District 9, South Africa and HBD

Before watching this movie, I was worried that it would just be a simplistic story where humans are bad and aliens are good as in the movie Avatar. But as it turned out, the morality of District 9 is way more complex than Avatar, making District 9 the far superior movie, even though Avatar is far more polished

As usual, it’s impossible to say anything interesting about District 9 without giving away important elements of the movie, and in fact I think the movie would be more fun to watch the first time if you didn’t read this review or any other review, so proceed at your own risk (even though I don't write anything about the main plot or the ending).

District 9 is filmed in South Africa, and the director and screenplay writer is a white South African. He is most likely a liberal white South African who sincerely believes that apartheid was evil and it was correct to end it, yet nevertheless the perspective of a white person living in a majority black country seems to suffuse the movie in a way that would never have happened if this were the typical American movie.

Twenty years before the events in the movie, a huge alien spaceship appeared over Johannesburg (apparently the aliens have some sort of anti-gravity technology because the massively huge spaceship permanently hovers there). After three months in which the ship just hovers there without making any sort of attempt to communicate with the people of Earth, the humans go up to the ship and enter it (the ship hovering low enough so that it can be reached by helicopter), and discover that there are over a million aliens in there, stranded and without food. Being the humanitarians that we are, the aliens are taken down and allowed to settle in a refugee camp outside of Johannesburg.

The aliens are modeled after insects. The premise seems to be that the worker-class was left in the ship, while the “upper echelons” (to use the words of the director in the commentary track) and the “queen” are mysteriously absent. The refugee camp is modeled after the Zimbabwean refugees camps which exist in South Africa. Thus we can assume that the average “prawn” (as the aliens are referred to derogatorily in the movie because of their shrimp-like tentacles) probably has around the same IQ and same future time orientation of the average Zimbabwean refugee, around 75 or so. In other words, the aliens have nothing to contribute to the planet and they are unable to live in harmony with humans. Their refugee camp is a place of filth and squalor, just like Zimbabwean refugee camps, because the prawns lack the intelligence and future time orientation to improve the quality of the place where they live.

Like humans living in refugee camps, the aliens breed and their population is actually expanding. The humans attempt to limit the alien population by “aborting” any alien eggs that they find. No doubt, the writer/director used that word intentionally because it’s so morally loaded to a U.S. audience. But what’s the purpose of allowing the prawns to increase in numbers when they just suck up humanitarian aid and give back nothing in return?

Although the movie does include the standard cliché of the evil corporation which pursues wealth and power at the expense of any sort of morality (they do evil nazi-like experiments on aliens and humans alike), the movie does not in any way suggest that humans and the worker-class of aliens could ever live and work together in peace and harmony, or that the humans are in any way holding back the aliens from reaching their potential. We presume that the upper echelon of aliens had some way to control the workers and make them do labor, similar to the way that rich African whites make the blacks labor in the mines. In fact, it may very well be that the upper echelons intended to uses these worker-aliens as slave labor mining for rare minerals like “unobtanium” (to borrow a word from Avatar) on distant worlds. For all we know, the prawns are better off living in refugee camps than being slaves to the alien management class.

Comments

[Camlost]

From a Neil Blomkamp interview:

"The Nigerian thing is there because I wanted to take as many cues from South Africa as I could. I wanted South Africa to be the inspiration. If I try to keep South Africa as true to South Africa as I could, then, unfortunately, a massive part of the crime that happens in Johannesburg is by the Nigerians there. It's just the way it is. I wanted to have a crime group, and thought the most honest refraction of a crime group would be Nigerians, for one. Then secondly, the Muti, the African witch doctor, is also a huge part of Africa and many African countries. So I wanted to incorporate that as well. At the time I was writing the movie, there were all these tribal witch doctor attacks on Albinos, because Albino flesh was worth more than normal humans. That was the analogy to a different group or a different race, [with their] traditional medicine, or traditional Muti – even cannibalism, in some instances. I incorporated aliens into that. "

http://www.popentertainment.com/blomkamp.htm

[michael vassar]

My summary was that it's a realistic depiction of life because everyone is put in an inescapably awful situation and then proceeds to make it worse by not making the slightest effort figure out what they should be doing.

