But then he starts hacking up black liquid, which sends him to the hospital and then discovers his hand is turning into a prawn claw. Christopher, meanwhile, has his eyes set on rescuing his people from our increasingly hostile planet. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. A bomb explodes in an office building. Wikus goes into an alien shack to find computer parts hanging from the walls. He also loves his wife dearly and does everything in his power to reunite with her. Taylor eventually fights his way to a successful escape with his companion Nova. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. That what splashed together is far more dangerous than he is making it out to be. (Of course, we do not know why would Prawns have such an instinct to begin with.) However,the alien life forms provide the ultimate twist when they reveal that Louise's flashbacks are actually images of the future. Its a ridiculous twist that only highlights the worst of the films flaws. Eventually, MNU decides to harvest everything they can from Wikusstrip him down to nothing, someone saysa fate Wikus escapes by fighting his way free from hospital personnel and holding a scalpel to the throat of a doctor. They were "drones" working caste aliens, incapable of surviving or piloting their starship on their own, and their leaders had mysteriously disappeared. We gussy up our guest rooms, happily cook meals and sit on our couches with guests, laughing and talking until the wee hours of the morning. Christopher hides out the back while his friend is forced outside. Wikus tells the aliens that they are being evicted from their homes and asks them to sign. For example, I think Force Lightning and force chocking is cool, but so is lifting an X-wing from a swamp. Much of the plot involves the obsession of the private security firm in learning the secret of the alien weapons, which humans cannot operate. While Wikus is able to demonstrate some of the more tactile-based controls, it's Christopher and his son who show what a master of the tech can do. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. In the penultimate shot, when Wikus' wife talks about the handmade flower she mysteriously received, on the mirror behind her you can briefly see three ultrasound pictures. Someone makes a reference to testicles. District 9 's ending brings a story of class inequality to a heartbreaking and explosive conclusion. With every unexpected and shocking plot turn, there's another sci-fi moviewith a twist that is so absurd, it ruins the whole movie and even its entire reputation. thissection. The aliensnow derogatorily referred to as "prawns"are sequestered in a cramped, lawless ghetto in the middle of the city, where they live in makeshift shacks and pick through trash piled, seemingly, everywhere. Soon after, a military tank comes to save everybody. The transformation involves skin being pierced from the inside by a newly developing exoskeleton. And now that he is a prawn does that turn over to his ability to speak? So Pharaoh isolated them, bullied them, enslaved them and killed their children. of District 9 study guide contains a biography of director Neill Blomkamp, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. However, it's possible that Christopher supplied false information on the names, location, and number of children in order to mislead MNU. Wikus, however, kills scores of people with the horrific weaponssometimes tearing off their arms and heads, but more often theyre messily vaporized, leaving behind just a spatter of blood and gore. How could a filmmaker develop a film on the basis of Italian neorealism? Its revealed to main character Neo that what he knows as reality is just a simulation used to trick him into slavery by robots in the future. I cant believe I get paid for this, MNUs military leader tells a beaten, bloodied alien. Whats the difference between a shrimp and a prawn? The woman later reveals to him that he is actually a clone of the true Jack, who passed many years before. Easy. For more information, please see our Thus they aren't interested in a peaceful transition. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/District9. While it is a symbol that his transformation is permanent, it is also a symbol that Wikus is a weapon as he can operate the alien weapons; the MNU will stop at nothing to harvest his DNA and organs for their own use. Ironically they are looking in the wrong place. About 20 years ago, a huge alien spacecraft parked itself over the city. He launched and ran his own website, MNU Spreads Lies. Upon reaching the mothership, Christopher sets a course for home and leaves Earth, leaving humanity wondering what his intentions are. