How are themes of conflict encoded in the opening sequence of District Nine (Blomkampf, 2009)
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Throughout District Nine, themes of conflict are expertly communicated by the director in a variety of different ways. The primary site of conflict that exists in this film is between a race of immigrant aliens (‘prawns’) and the humans who have to deal with their sudden appearance. Deeply allegorical, the South African setting clearly makes symbolic reference to apartheid, and therefore takes the science fiction genre in exciting new directions.
Cinematography
The use of handheld cinematography to establish the city of Johannesburg establishes themes of chaos and conflict. This is further anchored through the use of handheld digital cinematography, that emphasises a sense of grittiness, verisimilitude, and a found footage quality that is quite unconventional of typical Hollywood film. The lack of stability of the camera is anchored through the MES of signs that encourage segregation between humans and aliens.
The handheld technique is used again for the oppressive found footage shots of the interior of the mothership. However, the crisp digital camera shots of the modern footage is here replaced with gritty, disgusting and distorted video footage that constructs an element of conflict. Once more, this is emphasised through the inclusion of POV cinematography, positioning the audience as a human, and constructing a sense of fear, revulsion and disgust. Clearly, cinematography here is instrumental in constructing a very real binary opposition between alien and human.
The use of natural lighting is used throughout the opening montage to construct a sense of documentary realism. This sense of realness conflicts harshly with the absurdity of the narrative premise, and helps for the premise to seem both natural, and to emphasise the allegorical elements
Allegory - a narrative that represents a real world situation in a figurative manner
Diegetically The film initially takes the form of documentary, alternating between vox pop/talking head shots, and murky found footage. However, as the film develops, the cinematography looses these elements, and becomes more formally cinematic. This combination of documentary style with formal Hollywood inspired cinema is deeply unconventional. This is an example of cinema verite (literally ‘the cinema of the truth). However this constant flip flopping between different cinematographic modes constructs a highly confusing mode of address, and therefore emphasises themes of conflict
The varying levels of quality between different found footage elements constructs a narrative where the MNU are clearly underprepared and understaffed for the upcoming transportation. Furthermore, by wildly cutting backwards and forth between the chaotic streets of Jo’Burg and the calm, clean interiors of the offices, a further binary opposition is construction
Mise-en-scene
A sense of professionalism is encoded through Wilkus’s costume. His tie, tied in a classic Windsor, along with his almost excessively neat hair connotes a sense of naivety that contrasts radically with the audience’s expectations of Johannesburg as a city of danger and with a high crime rate. Wilkus is clearly bureaucratic, and exists to do his job. Wilkus is physically intimidated by Koobus, who pushes him to the floor, and emphasises the conflict that exists within the South African law enforcement system.
The ‘Human Only’ are connotative of segregation, and would be particularly resonant for a south African audience
The MES of District 9 itself, and in particular its rough architecture is an actual slum/township on the outskirts of Johannesburg. The corrugated iron roofs a symbolic of poverty and oppression, and by using a real shanty town, the director is very much encoding themes of conflict
Almost every exterior shot is characterised through the MES of dirt, grime, and broken chunks of rubble scattered on the floor. Reminiscent of a war zone, these battered streets and alleyways connote a sense of displacement, and a sense of abandonment, that is continually at odds with the lives of the mostly white employees of the MNU.
How are ideological state apparatuses and repressive state apparatuses represented in the ‘storming the township’ scene of District 9?
Note - you will need to revise Althusser's notion of ideological and repressive state apparatuses to understand these next few points.
- This scene in particular takes a highly critical perspective of both RSAs and ISAs.
- A binary opposition is constructed between the elaborate MES of the costumes of the private military forces, and the unarmed and potentially vulnerable aliens.
- The proairetic code constructed through the pristine white truck of the MNU forces connotes an instrument of efficient violence . This notion of organised and structured violence is reinforced through the MES of abundant guns.
- The POV BEV shot of the paramilitary soldier peering out of the helicopter positions us directly as a repressive state apparatus. The brutish power of this man is reinforced and anchored through the pleonastic sound of the helicopter blades whirring, which serves to underline the sheer financial power of this organisation
- There is an interplay between the power of RSAs and ISAs in this scene. The MES of Wilkus’s clipboard and pen provides him with a false sense of legitimacy. The idea of signing a sheet provides the event with a sense of authenticity, which is clearly contradicted by the presence of firearms. Furthermore, while Wilkus’s performance is often hilariously non-threatening, his dialogue is often laced with symbolic racism. He delightedly announces in the helicopter “this land is our land, please leave”, a clear allegorical reference to the South African apartheid movement.
- Wilkus is the son in law of the CEO of MNU, and receives his power through highly nepotistic means. Wilkus is white, and is in charge of a series of rank and file black soldiers, who are positioned in considerably greater danger than him, proving that even with in the RSA system there are still strict hierarchies