District 9
Okay so District 9 is awesome. But mostly I love the fact that District 9 is prompting all these people to talk about racism and xenophobia and immigration and Africa that wouldn’t normally do it. I love it.
And so I thought I would put in my two cents:
First of all let me just say that I really like the film. I found it fascinating on so many levels, as someone who has spent a decent about of time in Jo’berg where the movie takes place and pays attention to the politics and mood of that country, and also as someone who loves scifi and aliens and things going boom. But I was troubled by a couple of things that other people across the web have also brought up.
The criticism I have seen of the film seems to break down into two points.
Point one: as an allegory for apartheid it is pretty crummy and insulting. Black South Africans wanted to stay in their country, the aliens want to leave. Black South Africans had agency (see the Soweto uprising among others) the aliens in the movie are pretty meek and agency-less. And there is the simple fact that to compare black South Africans to bugs is pretty derogatory.
I think that point is easily dismissed. The movie is not, and never was meant to be a direct allegory for apartheid. Instead I think it is more an allegory for South Africa’s current immigration problems and even then it is not a direct allegory. It takes themes and images that we know and then uses them to move in another direction. It exists in its own world and that’s the whole point.
Point two: the movies depiction of black South Africans and Nigerians in particular is really problematic. The main human character of the movie is white as are both the main villains. Black South Africans exist but they are mostly on the sidelines. In the Alien slum the only humans are Nigerian immigrant drug lords who exploit the aliens, try to figure out how to make their weapons work, and participate in Muti—black magic. At one point, the main Nigerian villain almost commits cannibalism.
This point is far more troubling and difficult to dismiss. The Nigerians are caricatured over the top villains and-- especially since this movie was made and financed by white men—there is no getting around that.
BUT.. and I am hesitating to say this BUT..
That shit totally exists in South Africa. There are well-known, notorious and vicious Nigerian gangs in the slums. Muti is a real and commonly practiced thing and while I don’t know if cannibalism is ever a part of it animals are definitely sacrificed.
And so this discussion of this point boils down to how are white artists allowed to depict people of other races. Are they (we) allowed to acknowledge differences? At what time does that become caricature? The opposite extreme is ignoring difference and that becomes white washing.
I think Neill Blomkamp made a movie about South Africa as he sees it. A dangerous, dirty, racist, and multiracial country. I think the Nigerians are in there because Nigerian crime lords exist. I think the people in power are white because that’s the way it is still, nearly 15 years after apartheid. I think the film definitely walks the line between showing what is there and having the white gaze be too, well, white. And I think there are moments when it steps over the line.
BUT I think more times than not the film is true and honest and brave and fucking awesome. District 9 is exactly why I love scifi so much. As with Battlestar you can trick people into talking and thinking about important things. Come for the explosions and violence and people going squish, leave thinking about the fate of humanity.
Its awesome. Go see it.
Did I mention that people go squish?
And so I thought I would put in my two cents:
First of all let me just say that I really like the film. I found it fascinating on so many levels, as someone who has spent a decent about of time in Jo’berg where the movie takes place and pays attention to the politics and mood of that country, and also as someone who loves scifi and aliens and things going boom. But I was troubled by a couple of things that other people across the web have also brought up.
The criticism I have seen of the film seems to break down into two points.
Point one: as an allegory for apartheid it is pretty crummy and insulting. Black South Africans wanted to stay in their country, the aliens want to leave. Black South Africans had agency (see the Soweto uprising among others) the aliens in the movie are pretty meek and agency-less. And there is the simple fact that to compare black South Africans to bugs is pretty derogatory.
I think that point is easily dismissed. The movie is not, and never was meant to be a direct allegory for apartheid. Instead I think it is more an allegory for South Africa’s current immigration problems and even then it is not a direct allegory. It takes themes and images that we know and then uses them to move in another direction. It exists in its own world and that’s the whole point.
Point two: the movies depiction of black South Africans and Nigerians in particular is really problematic. The main human character of the movie is white as are both the main villains. Black South Africans exist but they are mostly on the sidelines. In the Alien slum the only humans are Nigerian immigrant drug lords who exploit the aliens, try to figure out how to make their weapons work, and participate in Muti—black magic. At one point, the main Nigerian villain almost commits cannibalism.
This point is far more troubling and difficult to dismiss. The Nigerians are caricatured over the top villains and-- especially since this movie was made and financed by white men—there is no getting around that.
BUT.. and I am hesitating to say this BUT..
That shit totally exists in South Africa. There are well-known, notorious and vicious Nigerian gangs in the slums. Muti is a real and commonly practiced thing and while I don’t know if cannibalism is ever a part of it animals are definitely sacrificed.
And so this discussion of this point boils down to how are white artists allowed to depict people of other races. Are they (we) allowed to acknowledge differences? At what time does that become caricature? The opposite extreme is ignoring difference and that becomes white washing.
I think Neill Blomkamp made a movie about South Africa as he sees it. A dangerous, dirty, racist, and multiracial country. I think the Nigerians are in there because Nigerian crime lords exist. I think the people in power are white because that’s the way it is still, nearly 15 years after apartheid. I think the film definitely walks the line between showing what is there and having the white gaze be too, well, white. And I think there are moments when it steps over the line.
BUT I think more times than not the film is true and honest and brave and fucking awesome. District 9 is exactly why I love scifi so much. As with Battlestar you can trick people into talking and thinking about important things. Come for the explosions and violence and people going squish, leave thinking about the fate of humanity.
Its awesome. Go see it.
Did I mention that people go squish?
posted by Lark(e) at 11:16 PM
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