Shaw: Power and Humanity in District 9

I was really excited when I saw that we were going to watch District 9 because when I initially saw it in theaters I was very confused by the movie. I could see the clear connections to apartheid especially given the film's setting in South Africa. It was very interesting to watch it again with the perspective after taking this class. In watching it this time it was very clear the ways in which the humans systematically discriminated against the aliens and forced them into ghettos.

Since the oppressed in District 9 are literally aliens, it is much easier to see how they can be discriminated against. The use of aliens as the victim was also very interesting because in films, humans are most frequently the victims. It made me think about how we depict "other" and how power is the basis for any victim/oppressor relationship. While we commonly think of aliens as being the definitive "other" this is only because we assume their knowledge and technology is far more sophisticated than our own. In District 9, with the aliens lacking power, the humans are able to subjugate them and subject them to terrible treatment.  They are so clearly different from the humans due to physical appearance and culture, which makes it even easier for the humans to control them. Also, a technique that is frequently employed in genocides is trying to make the oppressed seem less than human which is much easier because the victims in District 9 literally are not human. However, Wikus' experience in the alien culture provides a unique insight that we rarely see when studying genocide. Being able to straddle the two sides of victim and oppressor, Wikus is able to see his original perspective and understand the alien's as well. It reminded me of the situation in The Pianist when the German officer finds Szpilman and spares his life. It's through Wikus' transformation that he begins to understand the aliens and how similar they really are. Through these interactions he sees the family dynamics and the culture of the aliens that he recognizes as being not entirely like his own life.

Overall, it was a very unique portrayal of the ways that people are systematically excluded and when that occurs, the potential for that to evolve into a very terrible situation.  I was also reminded of Schindler's List because Wikus was able to use his power and status as a human to try to help Christopher. 

Dacula - Looking Beyond the Surface

District 9, a film meant to depict a fictitious period of apartheid, has proved to be an excellent way to end this course on holocausts throughout history and from different lenses, real or fiction. The film centers on the main character Wikus, who becomes infected by alien DNA after taking it upon himself to test alien technology found in an alien’s home. From this point onward, as his infection gradually spreads, Wikus is referred to as a “prawn.” A private military company called Multinational United (MNU) proceeds to conduct a number of tests on him that bring Wikus to the realization that the severity of his infection is greater than he thought. For example, in one of MNU’s tests, it is discovered that Wikus’ new hand has the ability to use alien weapons. To test this, MNU uses  a random “prawn” as Wikus’ aim. The random prawn is marked with an “X” for Wikus to shoot, and from seeing Wikus we see that he is afraid of the MNU and their questionable tests. From this scene onward we see that the MNU becomes the central antagonist of the film and the instigator of future violence. A subplot exists within the film as well in which the character Smit, Wikus’ father-in-law, announces to the press that Wikus has contracted an alien STD from having sexual relations with one of the “prawns.” Quite obviously, we realize that this is not the case, but because of this declaration, Wikus’ wife must struggle with two things about her husband throughout the film: (1) to deal with the fact of her husband’s deformities and (2) to wonder whether or not her father is telling the truth. Wikus pleads with his wife to “please not give up” him and begs her to believe her husband over her father.

One connection that exists between this movie and the theme of victim vs. victimizer/oppressor vs. oppressed that we have studied throughout this course is seen through the depiction of a member of the victimizing group becoming the victim. By Wikus’ infection, he is able to learn that the groups he is so adamant against are not all inferior to each other. The victims of the Holocaust and other genocides we have learned about did contain these types of people, but their numbers were few in comparison to the vast majority of victims of these crimes against humanity. We see a unique situation come into play through this film: that oppressors can easily become the oppressed and vice versa in an instant.

The film makes a significant note of the fact that some groups of people can be easily neglected and not recognized as human beings as well. Obviously, this message is not as clear-cut in the movie: the aliens are definitely not creatures who look like us. But through other elements, we see apartheid into play and prejudice that stems from the humans seeing the aliens as rightfully ostracized because they look different, speak a strange language, and do not act out in ways similar to us. However, these aliens find similarities to the humans in that they have an understanding of family. They know and have to the ability to feel the most intense emotions we selfishly attribute to ourselves as human: pain, joy, anger. We see in this futuristic society that the only thing separating the aliens from the humans is the fact that their culture and appearance are different. And in this sense, District 9 becomes an excellent choice to learn and understand the injustice, the utter injustice that stems from the most violent forms of hatred in history. 

Pauli - District 9: NOT HUMAN NOT WELCOME

District 9, directed and written by Neill Blomkamp is the perfect example of genocide! Blomkamp uses the examples of real aliens, that almost no one is likely to relate to in the audience. However, the twist of fate takes a human and transforms him into an alien which whom the audience will be able to sympathize with. 

For over twenty years an alien spaceship has been hovering over the South African city, Johannesburg. Its 

stranded alien occupants have since been living in slum conditions in a militarized camp, District 9. Tensions between the human and alien population are running thin so the private company Multi-National United (MNU), who have a commercial interest in harnessing the alien technology for weaponry, are sent in to relocate the aliens. The mass eviction campaign is lead by Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a bureaucrat who, like most humans, refers to the aliens as ‘prawns’. However, when Wikus becomes exposed to a black fluid he finds in one of the slum houses he finds himself undergoing a genetic transformation. Now hunted by the MNU military division and the slum criminals, Wikus has nowhere else to hide but within District 9. Wikus is forced to hide and no one will help him other than the aliens. Even his own wife is torn between the lies. 

     Wikus is an unlikely hero as he is selfish, cowardly and prejudiced. However, he is nevertheless identifiable and not beyond redemption. After being among the aliens, Wikus comes to realize that the aliens are not lacking cognition skills and even grieve when a member of their family is loss. Due to his transformation, Wikus is able to relate to the aliens and empathize with their situation and how they have been treated by humans. 