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. The Nigerian gangster boss is apparently so much of a megalomaniac that his reaction to, Wikus really should have known better than to. Black goo trickles from his nose. He eventually completes the transformation and joins the "prawn" residents of District 10. Pronunciation of Wikus with 3 audio pronunciations. He no longer views them as totally other. A lab worker stretches what appears to be a prawn skin. A heartwarming example: early in the film, Wikus' wife mentions that Wikus was fond of giving her handmade gifts. The very last shot in the movie is. The twist transforms Moon into amovie that completely challenges genre conventions in the best way possible. Unbreakable is about Bruce Willis David Dunn and Samuel L. Jacksons Elijah Price as they work together to strengthen Dunns super strength capabilities and build him up as a modern day hero. The mission goes wrong fast when CaptainPinbacker turns into a monstrous creature that hunts down his crew. The xenophobia is so extreme that it leads to another theme: alienation. Sign the form and let them move him where they want, or refuse to sign it and (at best) have them take him away anyway? District 9 is often considered an allegory for the struggles that South Africa experienced under apartheid. One of Grahams sons ends up attacking the alien with a bat, sending it crashing into a glass of water that burns the aliens skin. The 2013 movie Oblivion built an immersive sci-fi experience with outstanding visuals, and atmospheric soundtrack. Coherences big, reality-altering twist proves that amovie does not need a huge budget or flashy CGI to become one of the most ambitious and unique sci-fimovies made in recent memory. And now that he is a prawn does that turn over to his ability to speak? According to a user from South Africa, the name Wikus is of German origin and means "Glorious in battle". Most of us love the occasional visit. Moderate. The two come across a shocking scene of the destroyed Statue of Liberty, unveiling the shocking truth. The worship of technology: Not only do the humans want to monetize the alien's technology, the tech itself is a kind of "deus ex machina." Sometimes, these risky twists work out in the best way possible, making theirmovies instant classics to be remembered for years. Tania mentioning that Wikus would make her handmade gifts, like the papier-mch bowl she accidentally sat on. a. Your name of Wikus makes you imaginative and creative with an easy-going, generous, kind personality. It is only by slowy turning into a prawn that he understands what their situation truly is, and this understanding makes him a better person. She was able to them see thanks to her work with the aliens, who taught her that time wasn't linear. his arm that gives him away before he can get to, when Wikus is forced by his captors to test an alien weapon on a live prawn, powerful, user-friendly, alien technology meets Wikus's rage, recognising him as family that's a free ticket to, The Prawns aren't above dealing this back to humans, as. How does Wikus turn into a prawn? Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a335a7539678ec26ba34a8c758b386db" );document.getElementById("c08a1a06c7").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. his friend is killed, he agrees to not kill any humans during their attack on MNU, as Wikus insists. Pronunciation of Wikus with 1 audio pronunciations. Theyre not allowed to leave because humans, so far, have not been able to figure out how to use their highly advanced weaponry. The District 9 trailer includes an interview taken during his custody. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul. Wikus telling the same assistant only sissies wear surgical masks. The aliens' drug-like addiction to cat food is based on a very common colonial occurrence: you find some substance the natives don't have (usually alcohol, caffeine, or sugar), get them hooked on it, and then make unfair deals with them that exploit their addiction. Wikus has one alien eye towards the end of the movie. So Wikus has a pretty good grasp on a spoken understanding of the prawn's language but does that convert to written? And he slowly begins to transform into a prawn. Inside, they found a race of insectoid creatures starving, aimlessqueenless, some scientists speculate. Uh-huh. His fingernails and teeth begin falling out. Moderate. And Obesandjo takes an electric rod to his brain mid-sentence, which charges and causes the rest of it to, the alliance between Wikus and Christopher, particularly the raid on MNU, departing Earth for the heavens, and the people of Earth speculating on. An editor Christopher and his species first arrived on Earth onboard their ship hovering over the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, around March 1982. He pulls out his own fingernails, yanks free his teeth and, finally, begins to peel away skin. So what happens if your houseguest is still there? It is a symbol that he is beginning to change from the inside out into one of the aliens. The twist in Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back was so huge that its since become a cultural landmark that is still referenced to this day. Accessed 4 June 2023. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. The movie is a mock documentary following the relocation process of a group of aliens, or prawns, who have been stranded in Johannasburg, South Africa, and are living in a refugee camp. How can foreign filmmakers increase demand for foreign films in the U.S.? However, in August 2008, he was taken into custody by MNU and was held for seven months. Themovie attempts to throw a twist at its audience when the film first seems to end with the last astronaut making it home safely. Taylor didn't land on a strange planet, by merely a future version of Earth. numerous prawns show up, rip Koobus to pieces and begin to eat him. 2. To Tania's credit, she figures it out, and it seems that by the end of the movie she loves him again. The film demonstrates how fear and prejudice allow one group to isolate, denigrate, and discriminate against another group whom they do not