By Eric Eisenberg
There are four progressions through which every genre must go.
First, there is building stage. This is where something new is introduced to the audience that they have never seen before. There are still some issues and kinks that need to be worked out, but a base audience is created that is hungry for more.
The second stage is the classics stage. Directors and writers take on material from the building stage and, using original stories and deep characters, morph it to their own vision. It is during this stage that most of the best material is made.
The third stage is a depression stage. Attempting to capture the same successes that were done during the classics period, there becomes a lack of creativity that stunts the genre and prevents it from moving forward. Be it through exhausted series, overuse of underdeveloped technologies or simply a lack of creativity, the material cannot surpass that which was made before it and audiences begin to feel exhausted by the genre and demand begins to fade.
But then there is the fourth stage: resurrection. A director or writer steps forward with a new idea as to how to treat material that people grew tired of and make it new again. New stories to tell are discovered and ideas begin to be mined, allowing the cycle to begin again.
Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 is the resurrection of the science fiction genre.
Looking at the human-alien relationship like no film has ever done before, Blomkamp brings something so entirely new to the science-fiction genre that reflections of it will be seen in film for at least the next decade.
The film centers on Johannesburg, South Africa where a mysterious alien ship has parked itself in the sky above the city. The aliens are destitute, and by receiving aid that would otherwise go to the native people, they have no supporters in the human population. The aliens, derogatively nicknamed “prawns” due to both their appearance and the public’s view of the creatures as bottom-feeders, are quarantined in a section of the city known as District 9.
But as conditions in District 9 worsen, with a growing crime rate involving Nigerians, the alien’s exploitable addiction to cat food and a growing number of weapons, an evacuation is planned by Multi-National United (MNU) and headed by recently promoted field operative Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley). But during the proceedings, van der Merwe discovers a horrible secret about MNU and District 9 and what has been hidden from the public eye.
Since its inception, the science-fiction genre has relied on the idea that humans are the heroes and that the aliens or technology are out to destroy us, much of the original material based in Cold War fears of the emerging space age. But with childhood experiences of apartheid in his home country, Blomkamp questions how our species would react to a large presence of another. What did he find? Well, let’s just say we would probably not be the most hospitable planet for aliens to come to (part of the reason, perhaps, being that we have watched too many science-fiction films.)
The movie is filmed half as a documentary retracing what occurred during the aliens twenty year presence on Earth, and the other half as a live narrative following both van der Merwe and an alien named Christopher Johnson, who lives in District 9 with his son. The style allows the film to truly capture the feeling of a new world, something that has always been a substantial part of the genre, be it the Star Wars universe or the revolution of Skynet in the Terminator films, and provide enough drama and action to keep the audience both intrigued and emotionally invested in the characters.
In his performance as van der Merwe, Copley, in his feature acting debut, displays an incredible character transformation, starting as a nebbish weakling who received a promotion simply because his superior (Louis Minnaar) happens to be his step-father. By the end of the film, however, Copley becomes a strong fighter for the race that he was originally meant to suppress.
The film also helps make a point about the genre, one that has been marred by the presence of both Transformers 2 and G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra this summer. Many fans of these films have dismissed critics by saying that all they wanted was action, and that was what they received. Many didn’t care that neither film possessed a coherent plot that didn’t undermine or contradict itself mid-scene. District 9 is the perfect retaliation for this argument. Containing plenty of action and fantastic spectacle to please any audience, the film is, most importantly, backed up by an incredible story with a real message that can be applied to the real world. There are real emotions on display with deep character development. There are dramatic elements as well as comedic notes. The film has everything a filmgoer could hope for.
One of the keys to District 9’s marketing was keeping the public completely unaware of what exactly the film was about. For many anticipating the film, the best way to sum up the plot to someone who had not heard of it was to describe it as “an alien apartheid movie,” which does no justice to the complexity of the picture. In a contemporary film marketing, where you can decipher the first, second and third act of a film from a three minute trailer, the secrecy heightened the movie watching experience as not one person could tell you what would happen next or even anticipate a line of dialogue.
Blomkamp was originally slated to direct the film version of the Microsoft video-game Halo, but following difficulties Peter Jackson offered him $30 million to make any movie he wanted. While the adaptation is still being looked at, it is in no way conceivable that it will be able to match the extraordinary levels that District 9 has reached. Blomkamp and writer Terri Tatchell have resurrected the science-fiction genre and given upcoming filmmakers a goal to strive for.
© Eric Eisenberg, All Rights Reserved