    District 9 does a terrific job at exposing the ignorance and cruelty of human beings. The aliens have a different appearance and are not understood by humans. The only thing humans have an interest in is their weapons, which probably enticed humans to keep them alive as long as they did. Of course, humans do not care about the conditions they live in or if they separate them from the rest of society. It was obvious that they did not pose a threat to humans unless seriously provoked. The aliens could have used their weapons on the human population but chose not to despite how cruel they were treated. 

    District 9 has many parallels to the history of genocide. For example, similarly to the Jews in Germany, the aliens were forced to live outside of the city walls. Jews were placed in ghettos just like the Indians were placed on reservations. In South Africa during the Apartheid the groups of Africans, Caucasians, and Indians were separated and forced to live in different places. Some of which were slums. One thing genocide has displayed is that in order for it to be successful, one must separate individuals from the "norm." Just like the different terminology, victims must be separated. For instance, Jews had to be labeled with a gold star, homosexuals had to identified with a pink triangle, Hutus and Tutsis had to carry identification cards, etc. Tutsis were called cockroaches and Jewish people were referred to as subhuman. In The Pianist, Jewish men, women, and children were forced by law to be in their homes at a certain time, they could not go into certain places, and they were not allowed to own things. In District 9, the aliens are being forced to evacuate their current slum area. In one scene Wikus tells the alien that if he does not sign his form and move he will take his child because he is living in bad conditions. Wikus manipulates the law to get what he wants. Another similarity in District 9 is the media. Wikus is exposed through television and the radio of having sexual interactions with aliens, which makes him someone an individual cannot relate to. In Hotel Rwanda, the hutus use the radio as a means of spreading false information about the Tutsis and dehumanizing them by declaring them cockroaches. 

    In Bent, Max constantly switches from victimizer to victim and back again. Max victimizes his roommate Rudy and participates in killing him. However, Max himself is a victim of the war. There is a lot of variation. In District 9, Wikus is seen as weak and can arguably be seen as a victim of his society. However, Wikus victimizes the aliens until he is slowly turns into one. Then, Wikus becomes the victim and is forced to flee. Similar to the Wannsee Conference, the military in District 9 does not try to understand the aliens but goes directly into declaring an idea on how to get rid of them. For the Jewish people in the Wannsee Conference, it was their extermination at the concentration camps. In District 9 is was moving them out of the area. Something scary and important to notice is the way no one questions what they are doing besides Wikus. Similar to C.P. Taylor's Good, the characters in District 9 do not even notice the damage they are doing. Hadler in Good does not even notice his transformation and condemnation of his only and best friend Maurice. Wikus is automatically assumed good use for studying and the question of killing their fellow employee/friend/son-in-law is not even questioned. 

I think District 9 was a great film to sum up what we have been learning!

  

Cardon - District 9

The story of District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp, shows significant correlation between the historical genocides of the Jewish population during Nazi Germany and that of the African Apartheid. It takes a unique approach on the issue by incorporating a completely distinct species from another planet juxtaposed with the already conflicted human race. The alien spacecraft lands over Johannesburg in South Africa, filled with the emaciated foreign population. The government sets up a camp for the “prawns”, a derogatory name in reference to their unattractive shell appearance. They fabricated the idea of their threat to humanity as a reason for their isolation. This is much like the rationality for the concentration camps developed for the Jewish. We see how the aspect of business and power comes into play as the military sees the value in the aliens advanced weaponry. They want to extract this intelligence by any means whatsoever, regardless of the cruel torture inflicted on the prawns. This is similar to the experiments and persecution the Jewish faced since they too were seen as less than human.

Soon the camp turns into an overcrowded slum in which the prawns are forced to reside in squalor. The government makes a new agenda to move the prawns into a new location, designated District 10, under the pretense that it will be in the best interest of prawns. The task of organizing this façade to make the prawns appear willing is assigned to an official named Wikus van de Merwe. In this way, it will seem like a more humane and lawful solution to the issue of how to handle treatment of the Prawns. Wikus’s character comes off as somewhat frivolous and unaware of the true nature of the plight of the Prawns as well as the consequences of his intended actions. He soon finds himself relying on one of the members of the group after being infected with an unknown substance. As his is DNA slowly starts mutating him into the creature he once looked down upon, he begins to find himself in the midst of an awakening upon which he discovers their interrelatedness. His role takes on a similarity to that of Schindler and Clive Owen’s character in Bent, making the transformation from aversion into compassion and even identification with the Stranger or other. They as well as Don Cheadle’s character use their leadership roles as means of bringing salvation to the group they once worked to eliminate. Schindler’s attitude was apathetic at first and was just happy to have the Jews in his factories to make money. After time and interaction with the Jews, Schindler’s attitude changes and he realizes he needs to help/aid in their survival. We even see this compassion in little Bruno from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Even though Bruno wasn’t aware of the immensity of his friend’s situation and his father’s role in it, he was able to empathize with his friend because he “lost” his father. Some of the characters we have viewed this semester were forced into understanding the stranger’s position and others came to the understanding on their own. The important thing is that they came to the realization. The route to the realization is important and significant but the ultimate goal is being able to understand someone else’s suffering.

Fuhrer: District 9

District 9 is very different from the other genocide and apartheid movies we’ve watched. No longer is it a conflict between two human groups instead the group in question is not even from planet Earth. They are extra terrestrial beings that are left stranded in South Africa after their space ship mysteriously breaks down right above the center of Johannesburg. What comes after though is nothing new when compared to the historical treatment of one human group against another opposing outsider or “Alien” group. The treatment of these aliens or “Prawns” as they are dubbed in the movie share the same elements of cruelty and dehumanization witnessed in almost every other instance of genocide.

