District 9: Post-Apartheid South Africa in the Eyes of the West

Josiah Danilo

Professor Tallie

HIST 304: Africa in the Western Imagination

December 16, 2022

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District 9 is a 2009 science fiction film created by South African director Neill

Blomkamp. The movie is set in Johannesburg, South Africa, in an alternate 1982. A spaceship of

alien refugees appears over the city and humanity must deal with them, with most deciding that

the alien “prawns” are lesser beings. District 9 is surrounded by many complex themes of

segregation, xenophobia, and humanity, drawing parallels with both South Africa’s history of

racial discrimination and modern ethnic prejudice between black Africans. Blomkamp’s

narrative about the segregation and dehumanization of the aliens presents South Africa to the

film’s western audience in an emotionally striking way. The transformation of the movie’s white

protagonist from antagonist to ally to alien is particularly interesting when District 9’s real-world

connections are considered.

The aliens’ ship over Johannesburg.

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District 9’s theme and title are a direct reference to South Africa’s District Six, where

sixty thousand people were forcibly evicted from their homes and land by the nation’s apartheid

regime during the 1970s. District Six was formed largely by freed slaves and immigrants and

continued to grow for decades as new people arrived in the area. In the late 1960s, the South

African government deemed District Six a slum, claiming the area had a high rate of crime and

immorality. Asserting that interracial interaction was the cause of conflict, government officials

declared District Six a “whites only” area in 1966. By 1982, over sixty thousand people were

forcibly relocated southeast to shantytowns in Cape Flats. Residents in this area have suffered

from poverty ever since, with the omnipresent social unrest resulting in high levels of gang

activity and unemployment.1

Shacks at an informal settlement in Cape Flats. Photograph by Nicky Milne.

1
Milne.
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The catalyst for District 9 is the South African government’s decision to relocate the

aliens from Johannesburg to a new camp outside of the city. This plot point proved to be an

unintended parallel between the story and the ongoing effects of post-apartheid South Africa,

further showcasing the prevalence of the themes present in the film. The dilapidated shacks that

the aliens are evicted from in the District 9 were not built for the film, but are actual homes built

by the people who lived in the area. Filming for District 9 took place in Chiawelo, where

impoverished residents were in the process of being relocated from their homes into government-

subsidized housing.

There was a very weird crossover between the film and the reality of filming. We

filmed in an area called Chiawelo, which is a suburb of Soweto, which is sort of a

suburb of Johannesburg. And there is this thing in South Africa called RDP

housing, which are government-subsidized housing, where they will build you a

brick house in a different area of the city. And you get put on a waiting list if

you're a South African impoverished resident, until you are able to get one of

these houses. So the area we filmed the movie in, what plays as District 9—every

single resident in that area was being removed to be put into RDP housing.

Although not all of them had been given the green light on the RDP housing, most

of them had, but all of them were going to be moved, whether they liked it or not.

So we ended up with this open piece of land with all these shacks on it… each

day we came to set, there were fewer and fewer people.2

Even today, the effects of the apartheid regime are still felt by disenfranchised South Africans.

The Reconstruction and Development Programme has been criticized in its implementation, with

2
Blomkamp.
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critics noting that only 30% of new houses complied with building regulations, providing little

access to clean water and healthcare.3 While the government appears to making steps to correct

the immense issue of poverty caused by the mass displacement of non-white South Africans, the

fact that the residents of Chiawelo are being removed from their homes without regard for their

personal say in the matter further showcases the pertinence of the elements of segregation

showcased in District 9.

Blikkiesdorp. Photograph by Ashraf Hendricks.

Additional parallels have been drawn between the aliens’ segregated zone and the

Symphony Way Temporary Relocation Area in Delft, Cape Town. The relocation camp has been

nicknamed “Blikkiesdorp”—Afrikaans for "Tin Can Town"—due to its repetitive one-room

structures made of corrugated metal. Blikkiesdorp was built in 2007 and is considered as a

3
Lodge.
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“dumping ground” for evicted South Africans in the area. Like Cape Flats, the area is infamous

for its high rate of crime and substandard living conditions.4

District 9 begins in a documentary style, with South African residents being interviewed

about their opinions on the aliens. The responses from the locals portray presumptions that the

refugees are violent and immoral, and that Johannesburg would be better off with them gone.

