Using human-to-alien relations, as a metaphor for human-to-human relations is nothing new. H.G. Wells first introduced the concept when he wrote War of the Worlds; in this book aliens do onto Earth as Europeans did unto Africa. For its time the book was revolutionary and it truly did change they way people views Europe’s role in history. More than 100 years later things have changed; no one is going to see District 9 and think much differently about apartheid in South Africa, most people wont even see the most obviously blatant parallels. For most District 9 will simply be another Sci-Fi action flick. Unfortunately this undermined District 9’s potential to the point the film does not know whether it is a serious metaphor about alien refugees in South Africa or if it is another Sci-Fi action flick done in a pseudo-documentary style.