The movie itself is depicted as an allegory for the South African Apartheid that segregated the population of South Africa in to three races; White (Afrikaans), Colored (Mixed blood or any non-white person who wasn’t Black) and Blacks (The ethnically African people). Although it’s not a movie We have looked at for this class I recently watched a movie called “Skin” which tells the real life story of Sandra Laing a girl born with dark skin and African features during the South African apartheid to White Afrikaans parents.

The brutal onslaught of racism and discrimination She had to endure due to this was shocking!  The movie highlights very clearly the three different racial profiles and hierarchy similar to the way the article “Apartheid in South Africa, A forum” by Carol Thompson does. In both cases the wide poverty margin between Blacks and Whites due to South African Industry being completely dominated by White ownership makes it so that while Black South Africans make up about 2/3 rds. of the work force they will still make eight times less than a White South African.

Moving on, the director of District 9 Neil Blompkamp being of South African decent himself and having lived in the country during Apartheid wanted to use the vehicle of Science fiction as social protest against the South African apartheid but also to draw parallels with all the other instances of apartheid, persecution, discrimination and genocide that have taken place all over the world.

 For example, what are the aliens referred to? Prawns because they resemble crustaceans and are considered bottom feeders. Humans eat prawns in abundance. They are harvested by the millions and by referring to them in this way not only becomes derogatory but makes one consider the aliens as nothing but large prawns devoid of any intellect or emotions. Such tactics of referring to groups as pests or things of an expendable nature can be seen in Hotel Rwanda where the Hutus refer to the Tutsis as cockroaches and how the Nazis referred to the Jews as vermin. Thus robbing them of their rights as humans becomes the first stepping stone to Genocide. This shows itself in District 9 where the humans think nothing of dissecting the aliens or even Vikus who was still part human and begging them not to do it. This complete disregard of  life (human or otherwise) is an echo of the experiments carried out by Nazi doctors on Jews, homosexuals, invalids and anyone else they believed to be undesirable.

Another parallel that needs to be mentioned is the isolation of the prawns from the rest of society. Segregation is naturally a form of this but more specifically as is shown in the film the prawns are rounded up and put in to more or less slum type housing where they are heavily guarded and not allowed to leave. This act of isolation can be seen in almost every movie we have watched. In the Pianist and Schindler’s list the Jews are rounded up and put into ghettos. In Pow Wow highway (and the history of Native American culture) the Native Americans are put in reservations where they cannot hope for a particularly good quality of life even in the siege of Sarajevo, The Serbs isolated Sarajevo from the rest of Yugoslavia in order to starve them out and gain control of the city.

 In the article “Shelling, sniping and Starvation: The law of Armed conflict and the lessons of the Siege in Sarajevo” The Serbs military tactics are completely explained. Their success relied heavily on technological advancements specifically in military weaponry. This concept is seen in District 9 where the humans dominate the prawns through the use of guns. They are also desperate to get their hands on the aliens weaponry because they know that if they acquire it they will be unstoppable. Such faith in technological superiority is not uncommon as similar tactics were used in dealing with Native Americans, as it was the acquiring of guns that allowed the settlers to take their own land away from Native Americans.

Asmussen - District 9

District 9 is a movie that is supposed to show apartheid in South Africa and also show how genocide starts and is carried out. The aliens represent the unwanted minority, forced to live in confined spaces with no where to go. They are not integrated into society and therefore begin to act out. The aliens were identified as an enemy to the South African people because they were a minority that was easily identified. This is similar to what is described in the article “Native American Genocide.” Native Americans were a minority in their society and because they were easily identified by their features and therefore negative stereotypes developed quickly. They were excluded from society and therefore lived in poor conditions just like the aliens in Sector 9.

The exclusion of the aliens that occurs in the movie is similar to that in the ghettos seen in the movie “The Pianist.” They are separated from the rest of mankind and made to live in slums. They are forced to break laws and steal in order to survive. It is much like the ghetto because the rest of society thinks it is acceptable to confine these people to horrible condition and small places because it is easy for them. Unlike in the article “The Fate of Raul Wallenberg,” there seems to be no one that wants to help the aliens. No one will risk their lives to help them because they feel it isn’t worth it. They don’t seem them as other living creatures and thats why it is so easy for the military to kill them. At one point in the movie, a military man even says that he loves his job of killing “prawns.”

The systematic extermination of the aliens is similar to that seen in the movie, “Schindler’s List.” While it seems that the MNU doesn’t mean to exterminate the aliens at first, it seems easy for them to do once it starts. It also seems like the rest of the population is not quite aware of all that is going on. This is similar to the Nazi extermination of Jews. Many were not aware, or pretended not to know how they were being killed off. However, all that matter in the end is that it did happen and it was allowed to happen. No one stood up for the aliens because society had labeled them as being unwanted.

Coulter-District 9

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.

Miller-District 9 and Apartheid

District 9, while a piece of science fiction, speaks to issues of apartheid and genocide that are evident in many of the books and films we have read and viewed for this class. In District 9, an alien space ship is spotted over Johannesburg in South Africa. Eventually, a group of humans enter the ship, to discover aliens that are malnourished and sick. They are brought down to earth and given healthcare, food, and water. They are confined to District 9, a government camp within Johannesburg. Eventually, persistent unrest between the aliens and the locals forces the South African government to partner with Multi-National United, a private security corporation, in order to move the aliens from District 9 to District 10. Wikus, an Afrikaan bureaucrat, is assigned by MNU to lead the process of relocation from District 9 to District 10.

