Things In District 9 You Notice After Watching More Than Once
Forced abortions, manipulating tenants, and human experimentation? Rewatching "District 9" might have you questioning who the real monsters of the film are.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Forced abortions, manipulating tenants, and human experimentation, re-watching District
00:069 might make you question who the real monsters of the film are.
00:10After watching District 9 a few times, you may notice that the aliens have a variety
00:14of contrasting colors painted on their bodies.
00:17At the end of a Q&A session led by Adam Savage at a screening of the film, an audience member
00:22asked if there was any significance to the variation in color displayed on the aliens'
00:26bodies.
00:27The panelist, Neil Blomkamp, said that the variation does not imply a difference in heritage
00:31or social standing within their alien society.
00:34Although the colors have no significance regarding the prawn's social organization, you may have
00:38noticed they sport the Pan-African colors of red, gold, and green.
00:43While Christopher Johnson has a green hue, his friend who was killed at the beginning
00:47of the film has a yellow hue, and other aliens throughout the film have red hues.
00:51Using these particular colors, which appear on the flags of many African nations, could
00:55be a message promoting a more unified African identity to combat xenophobia and discrimination
01:01against refugees from various African countries.
01:04At the end of his Q&A with Savage, Blomkamp confirms that the villainous organization
01:09Multinational United, or MNU, stamps the aliens in District 9 with a serial number to identify
01:15them.
01:16In several scenes, Christopher can be seen with a white, property of MNU stamp on his
01:20head with a number next to it.
01:22This serial number creates a visual parallel between MNU's treatment of the aliens, chattel
01:27slavery in the United States, and the Jewish people imprisoned at Auschwitz during the
01:31Holocaust.
01:32It is clear MNU isn't just using serial numbers to identify the aliens living in District
01:379, but that the organization views the aliens as property rather than refugees living in
01:42a settlement.
01:43The aliens are regarded as something less than human.
01:46The stamp on their heads emphasizes this attitude, as does the derogatory slur prawn, used by
01:52Johannesburg residents to refer to the aliens.
01:55The links to Nazi Germany's treatment of Jewish residents are also echoed later in the film,
02:00when Vickers tells Christopher he shouldn't go to District 10.
02:02You don't want to go to the tents, they're not better.
02:05They're smaller than the shacks, actually more like a concentration camp."
02:09One of the first truly disturbing scenes in District 9, which highlights the social commentary
02:13in the film, depicts Vickers conducting what he calls an abortion of gestating alien offspring.
02:19Vickers even provides commentary for the film crew while the shack burns, saying,
02:23"...you hear that?
02:24You hear that?
02:25That's a popping sound that you're hearing.
02:26It's almost like a popcorn.
02:27What the egg does is it pops up."
02:31Shortly after the nursery shack is burned, we learn killing alien children is illegal,
02:36but apparently performing prawn abortions is simply an MNU policy that Vickers embraces.
02:42As pointed out in an analysis by The Artifice, although Vickers follows direct protocol,
02:47he fails to recognize that he's exterminating a species.
02:50Vickers displays no remorse towards his actions, suggesting that he's adapted to the government's
02:55policies.
02:56This disturbing scene draws a correlation between the film and historical instances
03:00of forced sterilization as a means of population control for people of color in South Africa
03:06both during and after apartheid.
03:08Sadly, real-world South Africa and the South Africa depicted in District 9 are not unique
03:13in this shockingly inhumane behavior.
03:16Forced sterilization and eugenics programs have also been practiced in the U.S. on BIPOC
03:21populations as recently as the 20th century.
03:25Vickers employs manipulative methods to extract signatures from the aliens that are being
03:29evicted from District 9.
03:31MNU determine that they must inform the aliens of their eviction 24 hours before they are
03:36moved, and they must sign paperwork acknowledging they were informed of their relocation to
03:40District 10.
03:41Vickers tricks one alien into signing by claiming that they will receive a can of cat food,
03:45a delicacy in District 9, in exchange for their signature.
03:49He also uses the discovery of illegal weapons in their residence, which marks them as gang
03:53members and criminals, to speed up the eviction process.
03:57When Christopher says he won't sign the paperwork because the eviction is illegal, Vickers threatens
04:01to take away his son, CJ.
04:03He uses the excuse that the garbage around the shack makes the residence unsuitable for
04:08CJ to live in, and that he is legally obligated to take CJ to social services.
04:12You said you want to stay?
04:14Your boy is coming down with me to child services.
04:16He's going to spend the rest of his life in a one-by-one meter box."
