"District 9" Speculative Discussion Thread

A few things that got me thinking were:

The Prawn weapons were only usable by Prawns. Why? This makes me assume that they are in a war with another species. More than likely a ground based war where they've experienced the enemy using the Prawn weapons against Prawns. This forced them to build this "genetic link" function into the weapons.

This opens up many opportunities for the story. What if the species that the Prawns are warring against find us? Will the Prawns help if they attacked? We didn't do much to deserve help... It could come down to Karma.

Just some thoughts. First post btw.

Originally posted by December_Rain
First the question arises why in first 27-30 years their population only rose 800k?

It's shown in the movie South Africa/MNU has strict controls on the breeding of the aliens. They have to be licensed and if they aren't, MNU are coldly and indiscriminately burns their incubators.

Originally posted by December_Rain
But why the conditions improved in District 10?

They aren't. Wickus tells Christopher at one point that the conditions in District 10 will be no better than District 9.

The part where they explain that the aliens go nuts for cat food really got me.

My dog has a real cat food problem.... whenever we feed the cat, he monitors closely. The moment the cat comes through the kitchen door, the dog flies into the kitchen at supersonic speed to finish whatever the cat left over.

You almost have to chase him and pry him off the bowl.
The he sits near me and emits cat food farts.

I just can't win.

reply to post by Coldblade


That is highly unlikely as on Earth we humans war against fellow being without any such technology. Also in the movie it categorically stated it was on "mining excursion".

Originally posted by liquidsmoke206
reply to post by mmiichael

 

You have to be more hospitable and creative.

Put them into all those empty condos in Florida. Give them vouchers for buffet restaurants. Start a dating service. Make them a tourist attraction. Charge admission.

realistically, no that wouldn't work. We can't even manage many of our human refugees on this planet.

It's not that we can't, we don't.

We are a body. Our head is the Government. The body does what the head want's it to do, not the other way around. Our government won't, therefor we won't. When a body is invaded by a virus, it fights to keep itself healthy. I don't see any rights being given to viruses unless the virus wins.


Besides guys, aliens don't exist. Dinosaurs do.

Peace

Originally posted by MajesticJax
reply to post by Xtraeme

 

I respectfully disagree.

Seeing as how District 9 replaced Halo I was amazed at the quality of the film. One thing I noticed, though I might be wrong, was that the movie seemed to borrow from the original Unreal. Particularly from the end of the game where we saw the "insectoid" miners. Thinking about it through the lens of Unreal where the roles are flipped (i.e. a spacecraft loaded full of mostly sick, grunt laborers arriving on earth opposed to a human fugitive aboard a penal ship crash landing on a foreign planet) was extremely compelling.

The movie was hyped to ... action fans, et al,

Lot of action in that trailer, huh?

Sorry, had to.

but gave us a pretty good allegory.

It gave us more than an allegory it showed us our souls on a plate.

I think it was brilliant, and I really had empathy for Wiku?, even as something physically reprehensible.

Wikus is everything human. Seeing him as a fully converted "prawn" at the end set the stage for us to fully empathize with what it would be like to be in the alien's position. I hope they thoroughly explore this angle rather than throwing the opportunity away to cater to demand for more explosions.

reply to post by DoomsdayRex


Then how do you explain the 2.5 mill population growth in District 10 in a span of 2-3 yrs? Would the aliens be free to mutate in the new camps?

Originally posted by December_Rain
reply to post by DoomsdayRex

 

Then how do you explain the 2.5 mill population growth in District 10 in a span of 2-3 yrs? Would the aliens be free to mutate in the new camps?

Because MNU was exposed and shut down at the end, and the restrictions were likely lifted.



As for the film itself, is anyone else out there getting really tired of the "Humans are the real monsters" movies? I liked this one a lot, it was a very good movie, and it expressed a lot about social interactions and relationships (between humans, though expressed as aliens in the movie to show people how easy it is to dehumanize anyone), plus I won't lie, the action and meaty gore was entertaining.