Already, we start to see some similarities between the eviction of the aliens and other events in history we have studied in this course. For example, in Defiance, the film I used for my mid term paper, we see people that are forced to leave their homes and make other arrangements for themselves. There are several instances in Defiance where the Jewish community trying to survive commits acts which, at face value, seem inhumane. An example of this is when Tuvia goes to the police chief’s house and kills all but one member of his family. Similarly, in District 9, the main reason MNU was hired was due to unrest between the aliens and local citizens. However, it is important to question what was behind the alien’s unrest. Considering that they were quarantined off from the rest of the general population and treated rather poorly, it does not seem all that surprising that problems occurred. Hiring MNU, it seemed, only exacerbated these problems.

Identification of prisoners played a vital role in the Holocaust, as well as in District 9. One example of this is in Bent. Nazis used a yellow star to identify Jews, while using a pink triangle to identify homosexuals. While this may seem insignificant, in Bent, we see how these symbols play a large role in the characters. On the train, Max’s boyfriend Rudy is beaten and eventually killed partly because of the fact that he has a pink triangle. Max chose to receive a yellow star, on the basis that it would better his chances for survival in the concentration camp.

In District 9, identification of the aliens is different, mostly because their physical characteristics make them easily identifiable. However, we see the importance of identification in District 9 after Wikus gets sprayed by an alien liquid, causing him to take on the physical characteristics of an alien. MNU discovers that Wikus has been contaminated, and forces him to test whether or not the contamination enables him to use the alien weapons. After MNU discovers that Wikus possesses this ability, they plan to kill him in order to harvest his organs. Identification plays such a vital role in District 9 that MNU blatantly betrayed one of their own in order to further their own agenda. We see this multiple times throughout the Holocaust as well: Nazis forcing Germans to give supplies, food, and equipment to Nazi troops in order to further their mission of genocide.

Finally, I believe it is important to examine the general effects of apartheid on a society, in particular, South Africa. According to the apartheid timeline, as apartheid was allowed to continue, civil unrest continued to brew. Eventually, the unrest turned violent, with the South African government killing its own citizens. Economically, South Africa was hurt because of this. The reason for the unrest was clear: despite being a majority in their own country, black South Africans, according to Carol B. Thompson’s article Forum: Investing in South African Apartheid, were required to carry passbooks that indicated they were only allowed in white areas if working there. This is comparable to early stages of the Holocaust, when Jews were forced to live in ghettos and only allowed access to the outside world to work.

Campbell-Equality for All

Living in harsh, not so healthy conditions within their home and being forced to move by the government for no real reason, the aliens, otherwise known as “prawns” to the human population of Johannesburg, South Africa, in District 9 are similar to the people of Sarajevo who had to endure the harsh conditions of the siege in Welcome to Sarajevo and the Pow Wow Indians who were exploited for their work and forced to leave their home in Pow Wow Highway.

The aliens are used solely for their advanced extraterrestrial weapons like the Pow Wow Indians were exploited for their work and oil. The government wanted full access and complete control of all alien weaponry for their own agenda and did not care at all about the aliens well being. It is just like every other movie about oppression. The government and the military want something from a group of people and decide to use force to get what they want and if anyone objects, they kill them. The aliens were not harming anyone just like the Indians were doing nothing to anyone. In fact, both groups were on government land living their lives. Why the people around them were so upset is beyond comprehension. However, with the public upset and the government wanting something from each group, of course something unjust shall be done upon them. The government will think it is for the better, but in actuality it is more harmful than anything that could benefit the military.

Because the people of Johannesburg, South Africa have an extreme dislike for the aliens, they are all forced to live in a ghetto with trash strewn everywhere and a Nigerian gang controlled by a paralyzed Mumbo trying to buy of the aliens weapons with cat food. The citizens of Sarajevo were trapped within their home because of the siege led by people outside their home. Both groups were isolated and were living in unsuitable conditions. The people of Sarajevo were living in their town with rubble everywhere from the various, random bombings while the aliens were living in literally trash scavenging for food and shelter while trying to survive in a world that did not understand them.

I feel as if I should comment on what I realized while watching the movie. I realized that Wikus was similar to the gays during the Holocaust. At first the gays held military rank and were persecuting the Jews, but soon the tables turned and they were being persecuted as well. Wikus went through the exact same thing. He was in charge of evicting the aliens and bringing them to District 10, but after ingesting an alien chemical and starting to turn into one of the aliens, he is the one being poked, prodded, and experimented on for the military’s benefit. At first he was someone of importance, but once it became known that he had become different from humans and was exhibited signs of the aliens, he became one of them was persecuted just like the aliens.

Weed - Multiple Angles

District 9 is a very interesting film because it touches base with modern issues as the articles explain, and are applied to the movie. The interesting part the film is that we see multiple factors derived from the film. One is that Sharlto Copley gets to experience Genocide from both perspectives, which we haven’t seen in the other films. The second is that we see the business aspect that is applied to the aliens. The last issue is that the film claims that the aliens didn’t have any leaders.

Starting with the first issue, it is established that Sharlto plays a goofy male figure who views the alien “prawns” as less than the human race. His job is very direct, which is to evict the aliens from their current homes. Right off the bat he walks up to the aliens, and treats them very disrespectfully. He throws cat food at them, he has an abortion performed by simply having a prawns nest burned, and discusses killing their children right in front the alien species as well. Basically we see someone who has authority and lacks any remorse similar to soldiers in the Holocaust. Then he transforms.

When Transforming he stumbles, he is basically treated exactly like one of the prawns, but the only difference is that he has more value. He is treated like an outsider as he attempt s to buy food. The government does multiple strenuous experiments on the man. Plus, when he escapes, he is forced to live amongst them. He ends up bargaining for food, he feels the same addiction to cat food as the rest of them, and feels how it is used or applied to work against them. Cat food acts exactly like a drug. They use it just to get the people to sign the forms. Plus it is similar to the readings because the aliens are basically stripped of their rights when it was obviously given to them at one time.

