Memory

Memory is a construction of the present. What we remember is because of what is presented to us which is often created for a certain purpose. For instance, the Helen Keller memorial was put up recently because we are more sympathetic to disabled people today and because the people who put up the memorial want us to remember her and her struggles. Also, much of our memory is created by the media and what they decide to include. The film A Beautiful Mind left out the fact that he had homosexual tendencies because we as a society want to remember him for his brilliance not for other factors that could possibly cloud his achievements. District 9 emphasizes past mistakes in order to create social meaning and serve a political interest. It focuses on the experiences of South Africa’s past in order to send the broader political message of tolerance.

Generations that experience certain events remember those events differently than present generations. Present generations only remember past events from what the older generations retain from the situation. Memories often become cloudy as individuals become older and what is preserved for future generations can begin to move further from the truth. Often, what is retained is what society wants or needs at that time. Blomkamp experienced the apartheid personally and what he experienced he showed through his film. But his memory of experience is that of a young white kid and his memory could be very different from others. The media he makes is created from his memory but for people who haven’t experienced the apartheid our memory of what it may have been, is solely based off his. Obviously, it’s a fictional setting and not shot in real documentary form but his recollection of what happened was influenced everything done in his film. Because of this, his view is most likely the view of present whites (that separation is bad) in the official culture but this view would have been the vernacular view years ago. This shift towards tolerance let Blomkamp make a political film with a message while still being able to enjoy success in South Africa. This success would have been difficult without society’s current tolerance which is due to our recollection of the past.

Narrative

Aristotle believed that narratives mimic reality. Blomkamp had a different idea and created a fictional story, with different life forms our world is unfamiliar with in order to recount the apartheid in South Africa. He used the form of narrative to his advantage by: astatically creating a fictional world with alternate beings, instrumentally depicting a story that he could use to make a point, and constitutively by hopefully transforming how some see their world.

The story is told in a documentary type fashion through the character of Wikus, a white, pro contamination, ordinary character that the audience is suppose to relate to. Wikus is in charge of relocating the aliens to what seems to be a concentration camp and at the beginning of the film this seems reasonable because who would want to live among the trash eating aliens? But as the storyline moves forward it becomes apparent that Blomkamp is using the narrative in order to change our way of thinking. As the character Wikus progresses his way of thinking begins to change and he begins to feel for the aliens, just because they are different they shouldn’t be treated as disposable lives. The differences between the aliens and humans is apparent and over dramatized in order to make the point that if Wikus can overcome these drastic differences of how is it possible for humans to hate other humans merely because of their race?

Often a narrative is made to help society understand a way of thinking but as Blomkamp shows it can also be used to change a way of thinking. I believe that this films narrative does both. In America and many other societies people are becoming more accepting to alternative lifestyles, race, and homosexuality. For this group, the story reinforces the idea of acceptance and helps strengthen this way of thinking. But for others it was made in order to change their way of thinking. For instance, in 1973 the General Assembly of the United Nations submitted a draft on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (ICSPCA) which declared apartheid to be a crime against humanity and went far beyond South African. 76 nations signed on but the United States along with Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand would not sign, believing that a crime against humanity must be elaborated further than apartheid. Its situations like these the Blomkamp is trying to change.

Empathy

At the beginning of the film it’s hard for the viewer to have any sort of sympathy for a creature that a human cannot relate to. The aliens are disgusting and malnourished beings that live off trash and are shown to have no human characteristics whatsoever. This is why it was necessary for Blomkamp to add an element to the film that I (along with most viewers) did not see coming. The transformation of Wikus from a human to an alien. His transformation puts the viewer in the perspective of the aliens which helps the viewer fully understand their situation and allows them to feel empathy. Movies like Independence Day, Alien, and other films containing aliens often don’t want the viewer to feel anything but fear for the aliens. Fear that they are going to ruin our existence and way of life. There is no need to understand another life form when all they want is destruction. District 9 turns this idea upside down, displaying humans as the creatures that only want to destroy life. The only way to make a film that would allow the audience to feel for the aliens was to put a human in the alien’s shoes and have him tortured and experimented on by his own kind. In the end his only sanctuary is among other aliens and they are the only ones that will take him in. The transformation of Wikus was an effective way for the viewer to begin to feel empathy for a race that humans have no connection with besides the fact that every creature has a natural habitat, has certain needs, and wants/deserves to be treated a certain way.