Extraterrestrial Segregation

    District 9 is a thought-provoking film about how humankind handles extraterrestrial life visiting earth. It is exiting and fast-paced, but still touches on deeper topics like segregation, xenophobia, and human nature. The scene is set in Johannesburg, 1982. A large spaceship hovers over the city for weeks, showing no activity. Eventually, the South African government takes it upon themselves to physically cut their way in to learn what was on board. Much to their horror, they find millions of sick and dying aliens living in inhumane conditions. They are quickly moved to District 9, a wired-off area just south of Johannesburg, to live. After 20 years of living there, the population of these aliens, commonly referred to as the derogatory title prawns, has dramatically increased and District 9 has become a shanty town for them. The prawns are manipulated sell valuable possession for cat food, brutally killed for science experiments and much more.

    The plot of the movie tells the story of Wikus van de Merwe slowly turning into a prawn after being exposed to chemicals from their ship. Because of this, he is able to operate the prawn's advanced machinery/weaponry and became the most valuable man in the world. This leads the South African government to send people after him to capture and experiment on him. Partway through his transformation, he meets a prawn named Christopher who is searching for a way to get back to his ship and return home. Christopher tells Wikus that there are machines on his ship that can heal him, so they begin working together. After finally finding a way to get back up to his ship, Christopher tells Wikus that he needs to use all of the fuel to return back to his home planet as fast as possible and make them aware of the injustices that are being imposed on the prawns. He promises to be pack in 3 years, and the movie ends with Wikus as a prawn living in District 9.

    This movie gives some profound insight to segregation, and draws many parallels with Apartheid. In the very beginning, the prawns are portrayed as unintelligent and inferior to humans. This is very similar to the mindset of a majority of the white population towards blacks during Apartheid. The prawn Christopher is a sobering counter to this idea of them being an inertly unintelligent species. His  knowledge of technology, and ability to do work without being noticed by the government is a testimony to this. Also, the movie does a very good job of having the audience follow along with Wikus's journey. In the beginning he treated the prawns very poorly, but the further he changed into one of them the more he sympathized and respected them. Because of this, the further the story progressed, the further the audiences sympathy for the prawns progressed.

    District 9 holds a place in my heart as one of my all-time favorite movies. It does a very good job of mixing entertaining, albeit vulgar, dialogue with serious themes, and an engaging plot. This great blend allows for deeper thinking about segregation and unethical treatment alongside laughing whenever you hear Wikus drop the F-bomb with his thick South African accent. The director, Neill Blomkamp, is a native of Johannesburg South Africa. Despite this, none of his other popular films take place there. There is a potential sequel called District 10 that tells the story of what happens when Christopher comes back 3 years later. I would recommend watching this movie, because it is entertaining and engaging, and if District 10 comes to fruition, it will assuredly be worthy of recommendation.

Scott, A.O.. "A Harsh Hello for Visitors From Space." The New York Times. N.p., 13 Aug. 2009. Web. 19 Dec. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/movies/14district.html>.

Scott, A.O.. "A Harsh Hello for Visitors From Space." The New York Times. N.p., 13 Aug. 2009. Web. 19 Dec. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/movies/14district.html>.


Evan King- A1