Then we see the business aspect. These aliens have something that the government wants , which is weapons, the problem is that they are the only ones who can operate it due to their complicated genetic code. So the government turns them into lab rats . As lab rats, they exemplify the very same acts that were done to the Jews during World War II, and the Russian people as well. It shows when people are so focused on harnessing some sort of form of power, they literally will do anything to have it, “at no expense.”

This is kind of off subject, but the government in my opinion didn’t allow the aliens to leave. They were able to establish who the leaders were, but were more focused on developing weapons. The aliens were in my opinion had their leaders taken away. The idea that when the aliens had their leaders taken away they ended up with the chaotic mess that we see throughout the film. Basically if you take away the leadership in a certain area, it could possibly look very similar to what we saw in Johannesburg . For example Poland today is still having problems.

Fisher - District 9

District 9, produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Johannesburg native Neill Blomkamp, is a science fiction film used to portray a scene of a partide. The science fiction genre was chosen to press social and racial issues as well as problems with the government. Its takes on an informative standpoint being shot in a documentary style. The movie follows the path of Wikus Van Der Merwe. Wikus is charged with the task of overseeing the eviction of an extraterrestrial species labeled as "prawns."

Only ten minutes into the film, the viewer comes across two issues that correlate with previous topics. We see during the interviews at the beginning of the film a man refer to these aliens as "prawns." A woman explains later that this is a derogatory term used for the alien that references them to crustacean bottom-feeders or scavengers. Immediately after her comment, an officer (authority figure) says, "well that's what they look like right? They look like prawns." This can be linked to the movie Hotel Rwanda when then Hutus are constantly referring the Tutsis as "cockroaches" and treating them as such. Yet this is not the only time that and place that a derogatory term is used to label the "other" or outsider. Most every race and culture has a similar term for anyone other than themselves. It is no coincidence then that the human citizens in District 9 refer to the aliens as "prawns."

The other issue is the ensuing eviction of the aliens from District 9 in order to relocate them to another camp. This can refer back to Pow Wow Highway and the attempt to remove the Indians from their reserve, given to them by the government. The aliens own District 9 can be viewed as a reservation that was given to them by the earth's government and now they are to be evicted. Wikus even makes a statement that is similar to the colonial mindset toward the Native American saying, "they don't understand the concept or private property. So we have to come there and say, 'Hey, this is our land. Please, will you go.'" However, District 9 is less like Indian reservations and more like the Jewish ghettos or possibly Sarajevo in the sense of there slum state of living. Trash fills the streets and the housing is composed of shacks assorted from sheet metal and scraps of junk. Blomkamp made it to look like the apartheid in South Africa. In this version of apartheid we see the aliens treated as the Africans were in the 20th century; they were separated from the humans, just as the blacks were from the whites. The aliens were classified and labeled by MNU and the humans, this being a similar theme in everything that was covered in the class. The Nazis classified the Jews and homosexuals. The Hutus and Tutsis had classified one another. Africans during the apartheid were forced to carry identification at all times. Classification seems to be centered genocide and racist acts.

Otto - The Future: A Repeated Past

District 9(2009) creates a science fiction history of what would happen if an alien life-force came to live on earth. Due to the actions of the human race in the past, director Neill Blomkamp shoots this film in a documentary style showing the attitudes of both the humans and “prawns” as the aliens are nicknamed, and there are many parallels suggested throughout the film both to apartheid as well as other genocides and oppressed peoples. This futuristic film labels humans destined to repeat their acts of genocide and oppression for others.

Because the film in shot in a documentary style, the viewers listen to the thoughts of men and women who knew the protagonist, Wilkus Van De Merwe(Sharlto Copley, a man who once headed the munitions corporation, Multi-National United(MNI), but was accidentally exposed to an alien chemical that begins to morph him into one of the “enemies.” Merwe was largely on the side of many humans who believed the aliens had overstayed their welcome, and believed that they should be forced in ghettos, which he describes are much like concentration camps and not very suitable for living. He has aliens killed as well as those unborn, due to what he says is “population control.” In the beginning of the film, Merwe is a victimizer to the aliens and ideally will do any means necessary to get rid of them, as always is a victimizers excuse, “to make the world better.” Once Merwe is infected and begins to transform into his worst nightmare, he learns the horrifying truth and is able to see things clearly from the other side of the playing field. Immediately he is frighten for his life and begins to fight for the aliens and himself, for things to go back to normal so that he will once again be human and the aliens will return home. wherever that may be.

Much like the film Conspiracy(2001), starring Kenneth Branagh as Reinhard Heydrich and Stanley Tucci as Adolf Eichmann, viewers are able to see into the horrifying and deluded minds of the victimizers. In Conspiracy a recreation of the Wannsee Conference is portrayed, where the Nazi Final Solution phase of the Holocaust is produced. In both District 9 and Conspiracy, those considered to be the victimizers believe they are right in their actions, yet to the audience often come across as delusional as characters describe what they believe. Through the victimizers insight, we learn through their beliefs, their reasoning for their actions, and this appalling realization that there is no significant reason to commit such crimes against humanity, if there ever was/is one at all. Creating the other seems to be a power struggle throughout time and with these two films, the victimizers show their true colors when in the presence of an equal and suggest the illegitimate thought processes involved in the actions people take for power.

