District 9 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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By KurtFF8
#13133205
District 9 is the new Hollywood-style blockbuster which serves as a commentary on race and apartheid. Already there are many reviews popping up about the significant problems with the film's efforts, and I happen to agree: there are significant problems.

Firstly, let's take a look at the aims of the film. It is obviously an attempt to portray the aliens who are effective refugees in South Africa as an oppressed people that is meant to draw various parallels (most obviously apartheid South Africa, the people of Palestine, etc.) The film takes a firm stance against this treatment here, with the oppression of the aliens being constantly displayed and dealt with. It even shows the problems of the profit motive (trying to get alien technology at the expense of the well being of the aliens as a whole) operating in the oppression of the aliens. The population of Johannesburg is united against the aliens to demonstrate the divisions that take place when a population is effectively "othered" and the "racism" against the aliens is quite penetrating throughout human society (the film again takes a stance against this here).

The opening of the film details an attempt to forcibly relocate the alien population to a new camp further outside of Johannesburg that largely fails. The attempt to relocate fails for various reasons (such as ignorance of how to communicate with the alien population effectively).

While the film itself attempts to tackle these issues, it falls quite short in its own project. There are quite a few problems it runs into. One of the more obvious examples of this that has been pointed out by quite a few people already is the presence of the Nigerian gangs operating within District 9 (the alien refugee camp). The problems here seem to be quite glaring. The Nigerian gang element in District 9 is portrayed as brutal, wild, full of witchcraft and superstition, and almost uncompromisingly antagonistic. The problem with this doesn't lie simply in this terrible portrayal itself, but that this is the main black group portrayed in the film itself. It also comes from a very old ideological conception of the blacks of Africa: exotic, wild, mysterious, and dangerous. This exoticizing is problematic not only because it takes place in the film itself, but that it is taking place in a film that is an effort to combat the very kind of racism we see popping up here. It would certainly be problematic to see this in a "normal" Hollywood-style blockbuster but not in a film like this that is made to be a progressive attempt to fight and point out racism itself. It's just strange how the writers couldn't have noticed this in their overall project.


Another problem with the film that I had (that may not be accepted as a problem by others) was the role of the main protagonist, Wikus van der Merwe. He begins as a seemingly naive character who is unaware that his actions and preconceptions of the aliens are racist/problematic and as the film goes on he is sprayed with a chemical that begins to transform him into an alien. At first he of course tries to reject his new "alienism" and eventually MNU (the main corporate interest in the film that is mainly in charge of dealing with Human-Alien affairs) attempts to kill him to harvest his body for weapon research. He then becomes a fugitive and is eventually forced to take shelter in District 9 with the aliens where he runs into an alien who he previously tried to evict from his home. He then discovers that that particular alien, Christopher, has been working on a small alien craft that would return the aliens back to the main mother ship so they could leave Earth. Christopher promises Merwe that he can reverse the transformation from human to alien if he can return to the alien mother ship. This is what motivates Merwe throughout the rest of the film: returning to his pure human form, not any sort of new found compassion for the aliens. As a matter of fact, any sort of new found compassion for the aliens seems to be motivated solely by his own motives to return to being a human. As the film progresses, Christopher informs Merwe that it will take three years to return him to human form which makes Merwe betray Christopher and attempt to fly to the mother ship himself. After a failed attempt at getting to the mother ship, Merwe is portrayed as being selfish and almost losing his life as a result when Christopher's alien son saves Merwe. After a few events unfold, Merwe decides to save Christopher who is put in a near death situation, and they decide to work together for the rest of the film to get Christopher to the mother ship. At this point, it required Merwe's decision to accept the aliens for the aliens to succeed to any capacity. This may not seem like a "white man's burden" to anyone else but to me it certainly at least seems to be partially motivating in this particular plot device. Also Merwe's betrayal was never sufficiently dealt with, along with the fact that it wasn't the alien's own drive to help give an opportunity to liberate themselves, but Merwe's own personal decision. That to me is quite problematic.

Another minor point of contention I had with the film was the role of Multi-National United (MNU). It is clear that it is portrayed as an exploiting corporate entity (perhaps even a corporation itself, it's not quite clear) and is the main exploiting/oppressive force of the film. My problem with it is that the profit motive behind their actions is only hinted at and not really dealt with too much throughout the rest of the film. Since they are essentially the main protagonist of the film, it seems to me that their role should have been critically analyzed by the film itself, especially a film that is supposed to be taking itself as a serious social commentary.

Despite its various problems, the media seems to be praising it for its progressiveness amongst other things. It certainly does have its positive points (for example MNU is indeed portrayed as an "evil profit seeking entity") and the relocation of the aliens is valuable commentary. But we should still critically analize any film that attempts to make such a commentary, especially if it falls short of its own goals.
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By Vmax
#13156966
Don't be so damn miserable. It's film there for entertainment. It's not trying to portray realism. It may not be everyone cuppa but I liked it....And for once no mention of America.woohoo!
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By KurtFF8
#13167370
The idea that any film is "just a film" ignores the fact that films aren't made in an ideological/social/political vacuum.

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