By the end of the movie, however, I was entirely ready for Christopher to tell Wickus to Eff off and die, but because they were the "good guys" he still helped out. It annoys me, because humans are generally dehumanized in these movies, while the genuinely inhuman creatures are portrayed as more empathetic, more compassionate, more helpful, and almost always martyrs (which is what Wickus became, surprise surprise, after he'd become inhuman).

It was a good movie, and I was drawn in the whole time, but these are just some things I've noticed again and again in these types of movies, and it's exactly what I expected going in, hoping I was wrong. It moved in the right direction, but didn't quite get there.

reply to post by Xtraeme


OK, here's ANOTHER "official" trailer, that- "stop me if I'm wrong" is geared to the "action" crowd.

YouTube said embedding was disabled by request so here's the link:
YouTube "District 9" #2 Official Trailer

My only rebuttal Xtraeme - most everything
else was hard to argue with.


Also, is no one else here intensely proud of the recognition we've received? To quote a very wise man, "It's about the member/s."



[edit on 17/12/09 by MajesticJax]

Originally posted by EsSeeEye

Originally posted by December_Rain
reply to post by DoomsdayRex

 

Then how do you explain the 2.5 mill population growth in District 10 in a span of 2-3 yrs? Would the aliens be free to mutate in the new camps?

Because MNU was exposed and shut down at the end, and the restrictions were likely lifted.

Actually that is what I stated in my original post that their treatment was better in District 10 in comparison to District 9.

Originally posted by December_Rain

Originally posted by EsSeeEye

Originally posted by December_Rain
reply to post by DoomsdayRex

 

Then how do you explain the 2.5 mill population growth in District 10 in a span of 2-3 yrs? Would the aliens be free to mutate in the new camps?

Because MNU was exposed and shut down at the end, and the restrictions were likely lifted.

Yes - the "non-chalant" attitude of murdering someone's offspring, was equally disturbing.

The "pop-pop-pop", the laughter, was truly disturbing AND allegorical.

Flame Wars here:


Actually that is what I stated in my original post that their treatment was better in District 10 in comparison to District 9.

My reply starts at "Yes". Forgive me for getting confused with the code. You guys have my opinion.

[edit on 17/12/09 by MajesticJax]

Originally posted by Springer
reply to post by MajesticJax

 

Actually, the aliens were developing that stuff for fuel, not for a bioweapon. I believe the effect on humans was an unintended (?) side effect of exposure.

Springer...

That black stuff seems to be key to answer most of the questions raised in the movie IMO.
The effects on humans may have been unintended, but it sure seemed to be expected by Christopher. Also, the weapons and technology works only with the "aliens" because they are infected with that black stuff.
IMHO all the "aliens" were infact humans once. But when this human civilization came into contact with this technology they turned into prawns.

Maybe it was really a human slave cargo that revolted, turned into prawns to take over the ship and restore their lives. But this scenario does not explain how the prawns had all that knowlodge of the technology, such knowlodge that allowed one of them (Christopher) to actually produce some of that so precious fuel out of scraps.

I have my doubts about the possibility of them being slaves, or cargo. To me, they all just seemed to be scared, confined and hungry when the humans went aboard their ship. But still, I have no idea how would these humans come into contact with this tech that infected them all, maybe they caused these mutations on them selves intentionally in order to survive in an alien planet?

IDK, but it shure was a very very good movie!
I hope to see them exploring Wicus as an alien on the sequel. Then comes back Christopher to turn Wicus back to human form as well as all the other prawns. This would definetlly make all the human world look stupid, wouldn't it?

Just my 0.02!


[edit on 17/12/2009 by MorfeuZ]

My only suggestion is to make it more interesting. I literally couldn't sit through it. I am a person who was capable of watching Catwoman, Mystery Men, and The Talented Mr. Ripley from start to finish, I could not force myself to sit through that piece of crap.

