Einass Ouali-Alami
Period: 2
Mr. Tejada
Allegory Essay
The goal of Enemy Mine is to create an allegory about racial issues that acknowledges the terrible effects of slavery in America and calls on white people to put aside their prejudice. It still fails to achieve its objective in a number of ways. The Dracs, an alien race, and humanity are at war in the movie over territorial expansion. The Dracs are lifeforms that resemble reptiles; they have tails and are each "both male and female." Willis Davidge, a human fighter pilot, has extreme prejudice and even bloodlust toward the Dracs. Both Davidge and Jeriba, a Drac pilot, crash-land on an unknown planet after engaging in a combat. Davidge makes several attempts to murder Jeriba but is eventually stunned by electricity and taken prisoner by Jeriba. Davidge is harsh and demeaning to Jeriba despite being kept captive by someone who evidently has the ability to harm him. Because of how reckless he was acting, both later events and Davidge's initial perspective were blatantly wrong. Davidge is portrayed by a white actor
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Of course, the movie portrays slavery as being horribly brutal and wicked. The slavery plot supports the racial allegory, both for better and worse reasons. For better, it demonstrates how far Davidge has come in overcoming his prejudice (he almost dies trying to save Zammis), and for worse, it highlights the flawed elements of the allegory. The issue of whether Davidge's rescue of Zammis is a white hero story also has to be addressed. Although Davidge is somewhat also rescuing the other Drac slaves, I wouldn't say that his decision to save a child who he loves is questionable (though they were also brandishing weapons and saving themselves to an extent). However, Davidge's invasion of the facility sparks their liberation and makes it possible for them to travel back to their home