understand. A pack of prawns rip apart a human with their tentacles. Prawns is the nickname given to them because of their physical resemblance to giant two-legged shrimp. The treatment Wikus receives from his fellow humans after the news media claims he's been infected with an alien STD recalls the social ostracism of people infected with HIV/AIDS. It is known as the. It was an unexpected and tragic twist that heightened the emotional impact of the entire movie. Complete Gonzalo's and Eva's stories with the appropriate preterite forms of the verbs provided. Gods name is abused twice; Jesus once. Welcome to /r/FanTheories! And the Israelites called up to heaven for someone to save them. Made into biological weapons, which is why their guns only worked for them? District 9 is a 2009 science-fiction Thriller/Mockumentary by Neill Blomkamp, based on his short film Alive in Joburg (which can be found on YouTube) and produced by Peter Jackson.. Required fields are marked *. There's a Facebook group called MNU Spreads Lies. In this country of longtime apartheid, where racial tensions have run deep for hundreds of years, blacks and whites finally have found something that unites them: Their growing hatred of prawns. Christopher when he reaches the MNU lab and sees the horrible carcasses that have been dissected by the humans. Much like the Jim Crow laws of the American South, apartheid laws upheld segregation and discriminatory practices between black South Africans and white South Africans. How is the movie The Pursuit of Happyness related to economics? We started getting visitors from every universe. It took twenty years of hellish life in a slum, watching his friend be murdered, seeing horrific experiments that humans were subjecting his people to, and being savagely beaten by psychopathic mercenaries but CJ and his child manage to return to their homeworld in the end. Difficult. When Christophers child asks where his dad is, Wikus lies, telling him that Christopher is just fine and will be along shortly. Throughout the movie, Cole has bizarre images of some mysterious shooting flash through his head. Would he have an accent? The movie could have been something special and unique, but instead its twist took it down a boring and tired path. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. Security Force: The standard MNU guards who wear all black combat gear and carry white firearms, who provide most of the security and law enforcement at both District 9 and MNU Headquarters. Venter is a ruthless, xenophobic PMN soldier sent to capture Wikus Van De Merwe, a bureaucrat of the Multinational United and the film's protagonist who became exposed to a strange black fluid that begun his slow and abnormal transformation into a Prawn, the alien species living in the shantytown called District 9 beside Johannesburg, South . Very difficult. However,the film quickly reveals itself to be something more when strange and bizarre things begin to happen. How else do you describe watching yourself slowly transform into a completely different biological organism? Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. Who Can Benefit From Diaphragmatic Breathing? The prawns are helpless because their leadership class is mysteriously missing. Not affiliated with Harvard College. Wikus begins mutating into a Prawn, starting with his left arm, which was injured after the fuel exposure, and which was hidden under a large bandage. After his space mission goes awry, astronaut George Taylor discovers that he has crash landed thousands of years in the future on a mysterious planet ruled by a race of speaking apes who enslave humans. I had a chance to speak with Chris Harvey, visual effects supervisor for Chappie, about the effort that went into putting the robot on the screen. MNUs CEO lies to his daughter. Perhaps that's why they were exiled? What was the African policy of apartheid? Written by people who wish to remainanonymous. 100 100 comments Best Add a Comment hausermaniac 2 yr. ago They explicitly describe in the movie that it's fuel for the ship, and Christopher Johnson is making the liquid himself. What are the prawns in District 9? Or maybe it was his newly acquired Prawn instinct in action. In the movie, Christopher generally refers to his child as "little one," however most people refer to him as Little CJ. (He settles for a finger.). When MNU officials take it, he and Wikus form an unlikely alliance to get it back. I love watching you prawns die.. Boils away at the end, wherein aliens kill him to save Wikus, showing that they accept Wikus as one of their own. Many would agree that Denis Villeneuves Arrival is a sci-fi movie unlike any other. Part of District 9's impact has to do with the "realism" of the way the prawns are treated. Helpful 42 Wikus Van De Merwe: Get your fokkin' tentacle out of my face! If green prawns are actually special, this might explain why the other prawns defended him. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make yourown. Wikus and Christopher escaped MNU after Christopher made a bomb, and they escaped to District 9. Published May 16, 2020 District 9 tells a horrific tale of class in equality between aliens and humans. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. although Wikus himself never uses this while piloting the mech (presumably because he didn't know how). By the time story begins, the aliens have already been on Earth long for the usual symptoms of prejudice and xenophobia to take on a life Ridley Scott borrows a lot from the horror genre. