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Well... the old thread is closed so I figure I can post a new one

I finally saw this movie with my wife and I have a couple of questions.

1a. Why didn't the guy see medical help after being sprayed with Alien substance?
1b. Shouldn't there be proper medical procedure when it comes to this?
2. It has been 20 years since the alien first landed, why hasn't the government try to work with these aliens? why do they assume they are "stupid" I was kinda surprise of the lack of collaboration. I mean the military DO want access to their weaponry and technology.

I guess it is the minor scientist in me, but I feel the "bio research people" were not even trying to follow basic procedure.

1. They NEVER ask what happen to the guy or even trace the event that cause him to mutate. It was pretty recent and should have inquire.
2. What was the deal that he has to test fire every weapon? isn't it known that if you operate one you can operate others? I mean firing one would mean yes the guy can fire alien weapon BUT then figure out what is going.
3. Couldn't they just take a tissue sample and see what cause the mutation? I mean the group was pretty quick to kill the guy in advance for military science (the CEO has other motive since I'm sure he didn't like the guy for marrying his daughter)
4. Is black puke normal? I mean, hell, if I see one of those coming out of my body(or my buddies) PLEASE PLEASE TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL STATS!!!!

1a. Because this was his big chance to go up in the ranks of MNU and if he had to recuse himself because he was sprayed in teh face while screwing around with some alien tech he would never get a chance like that again.
1b. Probably was but he would need to step aside from his big chance to really prove himself so he didn't report it.
2. I assume that was the first thing they asked them but chances are the prawns didn't really have any usable answers to give them. I mean they didn't seem too terribly bright in the movie only Christopher seemed to have any understanding of the technology.

Science 1: In real life they probably would have and they did immediately start studying the liquid so it's possible that they did and they didn't show it on screen because it really didn't effect Wilkus's story too much.

Science 2: Probably was the first time they were able to see these weapons fired in a controlled setting. Those drones could probably tear through any restraints that would let the scientists fire the weapon so they probably wanted to know the effects of the weapons.

Science 3: Except he wasn't just mutated he was actively changing into a prawn. The longer they waited the less like a human he would be and the more like a prawn he would be. Killing him would stop the mutation and keep all his tissue available for complete study instead of having the small amount that they would have otherwise. It would be a pretty big decision to make but the idea to harvest everything you can from a unique specimen does make sense.

Science 4:He was in the middle of the biggest oppurtunity of his life. If he went to the hospital he would be giving that up and with it his best chance to join upper management.


At least that's my understanding of the movie seems pretty solid that Wilkus a born middle management type might hope for the best after getting sprayed in the face with the liquid.

2. It has been 20 years since the alien first landed, why hasn't the government try to work with these aliens? why do they assume they are "stupid" I was kinda surprise of the lack of collaboration. I mean the military DO want access to their weaponry and technology.

The whole movie is a statement about Apartheid. If the government worked something out with the aliens and collaborated with them there would be no movie.


2. I assume that was the first thing they asked them but chances are the prawns didn't really have any usable answers to give them. I mean they didn't seem too terribly bright in the movie only Christopher seemed to have any understanding of the technology.


20 years = a whole new generation of Prawns walking around in the slums. Prawns are supposed to parallel black South Africans with no jobs, no education, and no where to go. Funny enough I think the filmmakers achieved that image perfectly when you say "they didn't seem too terribly bright". You're supposed to get that racist undertone.

According to the Director, the prauns (notice how they're color coded?) are have castes like a lot of social insects. Red carapaces mean warriors - the only ones we ever see using weapons (whether their own or human arms, like the AK in an early scene) besides Christopher Johnson are Red. Yellow/Browns are drones - used for labor, not very bright. Blues - only a couple seen, role unclear. Green - leaders and / or engineers. Christopher, his son, and Wikus are the only greens we see in the movie.

One theory is that the ship was basically a mining colony ship (ie a self-contained, mobile oil platform) that something happen on, probably a revolt, since most of the ones left are yellow/browns. The ship got lost, drifted to earth, where the survivors became refugees. This explains why most of the ones left don't really understand their technology.

The test firing all the weapons was basically to find out what exactly they do. If it's a death ray, grenade launcher, concussion gun, assault rifle, etc. How controllable the weapons are (unlike one of the stupidest weapons in sci-fi, the "Noisy Cricket" from MIB). How effective the alien weapons are. How integrated the alien biology had to be in the user for it to work. Things that could only be observed during live fire.

The aliens weren't under the care of, say, the UN or the World Health Organization or any of those, where science and diplomacy would be given priority. They weren't even under the auspices of the RSA. District 9 and the Prauns were exclusively under the thumb of MNU, an international arms conglomerate. Alien weaponry was worth billions if it could be used, the Prauns themselves were a cost. That's why they were housed so cheaply and exploited so readily. It was in MNU's best financial interests to keep the Prauns demonized, segregated, ignorant, and disarmed. The government simply avoided asking questions altogether.

This reminds me a little of Spoony's reaction to the movie, where he couldn't believe the humans could be "so mean." He questioned if he was just being naive.

...yes.

I also love (unrelated) how some people were all weirded out by the Nigerians wanting to eat the prawns, having no clue about some of the weird shit that goes on in superstitions and rituals in that part of the world. If "doctors" in some of the less educated areas are trying to cure sickle cell anemia by having the sick person drink goat piss, believing that the crime boss would want to eat the prawns to get their strength is almost reeling in the craziness.

Cannibalism very often is shamanistically seen as a way of gaining an opponent's strength. This is known to exist in many tribal peoples in South America, Africa, and Asia, and was in some Native American tribes as well.

Such a great fucking movie, don't dissect it too much, though. Movies lose their magic when you do.