Maybe it had some great mind bending concept that it revealed over the course of however long it was, but something has to happen in the beginning to lure the audience in. Something besides a half hour of guys walking around with a camera yelling at aliens. And why, oh WHY do big-budget movies get shot in shaky-cam? I understand it's supposed to be from the point of view of the cameraman, but I think the audience would rather have a bit of unrealistically good camera shots than have to carry a barf bag into the theater.

Thumbs down for the whole stinkin' movie.

As for my suggestions, well here they be, folks:

1. Lose the shaky-cam. Make the sequel in the form of news reports or something, with fixed cameras. Or at least give us breaks from the shaky-cam!

2. More action. Do you know why everyone was okay with the idea that somebody hacked an alien mothership with a POS Macbook in "Independence Day?" Because the result was a bunch of cool explosions, that's why. It doesn't have to be all action, but if I want to watch 2 hours of somebody pointing cameras at people making life miserable, I'll go to YouTube.

Simple observation.


Why create scifi movies of aliens invading and in the end the human race seems to scrape through and survive. Why not create a scifi movie of aliens invading resulting in the extinction of the human species. After all, it is what has been planed in the not too distant future.

I have the scenario ready

I have not seen this movie, only trailers.

But I immediately noticed some similarities at least in visual design...
I wouldn't say a rip off no....
I'll let the images speak for themselves.
the spaceship from district 9

Zalem/Salem City from the masterpiece animation "battle angel alita"

and from the original manga (graphic novel)

Alright so enough said there.
Now lets look at other similarities to this film...
many different posts here explaining how the D9 plot relates to current/past atrocities in real life..same comparisons can be found looking at B.A.A plot

B.A.A tells the story of Alita, an amnesiac female cyborg.....leads her to first becoming a mercenary Hunter-Warrior, killing cyborg criminals in the Scrapyard....Alita awakens memories of her earlier life on Mars. She becomes entangled in the machinations of Tiphares as one of their agents, sent to hunt those who wish to bring the floating city down. the mad genius Desty Nova, clashes with Alita before becoming her ally. Together, they take on the dark secrets of Tiphares.

The futuristic dystopian world of B.A.A revolves around the city of Scrapyard, grown up around a massive scrap heap that rains down from Tiphares (Zalem/Salem), a mysterious city floating above the Scrapyard. Ground dwellers have no access to Tiphares and are forced to make a living in the chaotic, violent sprawl below. Many of them are heavily modified by cybernetics to better cope with the hard life in the Scrapyard.

Tiphares exploits the Scrapyard and surrounding farms for its needs, paying mercenaries to hunt criminals and arranging violent sports to keep the population in check. Massive tubes connect the Scrapyard to Tiphares, and the city sends robots through the tubes for carrying out errands and providing security on the ground. Occasionally Tipharean citizens are sentenced to exiled and sent to the ground. Aside from the robots and exiles, there is little to no contact between Tiphares and the Scrapyard.

The story takes place in the former United States. the site of the Scrapyard/Tiphares is at Kansas City, Missouri, and the Necropolis is Colorado Springs, Colorado. The surrounding Farm Factories that support Tiphares also correspond to real cities; Farm 21 and Farm 22 are Sweetwater, Texas and Garden City, Kansas respectively. Radio KAOS is at the site of Dallas/Fort Worth. Figure's coastal hometown, Alhambra, is a real place in Southern California, and Desty Nova's Granite Inn is said to have been built out of a military base - assumed to be the NORAD main technical facility at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado.

Source

footage of the 'floating city for the elites' the scrapyard, and the characters BAA

This excerpt explains the relation to a real life scenario -

Ships at Alang ship breaking yard in India.