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make yourown. All rights reserved. This shift is most dramatically demonstrated when he risks his own life to help one prawn escape the South African authorities. 18 In the movie District 9, Wikus van der Merwe goes through a transformation into an alien after being exposed to an alien artifact. How It Ends is a 2018 American action thriller film directed by David M. Rosenthal and written by Brooks McLaren. Would he have an accent? Stating that they had medical machines on the mothership that could cure Wikus, he was ecstatic until Christopher pointed out that they would need the fuel to get to the mothership, and so they agreed to work together to break into MNU and find the fluid. Anonymous "District 9 Irony". Instead of taking themovie in an interesting direction, the second half of Sunshine goes straight to conventional horror and hurts the film in a major way. He leads MNU enforcers into the ghetto and starts prodding prawns to sign eviction notices, clearing the way for their relocation. a fully-transformed Wikus making a flower for her out of metal scraps. He sees no similarity between himself and the "prawns," and this mindset allows him to mistreat the aliens. He is hit in the face with the fluid shortly thereafter. One of the subplots involves Coopers daughter being contacted by some mysterious force telling Cooper to stay home. The filth, mistreatment, savagery, oppression and racism that occurs. Wikus attempts to chop his arm off, believing it'll stop his metamorphosis, but he only manages to get a finger off and stops due to the pain. All rights reserved. of District 9 study guide contains a biography of director Neill Blomkamp, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Yet another dark one in the deleted scenes: the "population growth control". events later in the film invert the trope: Smit clearly gave him the promotion knowing that he was out of his depth and hoping he would be humiliated or somehow end up killed by the aliens. In 1982, a massive flying saucer came to a halt above the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. After the MNU mercs are done with the Nigerian gangsters, they get Christopher out of the truck he's in and Koobus starts beating him with metal pipes and rifle butts to get him to talk. GradeSaver, 10 August 2017 Web. He mentions that he mightve defecated in his pants. Its hard to find much to praise when it comes to discussing Johannesburgs human population. If the alien guns don't outright gib who they hit, they're losing a limb at least. User Submitted Meanings. Log in here. That said, District 9 also comes with something you wont find in such summer blockbusters as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen or G.I. eating prawn body parts will grant them power over the alien's DNA-activated technology, UsefulNotes/Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, UsefulNotes/Academy Award for Best Picture, UsefulNotes/Academy Award For Best Adapted Screenplay, ANTAmerica News Television (specifically the South Africa Desk). As Wikus evicts the aliens, he encounters Christopher Johnson, an alien who shows more knowledge compared to the rest of the aliens since he is aware of how to distinguish alien technology from human technology. Wikus is transformed and living in the slums, but Christopher and his son got away in the mothership, promising to return in three years. And thateven in a film as hard and horror-filled as thisis saying something. The main character's real turning point. The director, native South African Neill Blomkamp, ushers moviegoers into a brutal, ugly world that, for all the aliens running around, feels sadly familiar. Meeting and mixing with people from all walks of life comes easily. No More Dream was BTS first single ever, and, impressively, the lyrics were written by BTS band members RM, Suga, and J-Hope along with their producers. If the main character had waited, his son would have lived. As for the prawns, Christopher Johnson, a single parent raising a prawn lad, spends 20 years manufacturing a vial of fuel to power the hovering mother craft. Why does Tolson make his students repeatedly say this? I think both groups have some valid points. The film uses a discovered footage technique in part and includes fake interviews, news footage, and surveillance camera footage. Wikus' alien arm, especially how it lets him operate prawn technology. Search for more names by meaning . Here are11 Plot Twists That Hurt Sci-Fi Movies (And 14 That Saved Them). It's discovered that he has a claw and is turning into a Prawn. Jews in Nazi Germany. Thoughts? The Matrix is amovie that brought a refreshing take to the sci-fi genre in 1999. Theyre set up in a make-shift ghetto called District 9. Wikus gets inside much later, and awesomeness ensues. Did they originally look different until they were all infected as well prior to arriving on earth. That's way too long to think he could possibly restored by then. Most humans think they deserve no better. The master of twists M. Night Shyamalan changed the nature of what superheromovies can be when he made Unbreakable in 2002. