Films can be a great way to represent real life social groups in an entertaining and informative manner. This has been done in Niell Blomkamp’s 2009 sci-fi film, District 9, which follows the world’s response, 20 years after an alien species find themselves stranded on Earth. Immediately becoming a burden on society, the “Prawns” are dumped into the slums of District 9, where their welfare is no longer a priority of MNU. Through the manipulation of filmic codes like structure, and camera angles and shot, Blomkamp constructs an evolving representation of the aliens as a social group, initially as an unintelligent and aggressive social burden, however, by the end of the film they are perceived as the complete opposite.
At the beginning of the film, a representation that aliens are uncivilised burdens on society is constructed through the manipulation of
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Once the command module has been returned to the mothership, Wicus is thrown out of the damaged alien-battle-suit and is confronted by Koobus. The camera angle is positioned at a low vantage point, tilting upwards, making Koobus appear much larger and symbolically more threatening. The camera then cuts to a number of long shots from behind a building and then from behind debris, constructing the idea that others are watching the conflict. It’s not until Koobus drawns his gun and begins to threaten Wicus, that an alien steps into frame and turns the shot into an over-the-shoudler one, demonstrating specifically that aliens are now observing the situation and are preparing to intervene. Once Koobus says “I’ll…kill you myself”, a group of aliens quickly jump into frame, kill Koobus and protect Wicus from further harm. This, as a result constructs a representation that the aliens are not in fact mindlessly aggressive but rather, rationale and act within