Thursday, February 10, 2011

District 9

District 9 accurately depicts corruption and discrimination in our society. It represents concentration camps and apartheid, the aliens being the 'outcast' and the morally corrupt whites and blacks being much like 'nazis' and exploiters. Racism plays a major role in this film, not only by the whites who have no problem tossing aside rights of the aliens, but also the blacks (in District 9) who are constantly using and killing the aliens for weapons.
District 9 is very much a concentration camp in physical and 'psychological' aspects. The aliens are used for experimenting and killed just for the mere fact that they are aliens (and different from 'humans'). I found the main character, Wilkus Van Der Merwe to be much like Oskar Schindler -- both helping and putting his life on the line (although sometimes it was for their own selfish wants and needs) in order to help save and 'free' the aliens (like jews/prisoners).
I found the film to be very interesting, insightful, and inspirational in regards to human rights and overcoming discrimination.

1 comment:

  1. I agree that the references to Apartheid and the Holocaust were very apparent in this movie, however I didn’t know quite what to make of it. When I started to catch on to the political message I initially took it as a joke as it was so blatantly obvious and seemed like somewhat of a ridiculous comparison between a fictional modern day alien movie and such horrifying events in history. The mockumentary style also did not help in trying to take this message seriously. It also seemed ironic to use such racist interactions between the blacks and the aliens during a social commentary on racism. Overall, a good message but strange portrayal in a sarcastic alien movie.

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