[Sheila Tone]

I don't remember them aborting *all* eggs, just unlicensed ones. I was disappointed that they didn't get into how they got licenses to reproduce, but some people thought the movie was too bureaucratic as it was.

Yes, a distinct racial group that is unproductive and unintelligent is something an American would never have put in a movie.

[Patrick]

"He is most likely a liberal white South African who sincerely believes that apartheid was evil and it was correct to end it..."

So do you agree or disagree with this sentiment, halfsigma? Your phrasing would suggest the latter. Which is it?

[OneSTDV]

You forgot to mention how awful some of the blacks are portrayed in the movie (though whites are almost as bad). For example, they practice voodoo with the prawns limbs.

Also, aren't the prawns supposed to be much smarter than us? After all, one of the prawns reboots her spaceship all by herself.

[kurt9]

I've not seen this movie, but I read an interview of the director who created it. The aliens are indeed a hive/colony type setup. The intelligence of the aliens is with their "queen" and "technical" class who, for reasons not specified in the movie, died during the voyage, leaving the "worker" class bereft of any direction. This is the reason why the ship came to the Earth to "park" over Johannesburg and why the aliens residing inside it were unable to effect any repairs on the ship's drive unit.

The aliens ended up residing in refugee camps for 20 years, which was the period of time necessary to evolve another queen and technical class.

The aliens are intended by the director to represent the Zimbabwean and other African refugees who have ended up in South African. The movie is a social commentary on the treatment of both white and black South African treatment of those refugees. See, despite how screwed up South Africa might be, both white and black South Africans are apparently more productive than those from the surrounding countries, which is why they continue to stream in as economic refugees even though South Africa itself has many economic troubles.

[Sheila Tone]

"Also, aren't the prawns supposed to be much smarter than us? After all, one of the prawns reboots her spaceship all by herself."

No, that was the *one* survivor from the overclass. Was it supposed to be female?

[DaveinHackensack]

District 9 was a great movie. Saying it wasn't as "polished" as Avatar is sort of like saying that Blade Runner, or the BSG series wasn't as polished as Avatar: it's true, but beside the point. The grittiness was intentional in all three cases.

I also agree that it's better to see the movie without reading any reviews of it first. I'm glad I saw it that way in the theater.

The evil corporation was a little tedious, but the anti-corporate shtick in this case is somewhat tempered by it being basically a contractor of the UN agency set up to deal with the aliens.

Incidentally, another great thing about District 9 was the use of local actors. Not being able to recognize famous actors made the movie better, IMO.

[DaveinHackensack]

"Also, aren't the prawns supposed to be much smarter than us? After all, one of the prawns reboots her spaceship all by herself."

Their technological elite was obviously smarter than us, as they developed much more advanced technology.

"The aliens ended up residing in refugee camps for 20 years, which was the period of time necessary to evolve another queen and technical class."

In the movie, 20 years was the time it took for the one smart alien to synthesize the fuel he needed to reboot the mother ship. It was pretty clear from the movie (without giving away any unnecessary plot points) that this alien was part of the smart class from the beginning.

[DaveinHackensack]

Another, general, thought re South Africa: It's widely acknowledged that they did an impressive job hosting the World Cup. They got their stadiums built on time, transport infrastructure worked fairly well, they kept crime under control, etc. Whether they can build on that in a sustainable way is another question. It is tough reconciling democracy with a high percentage of the population living in poverty.

[Kudzu Bob]

“District 9” demonstrates the enormous potential of sci-fi films and video games to tell subversive, race-realist stories that can resonate with a mass audience, all while being dismissed by the liberal elite as harmless entertainment. This needs more far more attention than it has yet gotten.

[Johnh Vorster]

"lack the intelligence and future time orientation to improve the quality of the place where they live"

or they lack the money, education, and experience

HS still has yet to post on the Redlegs.

