District_9_Themes

District 9 Themes Reflection By: Umer Shahid District 9 is a science fiction movie with strong messages. Intelligently directed by Neill Blomkamp, the movie utilizes different themes and a strong plot to project many different messages. First and foremost, the movie exhibits the theme of cruelty hand in hand with racism. The movie sends the message indirectly by the usage of aliens instead of a human race. This theme can be related to the views of “aliens” in our society. These people can be people of different ethnic, religious or political views in comparison to the majority population. Another theme present in the movie is the mistrust of authority. M.N.U are the superior power in the movie that are advertising themselves as a positive connection between the two species, yet their unknown acts of cruelty really shows the director’s views on mistrust of power. Through the usage of different themes relating to dystopian ideals, the director sends a strong message through the movie District 9. It is clearly seen that the race with more power and wealth tries to take advantage of the weaker race for their own benefits. As seen during the scenes when the M.N.U. is trying to evict the aliens from district 9, the superior power uses many immoral ways to prevail. They utilize force, violence, one way communication (can’t understand what the aliens are saying) and most of all, heartless thinking to force their choices onto the aliens. With the majority of the local population being humans and supporting their cause, the M.N.U. can do whatever they like to get their objective done. They feel and exhibit that freedom during the entire movie, and no human is protesting against them so they have no regrets. This relates to the real world in many ways. Being pushed by a majority population and a seemingly moral objective, we have seen many problems in the world, such as the war in Iraq. The director really tries to show an in depth look on the cruelty of fueled, guiltless, and immoral ideals. The movie also exhibits the theme of mistrust of authority. The M.N.U. corporation advertises itself as the friendly connection between the aliens and humans. As the movie progresses, the protagonist, Wikus, learns more and more about the corporation he works for. He loyally serves them but isn’t too cruel to the aliens in his routine. When he is infected and his body slowly morphs into an alien, he learns a lot more about the company’s hidden objectives. He learns this only when he becomes subject to their research of alien weaponry. His body is tortured to use alien weapons to test his transformation. When Wikus escapes, the corporation turns to lies and their connections with the media to turn Wikus into the ideal enemy of human society. Through these events, the director is easily able to exhibit the mistrust of authority. The M.N.U. is trusted by the human population, and their gruesome experiments on aliens is unknown, and at the same time they utilize the media and spread lies to turn hatred on their targets. The theme is easily seen when both sides of the story are unknown, and in today’s world, both sides are barely ever known, or are told in complete lies to benefit one. Mistrust of authority is commonly present in the movie. The director exhibits many dystopian ideals through the themes in District 9. He shows human and alien conflict through the theme of cruelty and racism. The theme of mistrust of authority is exhibited through the plot showing both sides of the story. The director intelligently derives a good plot yet uses themes, which can be related to real life situations, to convey strong messages.