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. At least thats the way it works for a while. District Six is the most visible because it was prime land in the heart of a city and because it was so iconic in the countrys history as a place of refuge and community for so many South Africans of all backgrounds. Terry Gillam is the king of world-building, and he outdoes himself with the outlandish time travel movie, 12 Monkeys. I'll just list the ones that strike me: 1. The aliens love cat foodso much so that theyre willing to make one-sided trades to get it. Shrimp belong to the sub-order Pleocyemata, and prawns belong to the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. This twist tries to be shocking, but it only comes across as a cheap, last minute trick that is more irritating than mind-blowing. And always remember that a smile is cheaper than a bullet. Wikus is betrayed by humanity due to him being infected and beginning to transform into a Prawn. If the filmmakers in any way intended these biblical parallels, they keep evidence of it mostly under wraps. And how quickly theyd start having their own accent and speaking inflections compared to home world prawns, (Feel free to leave your own thoughts and stuff idk I just feel bad for just posting a lot of randomness), Scan this QR code to download the app now. The plot twist blew audiences minds back in the '60s and continues to do so today. Quick cuts, sudden sporadic violence, some gore, light and shadows all combine with a soundtrack that dictates the tone and pace. However,they were seriously let down by Terminator Salvation. Written by people who wish to remainanonymous. After Wikus' first escape in the alien mini-mecha he's still reluctant to enter the fight full-on, and Koobus takes the opportunity to yell at him in the meantime. But the final test is on a living, confused prawn, whom the weapon obliterates in a cloud of blood. Wikus couldn't care less about prawns and is interested only in curing himself, until the last 30 minutes of the movie. In a mecha no less. Tolson: "Why is Latest answer posted February 16, 2020 at 12:45:28 PM. Sharlto Copley as Wikus van de Merwe, a mild-mannered, bumbling, awkward bureaucrat at the MNU Department of Alien Affairs, who becomes infected with an alien fluid, slowly turning him into one of the "prawns". Surprisingly, most of the aliens turned out to be confused, timid and starved. Interstellar follows a group of astronauts led by Matthew McConaugheys Cooper as they try to save the Earth. thissection. When Wikus's fingernails fall off as he transforms into an alien, and later, when he chops off one of his alien "fingers". Unstable Allegories of Eviction and Othering in District 9, Analysis of Film Form and Meaning in District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009). The film itself is an odd (but very fitting) combination of a sociopolitical Improv Mockumentary, extreme violence based on (among other things) Robocop and Halo, and a classic science-fiction horror story (slash Black Comedy) very much like The Fly (1986). After being sprayed by the black liquid, he begins to transform into an alien, starting with his left arm. District 9 becomes a race against time as Wikus must find a cure. Wikus. While most of Signs is an enjoyable sci-fi trip, the final water-based twist takes the wind completely out of its sails. After watching "District 9" a few times, you may notice the aliens have a variety of contrasting colors painted on their bodies. Currently, the museum serves as a remembrance of the once lively multi-racial area that was forcefully removed during apartheid in the 1960s and 1970s. Was this screenplay written by James Cameron? Signs populate the area saying things like "no humans allowed.". Because of their morphological resemblance to huge two-legged shrimp, the aliens have been branded as 'prawns.' They have established their camp in District 9, a makeshift settlement. Btard, p and the British profanity bloody also are heard. [Note: Spoilers are contained in the following sections.]. Wikus reveals that he confiscated it and that it is in a safe at MNU. District 9 is itself a symbol of the countless refugee slums that exist in the world today. Humans and prawns are punched, kicked, thrown, shot, burned, gassed, blown up and otherwise treated poorly. Were they experimented on? Christopher shows CJ the District 10 Brochure. Vomit is a recurrent theme. Clearly their weapons technology has a biological interface, so it's reasonable to think the ship does as well. The second twist is even worse. Decades of unrest due to an alien encounter is solved, even if it's just temporary. More than 130 f-words, supplemented by close to a dozen s-words. This inevitably leads to the emergence of several themes. It's one thing to go in there willingly, but unwillingly? Its a bitter and memorable end that makes the movie memorable. As themovie ends, it seems as though Angier has won, trapping Borden to perish in prison. Apartheid (apartness in the language of Afrikaans) was a system of legislation that upheld segregationist policies against non-white citizens of South Africa. The film follows Colter Stevens as he works to solve a crime using source code technology that allows him to relive a moment in time in alternate timelines. in the process of being relocated by the government. from Dordt University. Unstable Allegories of Eviction and Othering in District 9, Analysis of Film Form and Meaning in District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009). But when he finally does, it galvanizes him into a ruthless champion whos willing to sacrifice himself to save a prawn family. By the time story begins, the aliens have already been on Earth long for the usual symptoms of prejudice and xenophobia to take on a life Ridley Scott borrows a lot from the horror genre. When Christopher Nolan took his filmmaking skills to the sci-fi genre, it resulted in the epic Interstellar, one of his best movies. Were the "aliens" once something more akin to humans before they encountered the fluid? The film stars Theo James, Forest Whitaker, Grace Dove, Nicole Ari Parker, Kat Graham, and Mark OBrien. Sharlto Copley (Wikus Van De Merwe) - Call me a fookin' prawn first the 'Prawns' do seem completely alien in their appearance, with disgusting habits and incomprehensible language, we are soon encouraged to empathise with Christopher and his son (see Sequence 2). 