This document is a student assignment comparing and contrasting the science fiction movies "Men in Black" and "Avatar". It provides background on the student submitting the assignment, their course and lecturer. The body compares the technologies, genres, and storylines of the two movies. It finds that "Men in Black" uses more advanced but unrealistic technology and has comedic elements, while "Avatar" has more realistic but advanced graphics and romantic scenes. It concludes that while different, both movies fall under the science fiction genre and recommends "Men in Black" for comedy lovers and "Avatar" for those interested in romance.

1. Student: Wong YeongCherng
Student ID: 0313378
Course: FNBE JAN INTAKE 2013
Subject: English 2 – Assignment 2
Lecturer: Mr WoonWai Cheong
Assignment 2: Compare/Contrast Essay

2. Science fiction simply means that the stories often articulate about
science and technology of the future. These stories involve partially fictitious
laws or theories of science. It should not be completely unbelievable, because
it then ventures into the fantasy genre. Science fiction texts include human
elements, explanation for new discoveries, happenings and scientific
developments which will have its effects on us in the future. Ray Bradbury
once said, “I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space
travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and
leave the room.” This quote can be found from “Zen in the Art of Writing” by
Ray Bradbury.
In general, science fiction texts are often set in the future, in space, on
a different world, in a different universe or even dimension. I have chosen two
science fiction’s movie for my essay which are “Men in Black”, and “Avatar”.
“Men in Black” is mainly about an intergalactic terrorist who has arrived on
earth to assassinate two ambassadors from opposing galaxies. “Avatar” on
the other hand depicts of the settings in which humans are mining a precious
mineral called unobtanium on Pandora; which is a lush habitable moon of a
gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. There are several variances
between these two movies, which are the technology, genre of the movie, and
the storyline of the movies.
There are massive differences between the technologies used in these
two movies. For instance, they utilise extraordinary technology in the movie of
Men in Black; with all those gadgets in the movie which cannot be found in
reality. Probably it will be invented in the future? Everything was just so
exaggerated. Conversely, the movie of Avatar does not have such an

3. advance technology, but the graphic of the movie is really good and wonderful!
Especially, the scenes in Pandora, it really amazed me through the graphic of
the movie, it is just like watching a 3D movie but without the glasses.
Besides that, the genre of the movie also differs. What I meant is there
are some hilarious scenes in Men in Black such as, the comical facial
expression of agent J when he first saw an alien; he is very hysterical in the
movie. However, there are no funny scenes in the movie of Avatar but it has
some sad yet romantic scenes in it. For example, the scenes in which Jake
begins to interact with the native tribe and quickly find himself in love with the
beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless colonel moves forward with his ruthless
extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand and fight back in an
epic battle for the fate of Pandora.
Furthermore, the storyline for both movies is totally different. The movie
Men in Black is talking about the two agents who find themselves in the
middle of the deadly plot by an intergalactic terrorist who has arrived on earth
to assassinate two ambassadors of opposing galaxies. In order to prevent the
world from colliding, the MIB must track down the terrorist and prevent the
destruction of earth. While Avatar is mainly about Marine Jake Sully who
decides to take place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. Then, he
learns about the greediness of corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge’s
intentions of driving off the native humanoid “Na’vi” in order to mine for the
precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland and so on.
In conclusion, these two movies are totally different comparing the
technology used, the genre of the movie, however both movies are still

4. counted as a science fiction movie as well as the storyline of the movie. Thus,
I would like to suggest you to watch Men in black if you are person who likes a
good laugh. Conversely, if you are person who like romance and touching
movies, Avatar is the best choice.

5. Reference
1. Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing online at:
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/science-fiction
2. http://www.readwritethink.org Accessed September 25 2013.
3. http://grupo731.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/langan-college-writingskills-with-readings-7th-ed.pdf Accessed September 25 2013.