Science Fiction & District 9

Science FictionGenre

Science Fiction Authors Definitions

Theodore Sturgeon, author :

“A good science-fiction story is a story about human beings, with a human problem, and a human solution, which would not have happened at all without its scientific content."

Major Themes in Science Fiction

• Space travel to and from other planets (ie: Star Wars, Star Trek)• Time travel to the past and future (ie: Back to the Future)• Psychological/biological changes to man brought about by scientific changes (ie: The Incredible Hulk)

• Supernormal powers/talents (ie: Superman, Spiderman, Batman)

• Science applied to human relations for constructive or destructive purposes (ie: Weird Science)

• Battle with alien life forms (ie: Alien, Signs)

• Alternate Universe (ie: Star Wars)

Science Fiction Films - Codes and Conventions

Science fiction films uses speculative and science based depictions of phenomena’s that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life, often alongside with futuristic elements such as spacecrafts and robots. Therefore the codes and conventions within science fiction films would undoubtedly included science and technology. Science fiction films often focuses on political and social issues, and explore philosophical issues like the human condition.

Sci Fi – Early Cinema• In the early days of cinema science fiction made its mark:

• A Trip to the Moon (1902) by the Frenchman Georges Melies

• Metropolis (1926) by the German Fritz Lang, the first classic science fiction film

Codes and Conventions in science fiction

- Set in future- Aliens worlds- Time travels- travelling backwards and forwards through time has always been a popular in science fiction film- Spacecrafts and robots- Imaginative settings- Alien abductions- Galactic Empires that oppress everything- Rebel(s) going against the empire- Conflicts between alien and human- The concept of extraterrestrial life is a popular convention in science fiction films,

where the aliens are seen as a threat to the human race

Why study Science Fiction?

• Allows the audience to consider the question “What If?”

• Teaches lessons about the value and dangers of advanced technology and virulent (deadly) social beliefs.

Sci Fi Movies Today

• Matrix, Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions• Star Wars Trilogy• Spiderman• Men in Black 1,2&3•A.I.•Minority Report•Signs•Transformers•Moon•Oblivion

Science Fiction Themes

Most controversial issues in science fiction films tend to fall into two general story lines, Utopian or Dystopian. Either a society will become better or worse in the future.

SF’s generic elements offer several possible pleasures:

• Narratively and visually it can play out ‘what if’ speculations about future social or scientific developments, both around science (through the figure of the ‘mad scientist’) and political order (through figures of malign and remote leaders)

• It often visualises or hints at the ways in which these speculative set-ups relate to contemporary hopes and fears

• It displays, almost for their own sake, expensive cutting-edge SFX in cinema

• It easily mixes these with other generic elements, especially those of action adventure and fantasy, and more recently of the disaster movie.

The location of the slum dwelling in District 9 builds the ‘prawns’ as marginalised and isolated.

The location of Johannesburg is interesting because of Apartheid and the racist history of the country. We can identify with the location and it makes the reality more possible, more believable.

The reality for the aliens is they are stranded in an increasingly hostile society. They are in the process of being evicted to a concentration-like facility (historical reference to the holocaust) Their spaceship hovering above the city is a daily reminder of their plight.

District 9

• This idea of foreigners living amongst us is one that stirs fear in many. The African’s were marginalised and persecuted by the Afrikaner govt., as were the Jews in Germany and as many other races, tribes and minorities are in the world today. This is a possible scenario for these aliens as they are not the typical representation seen in the sci-fi genre.

• This location is geographically real and the audience can wonder about the possiblility far more that some ‘off’ Earth planet. The fact that the aliens are disorganised and rather pathetic, that they are contained in a slum as humans live in third world countries adds a whole new dimension to the usual SF locations.

Xenophobia

Themes of racism and xenophobia are put forward by the movie in the form of ‘speciesism’ applied to the aliens. The use of the word "prawn" to describe the aliens is a reference to the Parktown prawn, a king cricket species considered a plague in South Africa. The theme is not intended to be the main focus of the work, but rather that it works at a subconscious level even if it is not noticed (polysemy).

• Hero? – Wikus. Starts out as a gormless pen pusher thrust into a postion of power due to nepotism. He is a hapless hero with few redeeming features at the start. He takes delight in ‘aborting ‘the prawns’ and runs around shouting orders like an excited child. It is only after he is infected with the alien fuel that he begins to gain empathy for the aliens. It is this narrative transition to alien that is shocking and follows in the tradition of Kafka’s Metamorphisis, known as ‘body horror’ (a regular convention of the sci-fi genre).

Sci-Fi ‘Body Horror’ Films‘Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers’ (1956)

The extraterrestrial invasion of a small California town where the invaders replace human beings with duplicates that appear identical on the surface but are devoid of any emotion or individuality.

‘The Thing’ (1982)

The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a parasitic extraterrestrial lifeform that assimilates other organisms and in turn imitates them.

‘The Fly’ (1986)

Some critics saw the film as a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic when a scientist, after a scientific experiment, transforms into a fly.

These films see ‘the other’ as a threat. Whereas ‘District 9’ reminds us of our humanity

• Princess? – Tania has no control of her life. She has a dominating father and has escaped him to build a loving relationship with Wikus, the complete opposite. As soon as Wikus is out of the picture she comes back under her father’s control.

• Villian? Obesandjo- A Nigerian warlord operating out of District 9, preying on the aliens by swapping their advanced weapons for cat food. He believes if he eats alien body parts he will gain their strength – voodoo, superstitions

CorporationsAn underlying theme in District 9 is state reliance on multinational corporations as a government funded enforcement arm. As MNU represents the type of corporation which partners with governments, the negative portrayal of MNU in the film can be seen as a statement about the dangers of governments, particularly in their outsourcing of militaries and bureaucracies to private contractors, effectively turning them into government-funded corporations.

• Villian? MNU, a global arms corporation are the real villains in the piece and follow the convention set out in Lang’s early film Metropolis of the greedy, immoral corporation.Their experiments on the ‘prawns’ are horrific and show the moral depths they will sink to to unlock the aliens’ biological weapons. It is their depravity that spurs Christopher on to escape and help his race.

You need to be able to discussShared features across the genre

Demonstrate understanding of common features (conventions). films: monstrous villains, religious iconography, location/settings,

Demonstrate understanding means to provide a description of the characteristics of aspecific media genre. This includes:

- commonly shared features of the genre - changes in the genre – eg development of genre, changes to use of features

- how and/or why the features are used- reasons for changes in the genre

Demonstrate critical understanding means provide a detailed examination of thecharacteristics of a specific media genre. This includes: - implications of the use of features in the genre

- implications of the changes in the genre