Defining the victims can often be easy; they are ones who are being mercilessly murdered and are dehumanized in order to give a just cause of action. Although in District 9 the aliens are obviously not human, they are given little to no rights, and are treated unfairly by much of the human population. The distinction between the two species is not as clearly defined, however in films such as Hotel Rwanda(2004). Starring Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagin, the film follows the events of the genocide in Rwanda of the Hutus against the Tutsis. Previous to Hutus gaining any power, they were once considered to be lesser than Tutsis by those who created each race, the Belgian Empire during the indirect imperialist rule of Rwanda. In the film, it is difficult to identify who is Hutu and who is Tutsi, which were defined by colonists due to skin color, facial structure, etc. Originally one race of people, they were separated and throughout history, both Hutu and Tutsi were dehumanized and murdered. Defining “the other” is not a recent concept in human history. To define “the other” is to define one’s self as well, however in doing so, acts of hatred begin to erupt and there are instances of such in the Rwandan genocide and imperialism/colonialism as a whole, the acts of Nazi Germany, as well as apartheid in South Africa.

The stages of genocide include identifying the undesirable class of people, excluding them from the “greater” society, and eventually exterminating them altogether. Treatment of the lesser group is consistently horrifying as is emphasized through the literary work “Saint Marie” where a young Native American child enters a convent and is violently accosted and physically beaten by one of the Sisters, Sr. Leopolda, who also shares a name with King Leopold, the king of Belgium who entered South Africa and colonized one of the biggest colonies in Africa using brutality to create large economic growth for the Belgium state. Marie is eventually burned and gets back at Sr. Leopolda by pretending to be a Saint, however Sr. Leopolda’s actions are not quickly forgotten.

It is also important to mention the fact that traitors to the stronger powers, the oppressors, are not easily forgiven and often put into the same group as the victims. One example of this is the case of Raoul Wallenberg. In an excerpt of a document about Wallenberg, a man who risked his life to save hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust, went missing after he was taken to a concentration camp and what happened to him after is unknown. The victimizers’ reaction to Wallenberg is similar to that of Paul in Hotel Rwanda, and once Merwe decides to help the aliens in District 9. During the interviews in District 9, people are shocked at the actions of Merwe. These characters were outcasted from oppressors and had to risk their lives for humanity.

District 9 creates a world where history repeats itself, and could play out as a historical document of the future when aliens come to earth. It suggests that humans have yet to evolve, and that the industrialization of killing will continue growing as will hatred between those who think there are others who are less than themselves and deserve to be treated as such.

Cardon - Rwanda

The first time that I had ever even heard of the mass genocide in Rwanda was when the movie, Hotel Rwanda, was released. I was probably in seventh or eighth grade and had a pretty good understanding of what took place during the Holocaust but no knowledge whatsoever of other genocides. After reading several articles online, I would say that the movie accurately portrays the sentiment the Western world had towards Rwanda. Being an extremely poor country with few natural resources to offer, there was nothing in it for other countries to come to their aid. It simply wasn’t worth the time or effort, but watching Brazil kick ass in the World Cup was. Rather early on in the film, Don Cheadle’s character is sitting at the hotel bar with Joaquin Phoenix, and Cheadle is explaining to him the difference between the Hutus and the Tutsi’s. Phoenix then asks the two girls at the next table what they are. He is in amazement that one is Hutu and the other Tutsi, because there appears to be no difference between the two. The genocide only lasted one hundred days, but the death toll was close to a million, compared to the Holocaust’s, which was around 11 million (some say it could be around 20 million) in the time span of twelve years. The Hutu’s managed to “exterminate” almost a million “cockroaches” in about a third of a year. The novel, Murambi, came about through the initiative of African writers in hopes of commemorating and reflecting on the atrocities that happened in Rwanda. The novel’s main character is Cornelius Uvimana, a young history teacher who returns home to Rwanda four years (1998) after the genocide. The sole survivor of his family is his uncle Simeon Habineza. Both men try to continue living their lives. Cornelius attempts to work through his inner issues by turning his (the genocide) story into a play. Even though he was able to seek asylum in Djibouti, once he returns home he has no knowledge of what happened to his family and friends. In a way his absence can be seen harmful in the sense that it has left him so disconnected from what has happened to his people, compared to his uncle who stayed and endured the pain. Another issue that reappears throughout the novel is the idea of the victim versus the perpetrator. At one point Cornelius refers to himself as “the perfect Rwandan: both guilty and a victim.” He then goes on to say, “Maybe it was absurd of the victims to keep proclaiming their innocence so obstinately.” With this it is implied that in order for the victims to “redeem themselves as subjects of history” they must move on positively towards forgiveness.

Fisher - The Scars of Genocide Run Deep

This weeks blog is on the genocide that occurred in Rwanda over a 100 day period in 1994. Over this period of time 800,000 were reported dead, not including any disappearances. The total death toll was 1,000,000+ ; if you do the simple math, that is an average of 10,000 people a day being killed. Much like Sarajevo of last week's blog, these events went on unnoticed. They were muffled by the media as they pushed the 1994 World Cup, held in America for the first time, to the front headlines. The world was captivated by the build up to the largest attended World Cup to date. Needless to say, Rwanda did not qualify, had they, maybe the headlines would have been different. This is the second event that we have discussed in two weeks whose story was hidden from the public. I am sensing a correlation here between genocide and media cover-up. One would think it would be the opposite. Does not bad news and death catch the public's attention easier than good news? Would not the reporting of mass genocide put your company to the top? And they could still cover the World Cup. I see no reason to stifle these stories. They contain graphic images, survival stories, mass killings, all things that would fascinate an average human being. Food for thought.

In order to get a better picture of the happenings in Rwanda, the class was assigned to read Murambi, the Book of Bones and watch Hotel Rwanda. These follow the lives of a few who were involved in these horrific events. The book, written by Boubacar Boris Diop a journalist and nine other African writers, was an attempt of remembrance of what happened during the genocide. To do this, the writers went to Rwanda in order to see and hear for themselves in order to do justice to the story. The story is split into four parts, but follows Cornelius Uvimana, a young history teacher who returns to Rwanda from exile to find his family, except for his uncle, dead. His uncle, Siméon Habineza, was present when all this happened yet he remains vigil each day as he bears the weight of his experiences. The book speaks to the reader with voices of the victims and the perpetrators. It also rejects the idea of retaliation as a way of repentance. This is very forward thinking and would be difficult for any man/woman/child who was wronged in this manner to do. However, it is a good idea to preach as retaliation would only lead to more suffering and death which would most likely continue the circle of violence and vengeance.

