My Favorite

"District 9" defines an outsider on many different levels. We see Wikus in his normal life in the beginning being an accepted member of his community, then he begins to transform into a prawn making him undesirable to most of the people in his life. This film shows us the turmoil he goes through, first the change in his physical appearance, and later the emotional transformation that changes his thinking about the aliens.

We see the start of the physical change in Wikus after he is sprayed with the chemical the aliens made. He begins to panic due to the radical change in his hand, and is at first reassured that the doctors will be able to take care of him. He is then isolated in a compound, set "outside" to be tested. The film makes it very clear that he no longer has his own identity and that he is now physically different from everyone else.

The emotional portrayals in this movie are profound, beginning with self assurance and a secure role in his community at MNU, followed by complete panic at the changes to his body that have begun. We see his complete devastation at losing everyone that is important to him, anger that he is now an outsider, empathy for the alien leader Christopher, loyalty to his fellow outsider, and finally we see him accept what or who he is for the time being. Emotions are depicted not only in the dialogue of this movie but also by his physical reactions to what is being done to him. In this film we see a complete change in Wikus' character and even his own way of thinking.

In our discussion boards we talked about how Wikus originally only wanted to befriend Christopher for his help in getting back to being human, and how his perspective changed drastically to a more personal loyalty to Christopher's survival as well as his own. This movie affirmed what I believe it is to be an outsider. When people are outcast from their community they tend to begin to see things within the community that they never knew were possible. For example, Wikus couldn't believe that his colleagues at MNU would be willing to kill a fellow employee to find scientific answers about the alien technology. Sometimes being cast out of a community can give someone a different perspective of the world around them.