Vaultboy

Since you asked so nicely.

Warning people: DONT READ THIS POST IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILERS!!! Its so long, I dont want to add spoiler tags to the whole post.




The title:

District 9 is a play on District 6, which contrary to guy44's interpretation higher up in this thread was not "a real-life ghetto for blacks who were forced to move to a new ghetto so D6 could be demolished." District 6 was a vibrant working-class cosmopolitan area, close to the centre of Cape Town.

The title, however, is more a reference to the history of formalised segregation of South Africa, and merely uses District 6, given its "flagship" nature. The Apartheid government of SA advocated that interracial interaction bred conflict*, and "in the interest of peace", they introduced the Group Areas Act in 1967. The real reason behind this, obviously, was to remove coloured black and indian people from high value land, and relocate them to "Safe distances where they could be out of sight"*. They used propoganda and false legal means to remove the people*. (My grandparents lost their land this way, and were resettled to a dust-bowl 10km away). In District 6, however, the government were met with more vehement opposition than usual, given the cosmopolitan nature. From wikipedia: "They deemed District Six a slum, fit only for clearance, not rehabilitation. They also portrayed the area as crime-ridden and dangerous; they claimed that the district was a vice den, full of immoral activities like gambling, drinking, and prostitution."* THere's still a lot of pain and resentment in people who were disfranchised this way all over the country. A lot of land claims are still outstanding. District 6 is still undeveloped, despite being in the centre of Cape Town (and therefore having astronomical land value).

The descriptions of Prawns as sub-human and "liking to live that way":

Replace "Prawns" with "kaffirs" (the SA equivalent to "niggers"), and you'll get a true reflection of the perceptions some whites, coloureds and indians have towards their countrymen. Blacks (in general) are the poorest of the poor by social engineering. Most of which are illiterate or barely literate because government policy held that "black don't need to read". Decades of labour exploitation have led to most of whom lives below the breadline in squattercamps, like District 9. Most of whom are on low-quality meat diets, same as what the prawns eat - sheeps head, called a "smiley", is a local "delicacy".

THe interracial sex topic also relates to this. In SA an interracial couple is still an anomaly, and in some communities still a taboo.


The criminal behaviour of prawns:

Many people in SA (primarily whites and large amounts of coloureds) believe that blacks are lazy, and little better than animals (although they won't say so publicly), who cannot function in a normal society. The criminal behaviour of prawns is also a reflection of the arbitrariness of violent crime in SA, most of which are committed by blacks: reading a newspaper story of someone dying over a cellphone is not uncommon. There are ~ 18 000 murders in SA every year (population 43 million), and street/public robbery accounts for 66% of all crime. It is a reflex (for all of us) to question every crime in terms of the race of the perpetrator.

THe other side: prawns as intelligent people with feelings, :

Directly aimed at South Africans who believe the abovementioned things about blacks.


The Documentary style:

The style of the movie is typical to that of the SABC, South Africa's public broadcaster, specifically the programme "Special Assignment". Difficult to be specific, but a BBC based docu-drama would have looked different. Blomkamp ( i believe) shot the movie like this because he wanted a "Special Assignment" feel.


THe xenophobic interviewees:

This gave me goosbumps, when I saw the teaser trailer in May. Last year, we experienced violent and disturbing xenophobia against somalians and other north african refugees in South Africa. Before seeign the alien ship in the teaser, I though I was watching a docu-drama on last year's xenophobia. The teaser was brilliant, if you were South African. It undoubtedly would have drawn an emotional response.


The protagonist:

In SA, you get two types of whites: Afrikaners (primarily of Dutch descent) and those of British descent. As someone else mentioned, the character "Van der Merwe" (no first name) is the stereotypical Afrikaner idiot in SA jokes. The thing about the protagosnit, Wikus, was that he also embodies the "eager, Afrikaner well-meaning beaurocrat" to perfection. I myself am a beaurocrat, and I could see so many colleagues in him. Afrikaners are alto typically conservative about family and religion, and Wikus certainly was. He also embodies another Afrikaner trait: that he does not challenge authority. This is why most of the whites who challenged the apartheid government were English, and why it took him such a long time to stand up to Kobus.

The way Wikus spoke to blacks (his colleagues) and prawns are also spot-on to how many white afrikaners speak to their black colleagues and to blacks in unfriendly circumstances.


The antagonist:

Kobus is the other type of Afrikaner I see very often: The racist. Sure you get these okes in every western country, but its not the Kobus I know so well.


The nigerians:

What more can I say? Perfect stereotype. Google "419 scam", to geet a taste of Nigerian organised crime.


Johannesburg:

The gold-mining and economic capitol of our country. A dog-eat-dog place to live, which has bleak, cold (but sunny) winters. The perfect setting for this kind of movie.


There are other things that I cna't recall now - i might post it later, but suffice it to say that issues around race is woven so thickly into the fabric of South Africa, that this movie has a perfect home. Belgium is noted as the most most xenophobic country in the world, but the issues of District 9 are the issues of South Africa - past, present, and possibly future.

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