These Elephant's graveyards formed out of devouring and recycling these Goliaths lie at the extreme margins of the world, where cost of labour and environmental policies in contrast to the rest of the world facilitate exploitation.
Like the city of Tiphares (Zalem/Salem from B.A.A), these terrains survive on the waste dumped by the floating world that upholds its morals of sustainability and equality by outsourcing the opposites to far off horizons away from its cone of vision.
...the boat is a floating piece of space, a place without a place, that exists by itself, that is closed in on itself and at the same time is given over to the infinity of the sea and that, from port to port, from tack to tack, from brothel to brothel, it goes as far as the colonies in search of the most precious treasures they conceal in their gardens, you will understand why the boat has not only been for our civilization, from the sixteenth century until the present, the great instrument of economic development (I have not been speaking of that today), but has been simultaneously the greatest reserve of the imagination. The ship is the heterotopia par excellence. In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure, and the police take the place of pirates." And if this is true then one can only imagine these spaces where boats (that are the very representatives of dreams of escape) are torn to pieces by the same prisoners (informal labourers) yearning to flee from these poisoned lands.

Source of insightful comparison

finally compare the appearance of this ship worker


to that of one of the main characters from B.A.A

(sorry couldn't find better picture - if you watch the movie, there are 'shots' virtually identical to above photo)

Also someone mentioned similarities between D9 & 'unreal',
and that it apparently replaced halo (movie).

currently, B.A.A, ghost in the shell & astro boy (animes - cyborgs/terrorism) and fallout, gears of war and dead space (video games - aliens/war) are being made into movies.

Sony asked for ideas for their sequel...
well they would need to give me a well paid job for me to give them that,
but my 'bet' is that the next D9 will have cyborgs.

that's my 2 cent.

Kind regards,
-B.M

[edit on 18/12/09 by B.Morrison]

The one thing I took away from this movie is that humans prefer to be at the top of the 'food chain' no matter what.

If aliens ever DO come to Earth in any kind of numbers, they must either be subservient lackeys or ruthless conquerers. There is no in-between without the results we saw in D9. The prawns in this movie were in-between, showing themselves as aggresive and dangerous just like us.

D10 must be a fairly interesting place after 3 years. I'd guess the manufacture of weaponry never stopped and I doubt anyone will have been able to repeat the DNA changes that our unfortunate 'hero' Wikus had happen. so those weapons won't work with humans. Another possibility is the removal of the civilian group who were preying on the aliens in D9. I'd hope that the practice of eating prawn parts for their 'power' will no longer be happening. That, and the exposure of the genetic lab in the news at the end of the film should also be allowing the aliens more leeway to 'do their own thing'.

The real question is not how they got there (prequel), but how Christopher is coming back. I doubt he'll be alone. I also doubt a single ship or peaceful intent. The only hope for humans is Wikus and he was a bastard right to the end. The only reason he fought for Christopher was self-interest; so he could be human again in 3 years.

At the first of the movie, as the trucks were heading into D9 for the evictions, there were a group of protesters concerned for the safety of the aliens... but that was it.

On how the prawns became prawns... that's easy. The alien crew was contaminated by the ship's fuel in the same way Wikus was. If the lander ran on that stuff, I'd bet the mothership did too. They 'might' have been humanoid, but I doubt they were human. Different planet, different sun, different lifeforms, but that black liquid had the same effect on them. That's why they were so 'out of it' after they opened the mothership up.

A prequel might explain things, but it can't answer anything that the first movie started, only delay things. Maybe that's the intent. Leave everyone hanging through a prequel and come out with a third movie (the sequel) in three years when Christopher comes back with the fleet in tow.

[edit on 17/12/09 by masqua]

I have to agree with Cold....The weapons could only be used by the Prawns so they must have been implicated for a reason. There must be a hostile Alien threat against them. They must have been transporting a piece of technology or a refined element that is of high value. And if the hostile aliens were to come to Earth and impose a threat, I think it would be a beautifal moment if the aliens repressed for 20 years, turned to the humans and fought side by side. It would show us how easy it is to go to war, but how even easier it is to make peace. Now that, would be a moment nobody would forget.

[edit on 17-12-2009 by Paradox.]

[edit on 18-12-2009 by Paradox.]

If the news footage from the beginning of the movie had towel-headed Muslim Arab types subbed in for the aliens, and it were shown on Fox News, 90% of the United States population would accept it as gospel even though every bit of it was manufactured by film studios.

Dear Sony,

Don't let Michael Bay direct it...

Nuff said.

Love,
Trevor