Exam Question Practise | District 9

'Most texts today mix their genres'. How true is this of your chosen texts?

District 9 adheres to the statement 'most texts today mix their genres'. It includes conventions from the sci-fi genre and documentary style genres. As the text is a hybrid of both of these genres, it would appeal to a larger variety of people as it includes aspects from both genres which they might enjoy. 

One particular science fiction convention that 'district 9' conforms to is that it covers political and social issues. The city of Johannesburg is largely controlled by cooperations, specifically MNU. When the aliens arrived there, MNU immediately took charge and put them in a compound called 'District 9' in which they are not allowed to leave unless they are under supervision. One particular example of the cooperations taking charger and controlling the situation is when it is revealed that Wikus is transforming into an alien. MNU immediately take him to the science lab to be experimented on. The first shot we see of Wikus being taken to the lab on a hospital trolley he is in a body bag which shows that he is trapped and has lost control of his body. In this shot we also see who it is that is controlling him by the MNU logo being printed on the uniform of the MNU staff. The next shot is a low camera angle looking up towards the MNU staff from the perspective of Wickus, which shows that they have power over him with a following high angle shot looking down on Wikus, showing he is the weaker human in the situation. A few shots later there is a shot of wickus with a breathing mask on, showing he has even lost control of breathing while MNU cuts into his arm. This issue they are covering in 'District 9' relates to how cooperations take over in the real world. 

One particular science fiction convention that 'District 9' conforms to is characters being transformed t o something else. In the case of 'District 9' Wickus goes through the transformation from human to alien after he is accidentally exposed to liquid from the aliens. This is shown to the audience in various parts throughout the film. When