The people interviewed were not actors, and in fact were being asked of their opinions on

Nigerians and Zimbabweans living in South Africa. Blomkamp, who was raised in

Johannesburg, stated that this sentiment is where the idea for the film first came from.

I was asking black South Africans about black Nigerians and Zimbabweans.

That's actually where the idea came from was there are aliens living in South

Africa, I asked "What do you feel about Zimbabwean Africans living here?" And

those answers—they weren't actors, those are real answers.5

Xenophobia is a significant cause for unrest within South Africa. Ethnic conflicts were ongoing

during the filming of District 9, with a wave of riots spreading in townships across the country

after attacks from native South Africans against migrants from Malawi, Mozambique, and

Zimbabwe in May 2008. A report from the Department of International Development found that

the tremendous amount of violence sustained in the riots resulted in the deaths of sixty-two

people, with nearly seven hundred people wounded and over a hundred thousand people

displaced.6 The International Organization for Migration cited fundamental issues with South

Africa’s perspective on migrants as a primary cause for the intense xenophobia exhibited in the

riots, many of which are a direct result of the apartheid regime. Institutionalized practices within

4
Bohatch and Hendricks.
5
Blomkamp.
6
Misago.
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South Africa exclude foreigners from political participation and justice, criminalizing and

villainizing foreign nationals and outsiders based on their limited knowledge of the country’s

laws and culture. Additionally, the people do not see the state as an effective means to enforce

safety and justice, with ineffective leadership creating political vacuums that enable violent

extremists to assume the role of leadership to incite mob justice and rally the disgruntled

populace.

Rioters in Reiger Park, south of Johannesburg. Photograph by Simphiwe Nkwali.

These issues are extremely significant and dire in South African society but are essentially

entirely unknown in western nations. Blomkamp chose to communicate these events to his

western audience through the guise of science fiction, communicating the very real presence of

xenophobia in South Africa via the appetizing appeal of a story with aliens and humans. One key

difference between District 9 and most films in the genre is the fact that the aliens are portrayed

as human and sympathetic, while it is the human characters who are cruel, violent, and unfeeling.
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District 9 has faced a significant amount of criticism for its depiction of Nigerians. In the

film, a group of Nigerians run an organized crime ring, dealing in drugs, weapons, and

prostitution within the district. The gangsters are violent and immoral, and these characters were

scrutinized particularly closely due to their ritualistic cannibalization of the aliens’ flesh, which

they believe will give them the power to operate extraterrestrial weapons. While the human

antagonists of the film are equally barbaric regardless of race or nationality, the brutality of the

globalist corporation MNU is largely set in a scientific and political context as opposed to the

mysticism exhibited by the Nigerian villains. The portrayal of the criminal gangs was considered

reason enough for the film to be banned outright in Nigeria. Many critics from both within and

outside of the country have expressed the sentiment that the depiction of these warlords

undermines the anti-xenophobic message District 9 attempts to communicate. Nigerian journalist

Tola Onanuga cites the film’s uncompromising illustration of crime and corruption both in

organized crime and corporations as a strong point in the story’s narrative:

If District 9 really does hate Nigerians, it clearly hates its powerful, white

characters even more. Objecting to Nigerians being portrayed as morally bankrupt

criminals seems pointless when almost every group of characters in the film have

little or no regard for the law. The company in charge of shipping the aliens out of

the country, MNU, and many of the white politicians giving the orders are

invariably ignorant, double-crossing and corrupt. The soldiers come across as

mind-controlled thugs, using violent threats and tricking aliens into signing

dubious eviction notices. Scientists carry out underhand experiments on captured

"Prawns"; the aliens arm themselves with illegal weapons and brawl in the

streets.7
7
Onanuga
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It is true that there are no positive depictions of Nigerians to balance out the inclusion of

Nigerian gangs, but the same can be said about the other people groups represented in District 9

as well. The main issue is not necessarily the depiction of cruelty and inhumanity, but the

specific means by which they are illustrated in the black African antagonists—specifically,

cannibalism. Cannibalism has been associated with Africa ever since the continent was

colonized, largely to cement the concept of African people as savage and barbaric. While the

connotation between cannibalism and Africa has largely waned in recent history, the stereotype

is still at times perpetuated, despite any evidence. Curtis Keim, former professor emeritus of

history at Moravian College, describes the significance of the cannibal trope in his book

Mistaking Africa. Keim suggests that “Adding the practice of cannibalism to a ritual makes that

ritual seem sacred in a way that nothing else can. If a new king eats human flesh as part of his

inaugural ceremony, he becomes godlike, different from his ordinary human subjects.”8 In the

plot of District 9, cannibalism serves the narrative purpose of imbuing the antagonists with a

brutal and savage power over the protagonists—though the parallel to past stereotypes may

perpetuate harmful misconceptions about Africa.

