District 9: Lens-Driven Analysis - Movie Review Example

District 9: Lens-Driven Analysis The film District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp is packaged as a science fictionmovie with captivating action-packed scenes of alien invasion and the resultant problematic relations and conflicts with humans. The movie captivates, shocks, and interests in its capacity to represent feelings, reactions, and tensions in ways that capture the unease between the aliens and their human hosts. However, in light of Cohen’s story Monster Culture, it is possible to perceive this story as a metaphor of racism. There is a way in which the aliens are represented as belonging to some inferior race that must be conquered and subdued (Cohen 2). The negative qualities attached to racism are captured in ways that are consistent with the negative racial stereotypes that often feature within the discourses. The horrifying spectacle of Wikus gradual transformation into an extraterrestrial remains one of the most memorable scenes in the film District 9, (Blomkamp). This film appears to critique the superficial notions of difference that set one race against the other, a community against its neighbor and groups against each other. The film mocks at the presumptions of purity, which foster feelings of seclusion within the false sense of superiority. Although the film focuses primarily on the deep divisions and the seemingly unassailable differences between the aliens and the humans, both categories could be replaced to represent any other groups that are drawn apart by superficial points of difference that are neither sustainable nor logical. However, from some peculiar perspective, this movie could be considered in terms of some narrative against the edifice of racism as reflected in the historical South African apartheid system. In this sense, this film could be interpreted as a metaphor of apartheid. It attacks the psychological tensions that underpinned the distrust and suspicion between the races during one of the darkest era in South African’s history. The director appears to have settled on the South African example to build as a representative case for other racial classifications and other forms of discrimination around the world. The very act of Wikus transformation into a prawn is a symbolic illustration of the porous border of individual identity. The underlying message is that no categories are rigid and identity is temporary while images are deceptive. In this film, the aliens are derogatively referred to as prawns. It is a term that is used to lay emphasis on the systems of difference between the natives as superior beings and aliens as inferior creatures. Various endeavors are attempted with the sole intention of subjugating the aliens. Their appearance is considered in terms of an intrusion in a world of hybrids. There are fears that the aliens might infect the locals with strange diseases. It is partly because of this reason that Wikus transformation is considered as some kind of an STD infection by the aliens. This deliberate and systematic subjugation of the aliens testifies to humanity’s inherent weaknesses, which usually shields them from engaging in any meaningful ventures or associations with people who appear to be different from them. It is within this symbolic illustration that the discourses of discrimination, ethnic balkanization, racial profiling, and gender discrimination have to be understood. One of the most important aspects of this film is that it attends to the discourse of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ from multiple dimensions. For instance, the portrayal of Obesandjo could be understood in terms of a deliberate revisiting of the testy relationships and the psychological divisions, which led the white supremacists to attach qualities of cannibalism to the black native. Obesandjo is brought into the film as a representative of the negative stereotypes that are often lumped on the black race. Obesandjo represents the images of barbarism, violence, and greed, which have often been reserved to the black man in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is also represented as backwards and unable to sustain any logical processes in his mind. His worldview is governed by violence and myths. He believes that by eating Wiku’s hand, he will finally find the means to the ultimate answer to his problems. Cohen argues that the desire to destroy a group or individual must begin with some deliberate misrepresentation of facts about the individual in order to justify any form of ill-treatment. According to Cohen, this trend remains consistent in multiple discourses that are represented within the discourse of racism. Colonialism, racism, and conquest are all dependent on this tendency of converting an opponent into some kind of a monster that must be killed or conquered. In the essay, A Quilt of a Country, Anna Quindlen explores the problematic nature of the American society in terms of its tumultuous past of sharp racial divisions and the underlying psychological strains that affect the racial associations. The survival of the American nation is a mystery, as the country appears to thrive despite of itself. In some sense, the author paints the picture of the American society as some kind of a façade that hides the undercurrents of racial tensions and the subliminal unease by the dominant white race regarding the possibility of minorities gaining power. Such fears are mirrored in the film District 9 as the humans get increasingly suspicious about the return of an emboldened and more powerful alien group. The fear of conquest or of reversal of hierarchies of race is symbolized in the speculations and concerns raised by the humans. By assessing the value of this movie in totality, it is possible to assign the negative elements of civilization to humans for their crude and harsh treatment to the aliens. There is a dramatic reversal of roles in, which the locals pick up qualities of barbarism while the aliens remain principled and dependent on the mercies of their heartless hosts. By completing a near 369 turn of character swap, the film appears to challenge dominant systems about their potential to sink down to levels that are lower than the other groups that they try very strenuously to vilify. The movie effectively moves the center of expression from the presumed dominant and superior groups to a multiplicity of representation where every group retains an equal chance in articulating their own identity and sense of importance on an equal platform. The fascination with the physiological differences of people who do not resemble us is one of the traits on which systems of discrimination are anchored. Many times, this fascination goes beyond mere sentiment towards a practical angle where the superior groups desire to explore the presumed mysteries that underlie the difference in the body of the other. In this film, the transformation of Wikus’ hand into one represents that of the aliens becomes a focal point on the question of identity. In some significant sense, the dual characteristic, which Wikus acquires because of this transformation, is considered as some kind of defilement of the sacred element of culture. On his part, Wikus appears to be at a loss as he is not sure where to place his loyalties. This is because he is not entirely human and neither is he an authentic alien. Out of sheer fascination with the aliens’ bodies, the humans decide to carry out horrific experimentations on the aliens for reasons that range from suspicion to sheer inhumanity. This particular aspect of the movie brings into perspective the value and role of science in human societies. The horrors committed against the aliens in the laboratories are symbolic of some of the modern-day controversial scientific experimentations on human populations, which appear to take humans as some kind of guinea pigs on which to perform trial and error tests. Effectively, the movie calls into question the place of science in the society particularly from a moral point of view. When stretched to another level, Wikus’ seeming loss of authentic identity on either side of the divide might be considered in terms of the discourse of miscegenation. Miscegenation remains a problematic reality that poses challenges of identity and disturbs the clear lines of discrimination, which sustain divisions between races. The destruction of the clear lines of representation appears to be one of the intentions of the director. It is important to consider these facts in light of the stylistic device of metaphors, which have been used extensively in the film to capture the essences of difference, subjugation, and intolerance. This film explored the manner in which the film District 9 represents itself as a metaphor of racism. The film captures the interaction between the aliens and humans as a racial representation of intolerance and systematic subjugation of the other by the self. The film suggests that no positions are fixed and that the fluid nature of reality demands for a back and forth movement, which cannot sustain rigid views or hierarchies. On this matter, some of the issues that could be called into question include the manner in which the film ends with some grey areas. Some parts appear to be inconclusive. For instance, there are no clear suggestions or hints as to the possible fate of humans. There seem to be no means of punishing wrong doers in a manner that might insert some element of poetic justice in the movie. Works Cited Blomkamp, Neill. (Dir). District 9., 2009 (Film). Cohen, Jeffrey, J. Monster Culture, PDF Quindlen, Anna. A Quilt of a Country, PDF Read More