is pretty funny.

4:Definitely, the bird confused the aliens.

5:Agreed.

6:Agreed, again.

7:Yeah, this was most likely a lame attempt at communication that in the end...just left the martians thinking "WTF??!"

[–] nephihaha 12 years ago

Yeah, it was interesting... I saw the film nearly fifteen years ago, and just "read" it as Martians want Earth, and attack... but seeing it recently, I thought hey, there is another side of it...

Although the bits where they manouever that big gun behind the old woman, kill the president and wipe out congress are pretty funny, in a sick way...

Besides, it wouldn't have been a fun film if they hadn't attacked, would it? "Mars Comes in Peace" doesn't have the same ring to it...

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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!

[–] MtnMan13 12 years ago

* The translator didn't work. That was painfully obvious. Considering what a mess it made of Martian, it probably translated English back into Martian even worse. Note the puzzled expressions of the Martians when they hear the translation.

I think it is hilariously obvious that the translator worked just fine and that the Martians were just sadistic bastards.

[–] sna1990 12 years ago

"I think it is hilariously obvious that the translator worked just fine and that the Martians were just sadistic bastards."

Yeah. While I do appreciate the original posters analysis ( it's good to be a movie geek eh?) it does seem that the Martians were just *beep* pricks and were going to attack anyway.

[–] nephihaha 12 years ago

"I think it is hilariously obvious that the translator worked just fine"

Is it? The translations it made from Martian were unintelligible gibberish. So if it was doing that one way, then it was probably doing something similar into Martian.

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It's not "sci-fi", it's SF!

[–] deathbunny32 11 years ago

Yeah, the head martian and the other one who brings him the message laugh their asses off when they see them asking for a second chance.

The payoff for slogging through an hour of boring is never worth it.

[–] Henry_Marzini 11 years ago

I've seen this movie dozens of times and I use to think that it was meant to be ambiguous as to whether or not the Martians were always going to attack or it was seeing the dove in the desert that made them attack. I watched this film again recently however and, unless the makers of the film have stated and confirmed that it's ambiguous as to whether they originally came in peace or not, I'm pretty certain the martians were always going to attack.

One of the recurring themes about the martians is that they love tricking people into thinking that they're benign and harmless, then reneging and attacking. They did this ploy a few times throughout the movie.

*They tricked Genral Casey at the desert by claiming they came in peace only to attack him moments later.

*They claimed to show regret for the aforementioned attack and requested to speak to the congress only then to assassinate everyone in the room.

*One of the martians pretened not to be hostile towards Danny DeVito's character only to kill him moments later.

*The Martian ambassador and his soldiers pretended to have negotiated a settlement with the French President only to kill him and his associates after he informed the US president.

*And finally the Martians pretended to be moved by president Dale's "why can't we get along" speech or maybe they were genuinely moved but either way it wasn't enough to save the president and prevent the Martians from killing him.

I think if the Martians didn't see the bird at the desert, and therefore there would be no reason to question their peaceful declaration they probably would have waited until they met the US president and then assassinated him (like they way the killed congress and their failed surreptitious assassination attempt on the president later in the film) but seeing the dove in the desert simply evoked strong feelings of aggression in the Martians that they couldn't control themselves and so they lashed out and killed General Casey and showed how hostile they would be.

Crop Rotation in the 14th century was considerably more widespread after John.

[–] OscarWinner1630 11 years ago

The General did the circle in the air because this is how the Aliens said hello. When the General put out his hand to shake, they were confused as this was NOT how they said hello, they used the circle as seen by them earlier on in the film, "Wow, he just made the international sign of the doughnut." The General realised this and so this is why he quickly changed from handshake to circle. Clearly this was not mistaken for a "planet".

[–] debiler 11 years ago

Well, I don't think that the translator was broken. The Martians were just *beep* trolls.

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I didn't like the Godfather, so what?

[–] Wombstar 11 years ago

The film was based on the cards,, and the Martians and no intention of being 'peaceful' The tag line for the movie was "Nice planet, we'll take it"

Let not for get the audio recoding they kept using "Don't run, we are your friends" while blowing the $hit out of everyone.

I REALLY want to see a sequel "Mars attacks!! Again"

[–] jaynekranc 11 years ago

That was my favorite part. I felt kind of sorry for Brosnan, but I have never seen SJP in anything that I like except this and the First Wives Club, where she was also a whiny ditz.

[–] jaynekranc 11 years ago

I dunno. That one family belonged on the Dukes of Hazzard for sure.

[–] 11 years ago

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