District 9 is a mockumentary that covers the story of extraterrestrial aliens in South Africa and their relationship with humans. It all began when a strange alien ship stopped over Johannesburg. Personally I’m glad it didn’t stop in New York or Chicago or any other place most would expect it to. It makes it seem less likely that the aliens came to invade Earth. Technically, humans invaded the alien space ship. What they found however, defied their expectations. On board the ship were multitudes of malnourished aliens. They were taken, nursed back to health, and given shelter. However, the shelter they were given was absolute trash and prejudice ensued.
I believe the message in District 9 is about xenophobia, exploitation, and colonialism The biggest case for this is the life of the main character Wickus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) before and after his transformation. It is ironic because he was formerly in charge of evicting the aliens (also known as Prauns), but then he is exposed to a liquid which slowly transformed him into a Praun. Once he begins his transformation, he begins to feel the same unfair treatment the Prauns were given. The prejudices and mistreatment becomes especially evident as Wickus witnesses first-hand what he had been contributing to.
A couple of things I like about this film are the use of extraterrestrial aliens as aliens from a legal standpoint. It makes things very clear-cut. It shows how in society, foreigners are feared, but exploited. All throughout this has been the case. Every single colonial power has gone to a foreign territory and exploited the “aliens” for personal benefit. However in District 9, rather than humans exploring a foreign territory, the aliens come to the humans and are then exploited by them. This flips the typical alien-thriller movie where the “evil aliens” come and take over the earth completely on its head. In District 9, humans essentially are the “evil aliens” who take over.
I love the way that you referred to the humans as the "evil aliens." That's something I hadn't even thought about. It's true that you always see aliens as the evil ones who come to earth to eat our organs or steal something from us, but in this movie's case, the humans are the ones who are using the aliens. We used them to try to use their weapons and some people used them to make money.
ReplyDeleteIt's a prime example of how people fear the unknown and the different. Humans feared the aliens when, in actuality, they had no reason to. The aliens were helpless and somewhat needed our help. When we extended our help to them it ended up in the government exploiting them.
Eventually, Wickus feels firsthand what he had been doing to the aliens.
At first, their shelter was pretty good. Volunteers helped and gave them food and as you said, nursed them back to help. It was only after the government and military took over the shelters that they became trash.
Daniel, I really like your point that humans are the “evil aliens” invading, rather than the common alternative. This was a very peculiar film that takes a spin on the normal alien movies. Rather then the aliens attacking us, its us attacking and exploiting the aliens technology and weaponry. To be honest, as I mentioned in my blog, this film has been said to not have much relevance today due to how far we’ve come concerning the rights of others. Earth is not perfect yet and South Africa is a prime example. Those shacks we are shown that the prawns are forced to live in are real and the South African government still has people living in them. This film really shows us how humans mistreat people that are different. I stated similar things in my blog concerning colonialism as well concerning the Dutch Africans and the South Africans themselves. Both people hate each other because of apartheid and have no problem making it known, this is where our problem no doubt lies.
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