The
sky is inhabited by a large alien spacecraft. Suspended above Johannesburg,
South Africa, for about 20 years, the craft originally contained an alien race
which now resides in a poor slum called District 9. Initially meant to be a
temporary holding place for the alien species, called “prawns,” fencing was
soon built around District 9 and then became highly militarized so the prawns can’t
escape. From the condition of District 9, it is clear that the prawns are not
getting the same opportunities and resources as humans. The prawns are often
seen as being mistreated and there is even a scene in which prawn eggs are
burned. The plot of the movie is set in present day and revolves around a man
who is slowly turning into a prawn himself after being sprayed by a black fluid
in District 9. The same black fluid is then taken by the military along with the man. The man,
who goes by the name of Wikus, is initially experimented upon by scientists
until he manages to escape. With the military after him he soon takes refuge in
District 9. The prawn who was involved in making the black fluid explains that
it was essential for operating the mother ship. So to retrieve it, Wikus and
the prawn obtain weapons from a Nigerian gang and infiltrate the military
headquarters. With the fluid received and the military scrambling to take it
back, the prawn who was with Wikus explains that the cure will only be
available in 3 years. In the end the prawn takes the mother ship away and Wikus
fully transforms into a prawn.
District 9 serves as a good metaphor for the period of apartheid in South Africa. The relationship between humans and prawns shows a clear correlation in the relationship between blacks and whites in South Africa during that time period. The mistreatment and containment of prawns shows the human mentality that the alien race is inferior to the human race. Same as in apartheid, in which the white South Africans believed that the natives were inferior in every way. Prawns can also be compared to pests. In the human world pests are seen as a negative aspect of life that needs to be eliminated and as these prawns relate directly to the black natives, it shows that white people want to eliminate these pests, or in other words, the natives.
Personally the movie represented a bigger idea for me than just aliens being treated unfairly. While the movie had a clear correlation to apartheid I feel as if the ending of apartheid wasn't the movie’s biggest focus. Rather the movie puts the most emphasis on the conditions during apartheid and how a man worked so hard not to become part of the inferior race. In my opinion the movie didn't really emphasize the importance of giving the prawns or the “inferior” race equal rights as the humans or white people. It didn't really show a fight for the abolition of “apartheid” as in the end of the movie all the prawns were still pretty much living in the same terrible conditions they started with. The main thing that I am wondering about the prawns is that the movie portrayed them to be able to use superior technology to human. Throughout the movie, scientists are shown trying to figure out how to use the advanced alien weaponry. If the aliens were so advanced why didn't they fight back? It seemed as if the “inferior” race was content with living in the poor conditions.
Overall District 9 was a
pretty well-made movie. The movie definitely has my recommendation as it
represented apartheid in a whole new light. It represented the native black
Africans as something entirely different from the human race. In my opinion it
kind of put the viewer in the position of white people during apartheid.
However in terms of how it was represented during the movie, it made the
experience much more realistic even though it was through the use of humans and
aliens. To sum it all up the movie District 9 served as a good metaphor for the
era of apartheid through the use of aliens as the “inferior” race and the
humans as the superior race.
Vincent E. 2A
I enjoyed reading this essay! I thought it was a good analysis of the movie, and you related it well to apartheid. As far as constructive criticism, I'd like to know more about your thought about how the inferior race seemed content with their situation.
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ReplyDeleteI liked this review. I really wanted to watch this movie from the start but I gave it away because I wanted to do someone else. This movie sounds really good from how you're describing it. I liked the way you compared the movie's conflict with South Africa's apartheid; it made me understand the story even better and the way you compared it was very clear. As for errors, I didn't see any because the review was really engaging in my opinion. I would like to ask if there were different districts other than district 9 and if there were, would there be a district 13?
ReplyDeleteI think this movie sounds really interesting. It is really intriguing to view apartheid in this light. It really exaggerated inequalities and showed how separated people really were under the apartheid system. I think this movie is a great way to show the effects of apartheid, but dressed up as an action/sci-fi movie. This was a really creative idea, to demonstrate the social and ethical impacts of apartheid through a medium that would intrigue normal people. Because most people enjoy entertainment a lot more than news, or non fiction writing, this movie provides a great alternative way to learn about the apartheid system.
ReplyDeleteI think that you did a great job describing the plot of the story. Your plot summary made it really easy to understand the ins and outs of the movie. It made it really easy for people who haven't seen the movie, such as my self, to understand what was going on and how the aliens were being treated. I also liked how you simply and directly stated the correlation between the movie and Apartheid. You did a really good job describing how in both the movie and real life, the prawns and humans were considered inferior and forced to live in terrible conditions. If I could add one piece of constructive criticism, it would be to add more of your own opinion. By reading the author's opinion, it makes it much easier to form your own opinions. As a reader, I would also like to know more about the similarities of the conditions that both the prawns and native African people were living in. I would really like to see these similarities more in depth.
- Jack M.
I really enjoyed reading this blog. He was very specific on his opinions and had good questions. I think it's cool how they're comparing an alien invasion to apartheid, because in a sense it's very true. He was able to write a very clear and vivid summary of the movie. I’ve never seen District 9, but from his description, I think it would be a movie that I would enjoy watching. The only negative thing I have to say about this is that I think he didn’t talk a lot about how District 9 and Apartheid compare. Other than that, it was great!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog post. You really capture the movie and it's correlation to apartheid. The details and imagery you used really let me see a picture in my head of what's happening in the movie. I have only seen district 9 one time, so I don't creator remember all that happens. You explained the movie, then showed how it directly correlated with apartheid. I liked how you said that you don't think it's main focus was on apartheid ending but that it was on the conditions during apartheid.
ReplyDeleteAbove is Luke M.
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