10 The Little Mermaid Cosplays That Perfectly Make The Disney Princess Part Of Our World, Dune Directed By Wes Anderson Focuses On Paul & Chani's Romance In Zany Fanmade Trailer, Fast & Furious Has Introduced Dom's Replacement For After Fast 11 & 12. But I do not like either group and would much prefer to be left alone by both. Privacy Policy. However,a chilling twist comes at themovie's end when Price reveals himself as Mr. Glass, a self-made villain to match up with Dunns role as a superhero. a group of prawns surround Koobus and, well, let's just say they. and our All rights reserved. During the initial attempt to get the Prawns to sign the eviction forms, one poor guard ends up getting his arm torn off when a Prawn loses his temper and attacks. "Van de Merwe" is a generic name given to characters who are the butt of ethnic jokes against Afrikaaners. Various people in the opening mockumentary state that MNU keeps the aliens safe and gives them what they need. A central theme that always quickly comes to mind is a theme of xenophobia and/or racism. It was the place to which many immigrants into the city first came and found help and support. the dissected prawn corpse Christopher sees in the MNU labs isn't just any old prawn - it's his friend, Paul, who Koobus killed during the eviction. After they retrieve the fluid the alien tells him it will take 3 years to turn him back. Dr. Moraneau's name, the MNU head doctor who attempted to fuse human babies with alien DNA, is very reminiscent of, The African King Cricket is an insect considered a pest in urban settings and its primary means of defence if threatened is to spray an unpleasant black faecal gloop over the threat. But considering how Wikus started his transformation into an alien, the idea might not actually be too far-fetched. An editor (5 votes) Very easy. To this end, they perform horrifying medical experiments on the prawns, seeking to understand how their machines are connected to their DNA. Just as Koobus is about to pull the trigger, The first call from Tania that Wikus gets is her sobbing and crying about him cheating on her, and him declaring, Wikus being strapped into a firing range and forced to shoot an alien is horrifying. Rate the pronunciation difficulty of Wikus. Its an expert and emotional twist that makes an already great sci-fimovie even better. Wikusnot quite a good guy yetknocks Christopher out, leaving him, for a while, in the hands of MNU mercenaries. For more information, please see our Wikus, as he endures his painful transformation, throws up several times, including once all over a surprise birthday cake. 2 /5. Speculated to happen when Christopher returns. Escaping his human captors, to find his cure Wikus has to team up with the very alien he previously happily tormented, while sources put out false stories about his "prolonged sexual activity in District 9" in an effort to stop anyone hiding him. He's promised to cure Wikus and bring help for the rest of the prawns - but whether "help" entails medical rescue or overwhelming firepower is unclear. Wikus actually just starts tearing off parts of his skin at one point. During the climactic face-off against the creatures, Neville realizes that his blood contains the cure and gives Anna a vial to take to a safe camp while he stays behind and sacrifices himself. While the concept is interesting at first, themovie starts to become lackluster when its revealed that Colter is in a coma and kept alive just for the mission. What are the most significant themes that are focused on by filmmaker Noah Baumbach. Ironically, Wikus becomes the most valuable asset on the planet when he is the first human to have his DNA successfully bond with the alien DNA, giving him the ability to use the alien advanced weaponry. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp. After Wikus's exposure to the fluid, we see Wikus a few hours later eating like he's been starved. Sharlto Copley as Wikus Van De Merwe; David James as Koobus Venter; Vanessa Haywood as Tania Van De Merwe. What problems are tackled in the film? In the movie The Great Debaters, what does the following quote mean? He wants them out; ironically, District 9 is the one place where he can go to find refuge when he begins to turn into a prawn as the rest of the human race is hunting him down. Its not spiritual. The alien prawns are stand-ins for a racial other, and the white characters treatment of them represents the individual acts of prejudice that contribute to institutionalized racism. 