04:20In District 9, the foster care system has been weaponized against the impoverished aliens.
04:25This mirrors similar events that transpired in the United States, such as the separation
04:29of many native children from their family homes by the government and religious organizations.
04:35In District 9, Johannesburg residents regard the aliens as violent criminals and aimless
04:39scavengers.
04:40According to Human Rights Watch, undocumented individuals living in South Africa in 2008
04:46suffered from similarly xenophobic violence, poverty, crime, and unemployment.
04:51Alive in Joburg, Blomkamp's 2005 mockumentary short that inspired District 9 features interviews
04:58taken from real Johannesburg residents speaking about immigrants.
05:02These interviews highlight the poor attitudes about refugees and migrants in South Africa.
05:07In a press release, Blomkamp said,
05:09In essence, there is no difference except that in my film we have a group of intergalactic
05:13aliens as opposed to illegal aliens.
05:16After Vikas gets infected with an alien fluid that begins transforming him, he begins to
05:20adopt the same criminal behaviors he holds against aliens in District 9, not because
05:25he is becoming a prawn, but because he has become ostracized and impoverished overnight.
05:30He engages in violence to escape the MNU medical facility, and steals clothing, a cell phone,
05:37and food after escaping because he has no other choice.
05:40The aliens aren't mindless drones, as the interviewees in the mockumentary suggest.
05:44They are refugees who lost their social structure and were imprisoned in a camp that controls
05:49their ability to live and perpetuates their poverty.
05:52These are issues real-life refugees must contend with while living in refugee encampments every
05:57day.
05:58So we have to come there and say, listen, this is our land, please, will you go?"
06:04Vikas' statement at the beginning of District 9 sounds strikingly similar to what the U.S.
06:08government told the indigenous population of North America when President Andrew Jackson
06:13signed the Indian Removal Act, inciting a massive forced relocation of Native people
06:18from their ancestral homes.
06:20The forced relocation of District 9 also has ties to South African history.
06:25According to the South African History Archive, in 1966, District 6 was deemed a whites-only
06:30district by the 1950 Group Areas Act.
06:34In 1968, 60,000 residents of District 6 were forced to relocate because they were black
06:40or biracial.
06:41Their homes were demolished, and a new whites-only district was built in their place.
06:46In his Q&A with Adam Savage, Blomkamp spoke about how the neighborhood where he filmed
06:50District 9 was undergoing a forced relocation of residents to government-subsized housing
06:55while the movie was being filmed.
06:57The area's called Shiawelo, and Blomkamp said the neighborhood was severely impoverished.
07:02In fact, the shacks depicted in the film were once the actual homes of Shiawelo residents
07:07before their relocation.
07:09Although District 9 has been lauded for its anti-racism stance, it has also been criticized
07:14for the depiction of the Nigerian residents of District 9 who earn a living off the aliens,
07:19leaving critics and academics divided.
07:21The Mail and Guardian points out that, although the film succeeded in eventually making the
07:25audience sympathize with the aliens, the Nigerian characters in the film were depicted as being
07:30entirely reprehensible.
07:32You don't want to play with these boys.
07:34They'll cut you in four pieces when they put you on this side of…
07:38That's the boss there.
07:39Okay, no problem!"
07:41In the Adam Savage Q&A, Blomkamp acknowledged he was almost banned from Nigeria because
07:46of the controversy surrounding the negative depiction of Nigerians in the film.
07:50The prawns and Nigerians act as fictional stand-ins for real-world refugees and migrants
07:55who came to South Africa for a better life, only to meet resentment by indigenous and
08:00European South Africans.
08:02In her academic paper, Ashton Kirsten argues the director uses these stereotypes to uncover
08:07misguided nationalism and change our assumptions about immigrants.
08:11Of course, these negative attitudes about immigrants are not unique to South Africa.
08:15We need only look to the U.S. to see a long history of anti-immigrant sentiment that has
08:20caused incredible harm to countless individuals and cultures.
08:24Unlike many going-native stories, District 9 isn't about a man who discovers the beauty
08:29in another culture and embraces it like Jake Sully in Avatar or Lieutenant Dunbar in Dancers
08:34with Wolves.
08:35Instead, Vickas is forced to see the humanity in an alien species only after transforming
08:40into a prawn himself.
08:42The utter disgust Vickas displayed when he sees his injured arm has transformed into
08:46a prawn arm reveals his racism toward the aliens.
08:49Vickas denies his transformation, telling CJ they are nothing alike when the tiny alien
08:54compares their matching arms.
