District 9 is a very different type of genocide story than those we have looked at this semester. Besides the fact that it deals with aliens from outer space it also has to do with an integration of human into alien. This is similar to when in Europa Europa the boy tries to tie his foreskin up to make himself look uncircumcised. But just to add a sense of further alienation to the Prawn in the film they also had the side of their heads painted to show where they belonged in the camp, just like the pink triangles and stars were put onto people form the article by Micheler. This definition and redefinition of the type of prawn, where they belong by label, and movement from place to place is also like the Jews that were in the Ghetto. And just like Szpilman from the pianist those that could prove a talent or provide something desired, like the prawn with the suit, are given a sort of reward. This film also deals with urban, or Ghetto conflict, and here to it is redefined with the alien weapons just like it was in the siege of Sarajevo as detailed in the article by Riordan. In the film at first the people of Johannesburg try to integrate the Prawn within the society but as one of the men interviewed says, "The Prawn have a different sense of fun than we do. Fun to one of them might be to burn down a building, or kill someone." This leads to the establishment of District 9, in order to separate those dangerous types away form the main populous. This seamed odd to me because it seemed that the Wikus and the other men understood what the Prawn were saying, and vice versa. So if communication was possible then weren't the Prawn smart enough to learn proper behavior, I mean they were smart enough to make guns out of trash. What really seams to be happening is similar to the myths that were started about the Jews leading up to the Holocaust, that they could hypnotize women into sleeping with them, or men into giving away their money, that they controlled the banks, and so on and so on. The reality of the situation was that the Prawn were smart and strong so therefore a threat, and they had to be put into their place so that what they had could try to be exploited.
However the part of the film that interested me the most and is something that we haven't really touched on much in this class is the experimentation. In district nine they take Wikus down into an area were they are experimenting with alien weapons, on Prawn bodies, and even bring out a live Prawn to make sure that the weapons work on them. This is very similar to what the Nazi scientist did to the Jews during the Holocaust. The disturbing fact is that modern doctors know more about the effects of hypothermia because of result of tests that where done on live Jews to see what happened to a person when they were put into freezing water. The ethical conundrum to these results is great do you use the information gained by torture in order to save new live, or do you bury the results because they were gained from horrible methods and murder. Apparently to the government it was worth the torture of one man to unlock the secrets of District 9.
I completely missed out on them having to paint their faces but you are right in comparing it to the star of David identification although I would have to ask What need is there for them to paint to their faces? Unlike in all the other movies those symbols of identification were used to tell people apart. The aliens are not human. They do not look anything like humans so why would they need any identification?
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. Every paragraph I read, Emeril’s signature “Bam!” echoed in my head. But, I digress.
ReplyDeleteIn your first paragraph, you manage to find connections between District 9 and several previous works and articles we read in this course. Right there is the barebones to your final paper (but I think you already know that).
In your second paragraph, I can definitely see the comparisons between the treatment of the prawns by the humans and the treatment of Jews by the Nazis. Both acts of oppression and hatred towards the other group stem from a common thread: false assumptions. With the prawns, one of the men interviewed specifically calls out his own assumptions when he states that the prawns “might” view fun as burning down a building or killing someone. With the Jews, the Nazis seemed to feel inferior towards the Jewish people’s tendency to acquire money well, so this may be the reason why they falsely assumed that the Jewish men were involved in hypnosis to obtain what they had.
Your last paragraph intrigued me the most as well. If what you stated about our knowledge of hypothermia stemming from the Jews suffering is true, and I have no doubt it is, then it leads me to wonder and read up on how many more unethical human experiments in history have led to our knowledge of a physical ailment today? And furthermore, in this case is it right to say that the “ends justify the means?” Food for thought, indeed.
The connection between the experiments conducted in scenes of District 9 and those done by Nazi scientists is very great. I think it is very clever for this movie to have used aliens as the “unwanted” people because it is easier for viewers to agree with their harsh treatment because of their outside appearance. However, in the end you realize that they are living beings. They are intelligent, have families and feel pain. It makes you realize that during the Nazi time, people were able to view Jews as despicable people just like the aliens and therefore feel no sympathy when they were being mistreated.
ReplyDeleteThe scientists that did experiments on Jewish men, women and children must have made some type of distinction between them and the rest of human kind in order to justify this horrible treatment. It really is an ethical question that many people do not think about, they do not remember that one person who was made to suffer for the purpose of scientific experiences. My questions however now becomes, if aliens did arrive on this planet tomorrow, would scientists really refrain from experimenting on them? I think in the end some sort of justification would be made for the purpose of experimentation and scientific curiosity.
In District 9, I could see why it was easier for people to justify testing on the aliens because they weren't human (this also brings up the issue of animal testing etc). The big issue with the Nazis is that they were doing these horrific experiments and tests on other human beings that looked and felt just as they did. At least with the aliens there was a big distinction in aesthetics and species. To answer your question Hedda, about whether or not our government would experiment on aliens...I think they absolutely would. Maybe they wouldn't disclose that to the general public, but there is no way our government given its current climate, would just let aliens peacefully coexist amongst us. I personally believe that it is better for some scientific discoveries to go unknown. Its not worth purposely and intentionally torturing people for the sake of science.
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