3. M. Night Shyamalan took on aliens with his 2002 movie Signs. Hes married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. He is believed to be one of, if not the last, member of the alien ship's officers. Eviction Wikus tells the aliens that they are being evicted from their homes and asks them to sign. Overcrowding and militarization eventually turn the area into a slum known as District 9. aborting baby aliens, he clearly has a problem with the illegal experiments MNU is doing on the aliens. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. One prominent theme in the movie District 9 is the dichotomy between alienation and empathy, and how that dichotomy plays out in human morality. He is the deuteragonist of the film. The irony is they are using the refugee move as a cover to get alien weapons and to figure out how to use the weapons as they require alien DNA to operate. The sequence where Morpheus reveals this twist to Neo remains dark and breath-taking to this day, provingThe Matrix as one of the most enduring sci-fi hits to come out of the 20th centurythat transformed the nature of the genre. The symbol of the black bag is that he is no longer human, but an experiment and property of MNU so they can take his DNA to use for the weapons they haven't been able to fire. The film tells the story of Prawns aliens that landed and now live on Earth and the governments efforts to deal with them. While they are in D-9, Wikus and the aliens are at MNU headquarters stealing the black fluid and setting off major explosions in the process so everyone knows something big is going down. His feature debut, Ex Machina, was themovie that put him on the map. For the most part, prawns trade their weapons for, literally, cat food. Before I end this review by talking about the real-world racial issues District 9 explores by proxy, let me redirect your attention to what youve already read: Violent Content. Crude and Profane Language. And so on. Xenophobia. Even Wikus, hero of District 9, is a jerk much of the time, and hes frustratingly slow to lose his prejudices. The aliens rarely use their own weapons, though early on we see some news footage of crashed trains and the like, suggesting the prawns sometimes caused serious damage outside the ghetto. Difficult. While other genres tend to be rigid and conventional, sci-fi movies are constantly pushing the boundaries of plot structures and visual storytelling. Sci-fi is one of the most daring genres. Debaters: "The judge is God!" We hear that interspecies prostitution goes on within the slum, a point driven home by the appearance of suggestively dressed women. Aliens infecting and transforming a Submit the origin and/or meaning of Wikus to us below. District 9 Edit Automated MNU Instructional Voice: [ in MNU Humvee] When dealing with aliens, try to be polite, but firm. District 9 Wiki is a FANDOM Books Community. A merc loses an arm in the eviction. When it was announced that Christian Bale would be starring as John Connor in a new Terminator movie, fans of the franchise grew extremely excited. But when I watched District 9, I couldnt help thinking back to one of historys first written examples of mass persecution, alienation and genocide: Pharaohs mistreatment of the Israelites in Egypt. However on my latest viewing, when you watch how Wikus progresses. In addition, Wikus's sidekick is shown in the documentary sections in. District 9 is not religious. the unethical medical experiments including vivisection, the. There, they strap him to a chair and force him to fire captured weapons (zapping him with electricity to make him pull the trigger). The worst part of Terminator Salvation comes with its big twist. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp. Through absolutely no fault of his own he becomes contaminated with that fluid that turns him into one of the aliens slowly. (He can fire them because of his new alien appendage.). History shows us how frighteningly easy it can be to marginalize people who look or act differently from us. Wikus is a MNU agent who's given the task of evicting the aliens, derogatorily nicknamed "prawns", from District 9. The 2017 movie Life follows a pretty standard sci-fi plotline where a Martian lifeform known as Calvin grows out of control on a space station and begins to eat the astronauts who must rush to find a solution before reaching Earth. They are called in for serious incidents to back up the regular MNU security forces and seem to be subject to much less oversight. After Wikus is infected, he begins to literally turn into the 'other'. Christopher refuses at first, but relents when he sees Wikus' mutated prawn arm and hides him when Wikus passes out from blood loss in the shuttle underneath his shack. The film is claustrophobic set to the tone of a classic horror. Wikus' father in law sees him as a liability rather than an asset when he appoints him as one of the leaders to evict the alien race from District 9. The movie is narrated in documentary style, interspersing interview snippets between live-action scenes. When You Breathe In Your Diaphragm Does What. Would he need help from the other prawns fo actually learn speaking dialogue? Use specific examples from the film to discuss the how that theme is shown. The film was released on July 13, 2018, by Netflix. Let's all commit horrible acts against an alien race that would be classified as crimes against humanity if they were human. The movie keeps count of how many hours it's been since he was "exposed", and the progression of the transformation is