Another avenue by which the idea of Africa is communicated to District 9’s western

audience is through its cinematography and score. The film’s music was arranged by Canadian

composer Clinton Shorter, who struggled to find a balance between authentic South African

music and the artistic vision of Blomkamp when creating the score for the movie. Shorter

describes the region’s music as positive and uplifting, while Blomkamp wanted to evoke darker

and more aggressive emotions.9 Cinematographer Trent Opaloch also commented on

Blomkamp’s particularity in designing the film, with the director opting to avoid vegetation and

8
Keim 106.
9
Shorter.
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greenery in shots.10 District 9 is a movie about the negative affects of segregation and

xenophobia, and therefore it makes sense to portray the environment as bleak and dark, but it is

also important to consider that the film is representing Africa to its western audience. Blomkamp

is specifically illustrating a very specific and dark element of South African society, and that fact

is an important one to remember in the analysis of the District 9.

Arguably the most significant element of the theme of District 9 is the presence of a

white protagonist in a film centered around oppressed minorities in South Africa. As the movie is

primarily marketed towards a western audience, it makes practical sense to fashion the

protagonist in a way that most appeals to the primary demographic of western countries, but

Blomkamp’s intent behind the character is much more profound. In the film, Wikus van de

Merwe is an employee of the globalist weapons manufacturer MNU who is tasked with leading a

relocation effort to remove the aliens from Johannesburg. While evicting a scientist and his son,

Wikus comes into contact with extraterrestrial technology that alters his DNA, slowly turning

him into one of the aliens. As Wikus’ body transforms, he becomes increasingly sympathetic to

the aliens, who are the only ones willing to treat him like a person after MNU agents take him to

a lab and try to vivisect him. Professor and film theorist Shohini Chaudhuri identifies this

conversion as a powerful illustration of the juxtaposition between privilege and marginalization:

As a result of his transformation, [Wikus] is compelled to experience what the

Other experiences – namely segregation, destitution, loss of safety and rights, and

exploitation. Criminalised, then alienated by his family and society, he loses his

place in the organisation of the city, ending up in the low space of District 9…

Wikus, the eviction officer, is forced to feel how racism and discrimination

10
Opaloch.
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operate on his own body, the implications of the coercive measures that he carried

out against aliens.11

Having Wikus begin as an aggressor and then be subjected to the same dehumanization he

inflicted on others is an effective method of enabling District 9’s message to better resonate with

its audience. Many if not most of the westerners who watch District 9 were largely unaware of

the history of the apartheid regime in South Africa and the xenophobia which still plagues it to

this day. Blomkamp spent his entire childhood witnessing the cruelty and dehumanization caused

by the South African government, opting to communicate this message through an outsider

protagonist who is pulled into a painful reality that he previously had the privilege to ignore.

Wikus halfway through his transformation

11
Chaudhuri 142.
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In addition to personally experiencing the plight of the aliens, Wikus becomes an ally to them,

retaliating against the corporation he previously was a part of. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas,

Australian film critic, notes that “Wikus’ journey from an unthinking, bigoted representative of

MNU to a heroic alien–human hybrid that fights against the company provides one of the film’s

primary methods of critiquing globalization”.12 Through Wikus, District 9’s audience can more

readily receive the themes presented in the film.

