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THE ILL PROFESSORS: District 9 and Race
This week, The Ill Professors tackle the film “District 9.” The film has been praised by critics and loved by audiences, but has also been surrounded with controversy. Randy Bandit and Phill Boogie share their thoughts on the film.
RANDY BANDIT’S TAKE:
*To say that District 9 is another alien movie is to say that True Blood is another television show about vampires. I don’t really know what I had expected to see when my wife and I went to watch the movie, but I’m not sure I was prepared for what I saw.
Before I get into my own thoughts, I have to address the range of responses that I have heard so far coming from African Americans and Africans. Many people were just blatantly offended by the film. Even though the trailer pretty much laid everything out there, in terms of the alien persecution, people were still surprised. I guess when confronted with a group of downtrodden people who are quarantined to a ghetto, black people feel an immediate connection with the oppression presented onscreen. We are even quick to call ever outcast a symbol for the black struggle, even though the term “ghetto” didn’t even originate with black people.
Even more, I have heard people say that because the aliens looked like roaches and were called “prawns,” a derogatory word from the film, they felt that they were being expressly targeted. I find this last bit of information to be a bit absurd. Granted, there are some stereotypes every ethnic group would own for personal benefit (like the ability to dance or sexually perform), owning the stereotype of associating black people with roaches makes me wonder just how people view themselves. I would have never seen the relationship between myself and a roach, nor would I have expected any other thinking person to own something so offensive and ridiculous.
I can understand the need to relate to the underdog, and I am not so jaded as to think that a persecuted minority group can’t feel a sense of connection to the struggles of the alien race presented in the film. I do, however, think that because the story takes place in South Africa, it picks up the added cultural baggage and required analysis, although the aliens could have struck a chord with any oppressed group, not just black people. Another fascinating element about the film is that there are both black and white South Africans working to oppress this group. This could easily be interpreted by some to be an illustration of European imperialism and how black people were used to oppress other black people—but to do that, you would have to assume that black people were the aliens, which depending on your racial frame of reference, is not a given.
If one stepped back and thought about it, there are some Christian references in the film, as well. For example, the main alien we get to know is Christopher (like Christ). He is basically the savior of his race of people and the only one who can take his son home. Without giving out any spoilers, one can see Christopher’s persecution first hand, while seeing even those of his kind moving about aimlessly, with no sense of what’s going on around them, although their space ship seems to be moving.
Then there’s the idea of a human bloodline being tainted with alien DNA, giving a huge science fiction spin to the idea of Plessy v. Ferguson. So yes, I do believe that there are some correlations between the treatment of the aliens in this film and the treatment of oppressed minorities in the world. This is not something exclusive to black people though. What makes this film particularly provocative is how the story allows people to sympathize and even empathize with an alien race, not necessarily because of race correlations, but mainly because of a sense of what is right and wrong in terms of how we treat others, which is a far more fundamental idea that’s less sensational than a straight-up racial analysis. The film holds a mirror to the human race, and we all ultimately see what we want to see, good or bad.
PHILL BOOGIE’S TAKE:
*“The African-American Influence in Film” was the name of a panel that I participated in at this year’s Mid-Atlantic Black Film Festival. I wasn’t exactly sure where that topic would lead the discussion. How would the moderator frame the conversation? We never really did address the African-American influence, but as in most discussions about blacks in film, the conversation turned to money and power.
Money and power.
One of the films that was mentioned during the panel was “District 9.” I hadn’t seen it yet. There was this idea of ownership of ghetto themes. It was if the film had a responsibility as a social commentary, more than as a piece of entertainment. The thought was that the aliens represented “us” and the film itself was a vague attempt to put a sci-fi spin on apartheid.
I’d read about the Nigerian government’s request that theaters stop playing the film. Admittedly, I didn’t pay much attention to the controversy. I didn’t think much more of it than I did of the uproar over the recent “Transformers” film. Now, after seeing the film, I understand why Nigerians are upset.
Nigerians are portrayed as alien flesh eaters, prostitutes, gangsters and witch doctors. As I type this, I realize it sounds a bit like Lafayette on “True Blood.” The difference however, is that Lafayette represents himself, not blacks. The Nigerian characters in “District 9” appear to paint a broad picture of the entire population. Going back to that money and power theme, the larger problem is that many people won’t make the distinction. They will just have this visual impression of Africans. Sure, they’ll all read about Nigeria’s issue with the film, but will anyone care? Is Hollywood concerned with losing the money from the box office in Nigeria? Probably not.
What I hope doesn’t get lost in the controversy, is the fact that “District 9” is a great film. The film’s core story about a bureaucrat, who doesn’t care much about the aliens until they become a personal issue, rang very true. How many of us become more concerned about AIDS, cancer, homosexuality, abuse etc. after we are personally affected? I watch the news sometimes and wonder why they interview black people after a young black child is killed. I suspect that someone white would also have a compassion for that type of tragedy. It’s that sort of separation being examined in the film; the idea that one person’s pain is different from someone else’s.
The film made me think back to the festival panel. There were those who felt strongly that like the aliens in “District 9,” they were relegated to the ghetto of the filmmaking community. They are forced to take the scraps that Hollywood dishes out. In some ways I understand the frustration, but I believe that we have more power than we give ourselves credit for. In the film, one of the aliens, with his own resources, creates a spaceship in the hopes of finding his way out of the ghetto. In terms of film, Tyler Perry has created his own spaceship. The brothers at Rainforest Films have as well. There are others doing the same. The availability of inexpensive digital equipment makes it more possible than ever for people to tell their stories. So while for some, “District 9” is another example of the exploitation of people of color, I saw a film about the power of hope and ingenuity. If I’d seen the film prior to the festival panel, I would’ve told everyone to build their own spaceship and stop waiting for a ride on someone else’s.
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