evident onscreen. The fact that it mutates Wikus into a prawn specifically (instead of just, say, giving him uber-cancer) suggests a deliberate biological origin. When Wikus first discovered the artifact, he tried to open it. Residents of Johannesburg, South Africa, know the feeling. Cookie Notice resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. He believes they are all simple minded, but the irony is that one of them knows he has rights and Wikus cannot evict him without 24 hours notice which is not given. Suddenly a black liquid falls from his nose. They aren't allowed to depart since humans have yet to figure out how to use their incredibly powerful weaponry. When Wikus becomes infected with the virus that slowly turns him into a prawn, he begins to empathize with the aliens. A rare villainous example: Koobus is about to be shot by Wikus' mecha, but a soldier in a jeep rams the mecha and knocks it over. We break down what happens in District 9's ending. A minor human-run crime syndicate in the ghetto also tries to separate Wikus from his armtwice, in factso the crime leader can eat it. Those with some radiology knowledge would recognize them as abdomen cavity ultrasound images, with the top one showing what looks like a 8-10-week-old embryo. and apparently can turn humans into aliens, used by Wikus and Christopher in the MNU raid, a mercenary is able to severely damage it with a, Double-subverted, when it appears that Wikus is going to. This list will round up the best plot twists that saved their sci-fi movies and made them among the most memorable films of the genre. The alien race's true name is never learned; they are primarily referred to as "prawns", a derogatory term referring to the bottom-feeding sea creature they resemble or, more rarely, "non-humans". That is, the reaction the humans have to the refugee prawns is driven by basic human traits such as greed, fear, and hatred. The main characters begin to encounter alternate versions of themselves from different universes. Wikus reveals that he confiscated it and that it is in a safe at MNU. (Blood spouts when the mans head comes off.) When Wikus gets forcibly drawn into the life of the aliens and pursued by MNU, the documentary aspect slowly starts taking a backseat to Wikus' personal horrors and Christopher's efforts to save his people. Two decades later, Johannesburgs ready for them to leave already. However, Wikus returns and saves Christopher and orders him to follow him to the ship even though Christopher is doubtful they can make it. In the first few scenes of the movie, he attacks one prawn, kidnaps the offspring of another, and spits in the face of a third. As in many science fiction movies, Christopher manages to get the control module fixed and unleash its power at the climax of the film. What are your impressions of Nash in the opening third of the film while he is attending graduate school at Princeton? District 9 is a 2009 science-fiction Thriller/Mockumentary by Neill Blomkamp, based on his short film Alive in Joburg (which can be found on YouTube) and produced by Peter Jackson. He does, however. What is the major theme in the movie Avatar? Already a member? Moon becomes disturbing when Sam finds a clone of himself on ship, turning his reality upside down. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play the two magicians, Angier and Borden. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. The explosive twist packed a heavy emotional punch and made Arrival one of the bestmovies of 2016. When Wikus is exposed to an alien-made liquid, he finds this career opportunity coming undoneand his whole body, too. once the main character Wikus starts transforming into one, they halt otherwise decent medical treatment and are authorized by his, MNU's evil has been exposed at the end of the film, you can bet those activists will be going after that company, The Nigerians crank this movie's use of this trope up to eleven in one of the deleted scenes: one of them features an MNU worker who finds an alien kept in a cryogenic chamber exported from the mothership. Because of his unique status as a human/prawn hybrid, Wikus becomes a desirable commodity for MNU. These laws remained in place until the 1990s, much longer than the legal discrimination crisis in the U.S. For months, citizens waited for its occupants to come out and either say, We come in peace or Die, earthling scum! When neither happened, they decided to go up themselves and knock on the door. Holes and sores begin to cover his fleshplaces where Wikus burgeoning prawn body inside is working its way out. However,other times, taking the chance with plot twists comes back to bite filmmakers. The main character is forced to save his companions and young son by ending their lives. Her fingers sort of look like prawn tentacles saves the oppressed outlanders after beginning his metamorphosis into a prawn, and twists the trope by clearly. Wikus arms himself with the alien weaponry and protects the alien and his son so that they can leave. Over the course of the movie, the question looms whether Calebs relationship with Ava is genuine or if shes tricking him into doing her bidding. he gets killed only when he runs out of bullets. He told Wikus upon their return to District 9 that he would have to travel to his home planet to get help before he could cure Wikus, which could take up to three years. 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