The most poignant message of the film comes in the overarching theme of how

xenophobia comes to be in the first place, connecting events of the past with ongoing conflicts in

order to better understand the effects of othering. Chaudhuri describes District 9 as a means to

understand xenophobia:

[District 9] provokes us to think about how stereotypes are formed. With a

startling directness enabled by the [science fiction] symbolism of aliens, it

confronts audiences with their own xenophobic attitudes, magnifying the

stereotypes to make them recognisable. But it then exchanges those perceptions

with another set of perceptions, bringing about a cognitive shift… In the early part

of the film, the aliens are seen entirely through the filter of the host society,

including the media and academic experts; its latter part, however, increasingly

focuses on the aliens’ own perspective, the pivot being Wikus’s transformation…

the crucial point about stereotypes is not simply that they are wrong but, rather, in

whose power interests they work.13

District 9 illustrates how stereotypes are formed by way of othering. Dehumanization can be

effectively communicated in the media, where specific narratives are construed to push a
12
Heller-Nicholas 139.
13
Chaudhuri 136.
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particular point across. By denying marginalized people a voice, they can be more easily

discriminated against. Blomkamp’s underlying motivation in his film is to convey this message

to the audience, telling a story about how stories can misconstrue. Chaudhuri describes the

central theme of Blomkamp’s film as a way to understand how perception dictates our view of

the other, noting that “The greater, ethical potential in District 9 lies in its ability to make us infer

connections between past and present wrongs carried out in the name of humanity and to assume

responsibility for them, to imagine how this present state of affairs came to be.”14 District 9 is a

striking film not only in its depiction of South Africa, but through its message on how the

depiction of marginalized people influences who they are in the western imagination.

14
Ibid, 143.
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Bibliography

Blomkamp, Neill, interview by Meredeth Woerner. (August 19, 2009).

This interview with Blomkamp explores his inspirations for making the film, which

include contemporary racism in South Africa in addition to the historical apartheid

regime.

Bohatch, Trevor and Hendricks, Ashraf. “This is not a place for human beings." GroundUp. June

20, 2017. www.groundup.org.za (accessed 2022).

This article provides firsthand accounts of life in Blikkiesdorp, noting its purported

temporary nature and the high rate of crime present in the area.

Chaudhuri, Shohini. Cinema of the Dark Side: Atrocity and the Ethics of Film Spectatorship.

Edinburgh University Press, 2014.

This book explores how government-sponsored atrocity is depicted in modern cinema.

Commentary on how film creates and alters perception of brutality and helps its audience

draw connections between patterns of oppression.

Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra. "From District Six to District 9: Apartheid, Spectacle and the Real."

Screen Education, no. 61 (2011): 137-142.

This article highlights Blomkamp’s criticism of apartheid and post-apartheid South

Africa, discussing both the historical and modern struggles the country faces.

Observations on white savior tropes and problematic depictions of Nigerians in the film.

Misago, Jean Pierre. Towards Tolerance, Law, and Dignity: Addressing Violence against

Foreign Nationals in South Africa. International Organization for Migration, Regional

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Office for Southern Africa, 2009.

This document details the events of the May 2008 South Africa riots, identifying causes

for the violent events that occurred.

Keim, Curtis. Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and Inventions of the American Mind. Westview

Press, 2009.

This book details the historical origin of many Western stereotypes about Africa.

Understanding the precedent for modern perception of the continent allows for drawing

many connections between the film's themes and its depiction of African people, both

intentional and not.

Lodge, Tom. Politics in South Africa: From Mandela to Mbeki. David Philip: Cape Town &

Oxford, 2003.

This book raises criticisms of South Africa's Reconstruction and Development

Programme, noting a lack of essential resources and safety.

Milne, Nicky. "The tale of two slums in South Africa as residents seek to upgrade lives."

Reuters. December 14, 2016. www.reuters.com (accessed 2022).

This article describes the lives of disenfranchised South Africans living in Cape Flats,

Onanuga, Tola. "Why District 9 isn't racist against Nigerians." The Guardian. September 8,

2009. www.theguardian.com (accessed 2022).

This post provides a Nigerian journalist's perspective on the depictions of Nigerians in

the film. Interesting argument on how none of the film’s human characters are depicted

favorably. This source challenges accusations of racism towards the film.

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Opaloch, Trent. Interview by Adriene Hurst. (October 8, 2009)

This source is an interview with District 9's cinematographer, who describes how the film

portrays South Africa through its shots and composition.

Shorter, Clinton. Interview by Mike Sargent. (September 17, 2009).

This source is an interview with District 9's composer, who details how the film portrays

South Africa through the ways the country's music was incorporated into the score.