District 9 and Aparthied

District 9 and Apartheid

Bryant Liles

2/A

District 9 is a first person documentary themed film focusing on the adventure of a South African government worker that becomes exposed to a toxin that transforms him into a “Prawn”- an alien species that landed their ship over Johannesburg, South Africa some 20 years ago and is being oppressed in the same fashion that the natives overcame in South African apartheid.

In the beginning of the movie it shows the conditions that the prawn have been left to for the 20 years they have been marooned on planet earth. The viewer is introduced to the conditions that the prawn were put under as the main character (Wikus van der Merwe) canvases all the residents serving eviction notices to move them all to a larger holding camp. We see that the prawns are in the exact same setting as the natives, living in shanty towns and high poverty.

You see that there is a system of crime woven into the district complete with black market trading of guns, prostitution, and food. Just like in what we have seen in the shanty towns of apartheid many of the residents of district 9 are resorting to organized crime as a way of life because there are little opportunities for residents because they are not allowed to leave the area.

One thing we see in one scene however that is more extreme than what we see in the real world example is the inhumane resorts of birth control for the Prawns. Wikus van der Merwer in his canvassing comes across a breeding building for the young of the Prawn. Once discovered the establishment was quickly burned to the ground and aborting all the young in the process. Luckily there was no evidence of such behavior in the real world.

After looking at the overall situational differences I started analyzing the behavior of Wikus van der Merwe. Before he starts canvassing the District 9 the documentary covers his daily life and all of his relatives including his wife. When watching you develop a base reading of Wikus van der Merwe but once he is dealing with the Prawn face to face it is a completely different story. He first seems like a government worker who is working for the Prawns’ best interests. Once dealing with them his character shifts entirely. He is short tempered and somewhat violent. This is pretty surprising because there is so much indicating that he is kind and harmless. In fact the camps that they were planning on transporting the Prawns to he says later on in the film are much more cramped than current conditions.

This I think accounts for the racism that was experienced by the two different races during apartheid. There is a hostility between the two people I believe it to be because of the conditions both the natives and prawns faced.

Fortunately the Wikus van der Merwe finally sees the injustices and the struggles of being the oppressed entity because he is turned into a Prawn by a mysterious black liquid developed by a Prawn scientist to power a getaway ship.

Even though this contains a good deal of spoilers I encourage you to see it because it is a great way of touching on a social issue while adding a suspenseful sci fi action flick.

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http://nyti.ms/1bQYceJ

SCOTT, A. O. "A Harsh Hello for Visitors From Space." The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/movies/14district.html?_r=0#>.

Ebert, Roger. "District 9." All Content. Rogerebert.com, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. <http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/district-9-2009>.