[Twain]

"Another, general, thought re South Africa: It's widely acknowledged that they did an impressive job hosting the World Cup. They got their stadiums built on time, transport infrastructure worked fairly well, they kept crime under control, etc. Whether they can build on that in a sustainable way is another question. It is tough reconciling democracy with a high percentage of the population living in poverty."

I think I read somewhere that SA had the Germans come in and help them build the stadiums.

[Twain]

I thought this movie was about immmigration and how aliens displace the native population.

[unlearning genius ...]

You folks act like you are privy to some great as yet publicly unknown truth .. Empirically, all over the world people understand that certain peoples have certain proclivities .. This much everybody understands and acknowledges to themselves and occasionally folklore stereotypes are created.

Liberal folk publicly "pretend" that everybody is equal (which is true because HBD is only statistics and you cannot be certain where exactly the person in front of you stands ... you only have a base rate idea) ..Also, pretending that equality exists hurts the topmost elites the least. It is only middle of the ladder losers like sigma who have to bitch and moan loudly about all possible social inefficiencies because it hurts them.

So being "PC" may sound to you like foolish, but it signals social sense and is a social fitness enhancer. Have all the unpleasant ideas you want, but if you make a loud noise .. you are signalling a lower social standing ..(DLV for you "alpha" folks). Preach equality, gender fairness .. brotherly love and all that crap on the surface .. You will have a lot more people that will "like" you ..

except of course when you are on this blog .. where you go the other way and bask in the fact that even though you as an individual were a loser your race as a whole has done a lot better and is "superior" .. to asians ("high spatial IQ but lower creativity and verbal IQ ") and blacks ("high testosterone savages").

[Twain]

Here's the article on the World Cup help from the Germans.

Germany Helping South Africa With 2010 Soccer World Cup?
By Julio Godoy

BERLIN, Feb 7, 2009 (IPS) - As the building of new soccer stadiums and transport infrastructure in South Africa steams ahead, little seems to have come of the agreed assistance by the host of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Germany, to the 2010 FIFA World Cup host, South Africa.

When last October German head of government Angela Merkel visited South Africa, she and then South African head of state Thabo Mbeki signed an agreement according to which Germany would ‘‘share its knowledge and experience’’ to support South Africa’s organisation of the next FIFA Football World Cup in 2010.

This agreement was based on the impression that Germany, organiser of the 2006 cup, could provide assistance to the South African organising committee and sport authorities to ensure that the event of 2010 be as successful as the previous one.

FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany was indeed a success. Not only were the audiences massive, the event passed practically without any unpleasant incident. And the cup established new standards in environmental protection and organisation.

Therefore, the German cooperation with South Africa could be seen as a guarantee of sorts that the event of 2010 would meet these new standards. However, when asked about what concrete forms this cooperation is taking, the responsible German authorities are either vague or downright mute.

German support for South Africa in this matter has even a name: Horst R. Schmidt, current treasurer at the National Football Federation (DFB, after its German name). According to the DFB, Schmidt has been official counsellor of the South African organising committee since Oct 2006.

That is, his counselling has nothing to do with the cooperation agreement Merkel and Mbeki signed in Oct 2008.

‘‘For the past two years, Mr. Schmidt has spent at least one week per month in South Africa, participating in sessions and supervising activities of the local organising committee,’’ Thomas Hackbarth, a DFB spokesperson, told IPS.

Hackbarth underlined that Schmidt is ‘‘a long-time and successful organiser of international sport events’’. Schmidt was a member of the German organising committee of the Olympic Games in 1972 and served as the DFB’s managing director between 1992 and 2007. He was also deputy executive director of the German organising committee of the 2006 cup.

According to Hackbarth, ‘‘the focus of (Schmidt's) counselling function in South Africa is the organisation of the ticketing, the construction of stadiums and supporting the organisational structure of the local organising committee.’’