The movie follows Paul Rusesabagina a Hutu hotel manager. He works at a European hotel in Rwanda and is left to run the place after all the white managent leaves, fearing for their lives. He turns the hotel into a shelter, saving the lives of 1,268 Tutsis including his own wife and children. The movie contains many graphic images and scenes that attempt to shock the viewer into the realization of what was actually occurring. It was full on hate crimes being committed again the Tutsis by the Hutus. This came from the Tutsis having precedence over the Hutus due the their more angular features, heighth, and lighter skin. Therefore, they received better education, living quarters, and working conditions. The Hutus took up arms (supplied by China) against the Tutsis in attempt to "exterminate the cockroach infestation", referring to the Tutsis as insects. And they were treated as such, without any regard for human life. This can be compared to the Nazi's subjugation and eradication of European Jews. The Nazis viewed Jews as less than human or "life not deserving of life" and saw their own race as superior. In Rwanda there was the difference that the Tutsis originally were held in higher regard and the lower class tribe took the initiative. How odd would it have been for the Jews to have subjugated the German people? Scary right?

Dacula - Hope Amidst Hopelessness

Hotel Rwanda once again gives us a different perspective of mass genocide, this time through the lens of the persecuted and oppressed people of Rwanda. Like Sarajevo, this mass genocide did not last as long in comparison to the Holocaust of World War II. However, the lives lost in those brief three months were in the millions. As Dr. McCay mentioned, it is shocking to discover that most countries were not willing (or did not seem to be willing) to help the Rwandan people. In spite of heavy news coverage, most countries chose to turn a blind eye to this issue. The saying “ignorance is bliss” is undoubtedly a biased argument when it comes to this Rwandan genocide. The film raises the question of whether or not society has become increasingly self-centered in recent years. Using Rwanda as evidence, I think we can unfortunately say that most of these countries fostered the mindset of “it’s not my problem.” We learn that one man, however, named Paul Rusesabagina did not seem to foster such a self-centered mindset. Rusesabagina helps in saving over a thousand lives by allowing them to use his hotel as a shelter.

Hotel Rwanda explains that the reason for this mass genocide stems from a longstanding feud between social classes: the Tutsi (people of Rwanda in power based on racial elitism) and the Hutus (the general population of Rwanda who were not considered racially elite). The Hutus, because of their greater population, eventually overtook the power of the Tutsis in the 1960s. The mass genocide of Rwanda occurred as a result of the assassination of Habyarimana. This assassination led to the Hutus’ execution of countless Tutsis, who the Hutus referred to as “cockroaches.”

In Murambi, the Book of Bones, the Rwandan genocide theme continues. The book documents the life of Cornelius, a Rwandan history teacher who lived in Djibouti during the genocide. Cornelius’ family falls victim to the genocide killings in Rwanda. He returns to Rwanda and tries to reconcile the senseless death of his family with himself. Cornelius uses writing as his outlet to expose everything he has experienced with this genocide. Like the cellist in Sarajevo, Cornelius also discovers and maintains the sense that our humanity is the only coping mechanism we have in the face of hatred and senseless killing. He highlights the sickening lack of humanity amidst the atrocities he witnesses around him. IN spite of what he witnesses around him, we see that Cornelius refuses to let it ruin his own faith and hope in humanity. We see this in Cornelius’ description of Djibouti: “…it was the only place in the world where he had the feeling that one could start something new.” He makes a crucial point that such concentrated hatred and lack of humanity in one part of the world does not mean that hope for humanity is dead everywhere else as well. Djibouti becomes Cornelius’ strength.

Jessica also struggles maintains this sense of hope in the midst of a hopeless situation. The book describes her as a starving, hungry, and frail woman. Through her dialogue, we get an empathic feel for the suffering she goes through: “Should we just sit back and wait for our killers or try to do something so that our country can go back to being normal?...the tragedy would always end up catching you.” We see that Jessica is scarily uncertain about her situation and takes a dose of reality pills by admitting that tragedy is not something one can easily run away from. Through her thoughts, however, we also see that it is beneficial to face one’s “tragedies” and embrace them; only by embracing them can we then move on to fight it and experience what it really means to have hope in a hopeless situation.  

Coulter-Hotel Rwanda

The genocide in Rwanda was one of the fastest and most disturbing mass killings in history, the amount's of dead varying between 800,000 to 1.2 million dead in only three short month. One thing that stood out to me the most in the book and the movie was the fact that the difference between the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa was very difficult, if not impossible, to tell. The book even goes on in several places to show that it was possible for Tutsi to be seen as Hutu just by a forged paperwork, and says that they had the same language and shared the same Gods. The book tells the story of the first foreigner coming in to Rwanda and measuring everything up with his eyes since he had already robbed other areas of Africa. From this one person next come the missions and the Padres and the death of the native Gods, and from the force of there "Christian" learning there began to be a divide between these tribes. This reminded me of the Native American genocide that went on here in America where religion was used to establish a difference within communities where no difference really existed. This foreign infringement spells out the beginning of the change within the mindset of the Rwandan people which grows greater as those who embrace the foreign gods and life become separate from their once brothers. This divide is then exploited by outside forces as new governments are established that favors the Hutu's leading to a economic divide. This point is talked about by the first story teller in the book, Michel Serumundo, when he details how he set up his video store in a block of stores, where all the owners formed a type of community. He recalls how that community has been dissolving since "others" started setting up small wares on the sidewalk, what he is referring to is really peoples of different tribes trying to bridge the economic gap. This economic drive can also be seen in the Doctor who wants wealth enough to kill his wife and children and all other Tutsi's in order to get it.