08:56Eventually, Vickas' transformation is too complete for him to continue denying it, and
09:01he finally sees humanity in Christopher and his son CJ.
09:05After this realization, Vickas treats the aliens with compassion, rather than being
09:09driven solely by self-interest.
09:11In his academic paper, Laszlo Szabo writes,
09:14"...in District 9, body horror becomes a medium for dehumanization that further stresses the
09:19inhumanity of the colonizers."
09:21Vickas' transformation into an alien forces him to confront the inherent racism of his
09:25culture and the self-loathing he feels as he transforms as a poignant depiction of internalized
09:31racism.
09:32When Vickas becomes a science experiment at the MNU Medical Laboratory, he is forced to
09:37fire alien weapons and even kill an unwitting prawn in a particularly upsetting chain of
09:42events.
09:43After MNU's tests are run, Vickas is faced with a choice — submit to the agency by
09:48having his organs fatally harvested for medical research, or use his newfound alien strength
09:53to escape.
09:54During their raid to retrieve the rocket fuel responsible for Vickas' transformation, Christopher
09:59sees the experiments being carried out on his people at the MNU Medical Laboratory.
10:03His horror is made clear by his dejected stance as he hangs his head and stares at the corpses
10:08of aliens with the intense firefight between Vickas and MNU soldiers raging in the background.
10:14This history of experimenting on prisoners is broad.
10:17The Nazis experimented on Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust, and during World War
10:22II, the Japanese experimented on Chinese prisoners in Unit 731.
10:27This history of unethical experimentation also exists in South Africa.
10:31According to PBS, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission uncovered details of the chemical
10:36and biological warfare programs run by South Africa's apartheid-era government, which specifically
10:41targeted the non-white population.
10:44Discover magazine also exposed a long history of unethical experiments on oppressed populations
10:49in the U.S.
10:50From the Tuskegee syphilis study and the CIA's MKUltra studies, to a dermatologist's use
10:55of prisoners as test subjects in the mid-1950s.
10:59Discussing his thoughts on District 9, producer Peter Jackson told Entertainment Weekly,
11:04"...it's an utterly original film.
11:06In an industry that's looking to make movies out of every obscure TV show or sequels or
11:11video games, you look at District 9 and it's unlike anything you've ever seen before."
11:16While this statement is 100% true, and District 9 is undeniably inventive, it is also a love
11:22letter to sci-fi, the genre Blomkamp grew up obsessing over.
11:26As Empire acknowledged in their District 9 review, the film is a treasure trove of references
11:31to sci-fi classics like Alien Nation, The Fly, and Robocop.
11:35For example, the suit Vickers wears to battle the MNU soldiers in the film's final confrontation
11:40is a not-so-subtle homage to the mech suits in Robocop.
11:44The director essentially confirmed this in an interview with First Showing, saying that
11:48Robocop was one movie that strongly influenced him as a filmmaker.
11:53Blomkamp told Time how the combination of his youth steeped in South Africa's turbulent
11:56history and his love of sci-fi came together and inspired him to create a sci-fi set in
12:01South Africa.
12:02The result was a truly unique film that celebrates an unabashed love of a genre while surfing
12:07up satirical social commentary.
12:10At the very end of District 9, we see mockumentary footage of Vickers showing the camera crew
12:14a picture of his wife and telling them she is an angel.
12:17"...my special angel.
12:19She even looks like an angel with her halo."
12:21While the scene acts as a sweet sentiment showcasing Vickers' devotion to his wife,
12:26this line might also be a subtle reference to the halo film project that fell apart before
12:30Blomkamp made District 9.
12:32Although Blomkamp's Halo movie never materialized, a TV adaptation premiered in March 2022 on
12:38Paramount+.
12:39In an interview with First Showing, Blomkamp spoke about how it was only after his live-action
12:44of the Halo video game fell apart that Peter Jackson suggested he develop a feature inspired
12:49by his short film, Alive in Joburg.
12:52That twist of fate allowed Blomkamp to pioneer his own sci-fi franchise.
12:56As reported by SciFiWire, the director has teased the possibility of a sequel periodically
13:00since District 9 hit theaters, even telling an audience at San Diego Comic-Con,
13:05"...it's a very personal film, and it's a universe and a place that I find incredibly creative.
13:11I'd love to go back to that universe."
13:13Blomkamp continues to say he is developing a District 9 sequel.
13:16In 2021, he even hinted to IGN the sequel would more directly address concepts related
13:21to American history.