Is District 9 Racist?

SHOOT: No, but it's about racism, and handled quite cleverly I must say.

Other commentators said the film possessed an Anglo-liberalism with its vague support of tolerance and its patronising, colonial racism, “Under the liberal viewpoint, Wikus is a racist because he's stupid and doesn't know better. Yet this same viewpoint engages in a more complex and fetishistic disavowal of racism. Instead of 'my culture is better than yours', reflexive racism argues 'your culture is different to mine'. This idea of 'tolerance' allows us to publicly believe that all cultures are equal, but still act as if ours was superior.” To take a peek at the rather pedantic debate you can go to: http://daveguzman.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-district-9-racist.html

clipped from www.gautengfilm.co.za South African critics were no different in their praise for the film with influential commentator Barry Ronge writing, “it is a true landmark in the history of South African film.” Virtually across the board, including newspapers like The Sowetan and City Press, the film was heaped with praise. The only slightly sour note came from Sibusiso Mkwanazi of The Citizen who thought the film performed poorly as a thriller concluding that “District 9 is rather like olives. You will either think it is the best thing ever or you will hate it and demand your money back.” Despite the critical applause the film has sparked some debate and several critics, bloggers and opinion makers have expressed immense unease at what they think is extreme racism related to the film’s thematic echoes of apartheid and xenophobia. Google ‘District 9 racist’ and you’ll see how this discussion about the movie is taking off, with good people finding themselves on opposite sides of the arguments.