In the movie Hotel Rwanda Don Cheadle plays as a Hutu assistant manager of a fancy hotel whose wife is a Tutsi. In the movie his actions reminded me very much of those of Oscar Schindler as he used his own wealth and influence in order to protect the Tutsi's within his hotel. There is also something to be said by the fact that as soon as things started to get rough the foreign manager quickly leaves, much like all the other foreigners of Rwanda. This seems to lend itself to the thinking that the world just didn't care what was going on, they were willing to turn a blind eye so long as it was Africans killing other Africans. This point is echoed by Colonel Oliver when he says that, "We are here as peace keepers, not peace makers." The world would rather have watched the world cup than tried to stop the fighting between these two African tribes it was their job to make peace not the rest of the worlds. The world's lack of involvement is really to do with the fact that there is no money in Rwanda it is a poor country, unlike say Iraq that has vast oil wealth.

In the Book the character that interested me the most was "Skipper" Gerard. His initial outburst in the cafe seemed to mark him as just a crazy person who had had too much to drink, but as the story develops the reader come to realize that he is the one true witness to many of the atrocities of the genocide. When he had said that he had drank their blood in the cafe I was very put off as to what that had to do with the genocide. In the end when it is revealed that he had the blood of those few who had chosen to fight poring all over him and into his mouth his madness begins to make since. The Skipper was so named because he was a dreamer someone who desired something outside the role of landlocked Rwanda, he wanted to sail. It stands as a tribute to the destructive power of this war that when he is encountered in the book he is now the only person who is willing to speak out and relive the genocide, while everyone else simply want to live a normal live. Gerard was also the one local witness to Cornelius's fathers true cowardice making him deflate a little from his stance of god of death that he has been played up to be.

Under German rule before World War I and later under Belgian rule, Tutsis were distinguished from Hutus by their taller, slimmer bodies, long noses and lighter skin that were taken as marks of racial superiority. The racial hierarchy instituted by the government subordinated all Africans, but gave preference to Tutsis in education, politics and in the economy. This dominance is what caused the Hutus to slaughter the Tutsis. 

Hotel Rwanda portrays one of the most horrific events of the twentieth century. When the 

Hutus of Rwanda initiated a genocide that killed hundreds of thousands of Tutsis, while the rest of the world did nothing. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), is the hotel manager at the Les Milles Collines hotel in Kigali. Paul is a Hutu, and a very successful businessman, while his wife, Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo), is a Tutsi. Tatiana begs her husband to use his influence to help Tutsis, who are being harassed and beaten, but Paul will only use the connections he's made to help his own family. The violence escalates, and the Hutus begin their genocide of the Tutsis. European guests and staff at the hotel are flown out of the country, and Paul is left in charge. Before long, the hotel has become a refugee camp. Paul is seen as a traitor by some, putting his life in danger. The movie shows how every western nation decided to not intervene with the genocide. Most of the outsiders chose to not believe what was actually going on in Rwanda. The movie perfectly displays that western societies will only step in when something of value is at risk. One of the scenes that stands out to me the most is when the UN general and Paul are at the bar and the general tells Paul that no one cares about them, westerns think they are dirt, and won't help because Rwanda has nothing economically to offer. 

Murambi tells the story of a young history teacher, Cornelius Uvimana, who returns to Rwanda from his home in exile in Djibouti four years after the genocide.  His entire family was killed in the violence, with the exception of his uncle, Siméon Habineza. Cornelius journeys home is an attempt to come to terms with what happened to his family and his country. Through the different voices, the reader sees the extensive planning, training, and propaganda that led up to the massacres. Diop shows the maneuverings of the French generals who evacuate the masterminds of the genocide. Murambi works to reject victimhood. Through the character of Siméon Habineza, Diop explores the role of victimhood in the cycles of violence in Rwanda. When the villagers in Murambi set out to destroy the home of the man who organized their relatives’ massacre, Siméon reminds them that acts of vengeance in Rwandan history have always called for acts of retribution. People should not see suffering as a moral license to act violently and then seek absolution in their own grief. Murambi suggests that ending violence and rebuilding society such events demand a willingness of victims to give up innocence and seek forgiveness.  Forgiveness not as in being okay with killing , but for survival. Victims act in a non-violent, non-vengeful way towards perpetrators in order to redeem themselves.  

The movie and the book, as well as the articles, explain the reason for genocide. One group was given privilege over the other. This is similar to the way the Nazi's viewed Jews. The Nazis thought they were better than the Jewish community and saw  Jews as something that needed to be "exterminated." Jewish people were blamed for the economy and short comings in Europe. In Rwanda, Hutus held a grudge against Tutsis. Even in Rwanda, Tutsis were blamed for the mistreatment and views of Hutus. Hutus referred to Tutsis as cockroaches. Thus, dehumanizing them and causing Hutus to not relate to the pain Tutsis were experiencing. Murambi shows that violence cannot be fought with violence because it will be a never ending battle. As for the western civilizations, they should be more than ashamed! Even the movie showed how China was supplying Hutus in Rwanda with machetes for an extremely low price even when the tension was high in the country.  It is hard to believe that such events occurred not long ago, but I force myself to take in the horror so I am not ignoring what happened. Everyone should have known what was taking place! The use of media seems to be a contributing factor in war. The radio man in Rwanda told people how awful Tutsis were and how they needed to be killed. This is similar to the literature Germans were reading during WWII that blamed Jews for the depression.