But, when asked what concrete forms the German cooperation with South Africa takes, Hackbarth became vague, and referred IPS to the German government for concrete information. The ministry of the interior and the ministry for foreign affairs would be involved in the official cooperation with South Africa, he said.

However, at the German ministry of the interior, which is responsible for sport, a spokesperson told IPS, ‘‘we have no formal cooperation relation with the South African football association or with the world cup organising committee.

‘‘For that matter, you should ask at the chancellery (Merkel’s office) or at the DFB,’’ Gabrielle Hermani told IPS. ‘‘You can also try the ministry for international cooperation.’’

The ministry for foreign affairs reacted in similar fashion. ‘‘There is no formal cooperation between the ministry and the sport authorities in South Africa,’’ a ministry spokesperson said. The chancellery did not answer IPS questions on the issue.

Hackbarth said that the German environmental programme for the 2006 cup, known as Green Goal, has been an issue closely followed by South African sport authorities.

‘‘We gave the South African organising committee all our Green Goal documentation,’’ he said. ‘‘The 2006 cup Green Goal commissioners took part in counselling sessions in Dec 2008 during a visit of the South African organising committee delegation to Germany.’’

The German Green Goal programme was indeed a success. Some 74 percent of the audience did use public transport, especially trains, to travel to the stadiums. All greenhouse gases emissions produced by the event were compensated for with environmental programmes in South Africa and India.

Furthermore, all electricity consumed by the event was generated by renewable sources. In addition, the 2006 cup saved up to 20 percent of the water and electricity budgeted for the event.

But it is debatable whether South Africa could benefit from this experience. In an interview, Schmidt admitted that the railroad system in South Africa could not fulfil the role it played in Germany for the transport of the audiences.

‘‘In 2010, railroad transportation won't play the dominant part it has played in former occasions,’’ Schmidt said. ‘‘And the taxi and the bus systems in South Africa must still be upgraded substantially.’’

Similarly, it is doubtful that South Africa can develop by 2010 energy and water saving schemes comparable to those used in Germany.

But Schmidt was optimistic that the South African stadiums will satisfy international standards. ‘‘I visited South Africa again this January (2009),’’ he said. ‘‘I know for sure that between 1,500 and 2,000 workers are working at each stadium. The stadiums will be for the world cup next year.’’

He also dismissed fears that crime will be a danger at the event. ‘‘South Africa has a lot of experience in organising international sport competitions, such as the African Cup of Nations, and the rugby and cricket world cups,’’ he said. ‘‘All these events happened without unforeseen violent incidents,’’ he insisted.

What Schmidt did not say is that South Africa hosted these events without any support from Europe in general or Germany in particular. (END)

[SFG]

Kudzu Bob: ever read Robert E. Howard? His Conan stories are pretty racialist... of course, that's more a function of the times, but a lot of fantasy has conservative themes. :)

[Kiwiguy]

District 9 was banned in Nigeria.

http://www.3news.co.nz/District-9-banned-in-Nigeria-for-negative-potrayal-/tabid/418/articleID/121861/Default.aspx

***Another, general, thought re South Africa: It's widely acknowledged that they did an impressive job hosting the World Cup. ***

I think the mindless drone of Vuvulelas will be an enduring memory.

[Kiwiguy]

***You folks act like you are privy to some great as yet publicly unknown truth .. Empirically, all over the world people understand that certain peoples have certain proclivities ..***

Unlearned genius,

Yes, but they attribute it to social conditioning/cultural factors. The idea that the proclivities are due to divergent evolution is anathema to many people.

***Preach equality, gender fairness .. brotherly love and all that crap on the surface .. You will have a lot more people that will "like" you ..***

No sh1t.

[DaveinHackensack]

Interesting about the German involvement, Twain. The FT had a big article about the logistics of the games and didn't mention it prominently.

[Al Harron]

SFG, Howard was a white Texan writing in a small town in the 1920s and 1930s: *of course* he'd be racist to a modern mindset. It was simply a racist time. What's more remarkable is that he wrote sympathetic black characters at all, and Howard wrote more than a few.