Deconstructing Worldbuilding in District 9 | Film Analysis

[00:00:03][Music] after prolonged sexual activity with aliens in District 9 I did not have sex with one of these creatures man I would never have any kind of graphic activity with aing creature in District 9 aliens they're real man for 20 years they've lived in a South African slum because their ship don't work and today it's up to governmental worker vicus to change that as he's put in charge of evicting the aliens further away from humans who don't like them anymore it just doesn't go too well because the aliens don't want to go and because Vias gets infected with alien fuel that begins to mutate him into one of them so he must join forces with an alien engineer called Christopher and do everything he can to get up to their ship to reverse the mutation and go back home to his wife and I do mean he must do everything including working with criminal gangs who want to eat them and fighting government agents who want to cut him to pieces and even playing Angry Birds in real [Music] life in other words District 9 is one hell of a movie and that's quite an achievement not only because movie making is difficult but also because this is the most difficult kind of movie you can make sci-fi no no no no no no no wa wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait see the reason sci-fi is tough is because it involves building a new world on top of our own which means having to spend extra time establishing the special rules and information of this world I can just show you a little bit how it works like the First Act here it should be a big mess this should be at least a 5-hour film oh there's aliens and their ship's control cabin is missing and they've been in this slum for 20 years and they love cat food and people hate them now and there are gangs who want their weap even though humans can't use them interacts exclusiv with their DNA and there's alien baby factories and fuel two decades in the making that mutates you somehow and so on so on so on it's an overload of stuff that must be separately explained which comes with a few usual World building problems we feel like we're watching a school lecture so we get bored we don't understand what we see so we're not invested in it we have no idea what's going on so we get lost and frustrated and yet none of these usual sci-fi fantasy problems affect District 9 it's way under 2 hours long and works amazingly how how how you I'm saying how like well by circumventing the usual burden that comes with World building come on man that's too easy so today let's go through District 9 to see how it does that how it manages to play with a new world without falling victim to its rules and information here's how the world build without crumbling under the world's weight drinking a little bit Y what are you doing with these television sets here talk to them or you want to talk to me okay guys thanks very much yeah know he had firstly the reason information never becomes boring here is because it's established under the pressure of something else it's a secondary supplement to what we're doing right now in the beginning for example there is a lot of information like I mentioned but instead of the information being delivered on its own it's born on the side of our current urgent problem and objective the alien issue has got out of control one bystander was hurt so vicet must lead an eviction team to get the aliens out of the slam before they realize what's happening now that we give the aliens 24 hours notice of our right to evi today you will serve these notices and now all the information and World building that happens happens as part of the eviction Mission we learn about this company and Vias and his home life as he's prepping for the mission we learn about human alien tension and its reasons as vas's Convoy enters the slum through the gates and protests we learn about the aliens brute physicality and obsession with cat food as we encounter them stop it don't shoot man you're going to turn it into a war zone what is that is a t getat food I just we learn about poverty and gang culture in Islam as we see signs of it we learn about alien weapons and their incompatibility with humans as we make a bus to uncover them in other words we don't get overwhelmed or bored by the information because our minds are preoccupied with what we're currently doing and you we are yet to serve eviction notices yes this scene is pure exposition to establish the alien fuel but it doesn't feel like it because Vias is right out side coming in to serve the eviction notice no it doesn't make sense how the aliens understand the humans and the humans the aliens but we don't really notice because our attention is elsewhere and in this manner the movie always has some time sensitive objective or situation going on to distract audiences from the fact that they're being spoon F the rules and information of this world whereas the First Act has a clock off the time of day the second Act is about another kind of clock the time of the infection that begins to change VI's body again we learn a bunch of new stuff about humans eating aliens because they believe it can give them their strength about governments looking for any way to use the alien Weaponry more and more but again we don't really notice that we're learning because it's happening on the side of and in relation to vas's transformation that's what we're preoccupied by by the fact that his body is changing by the hour that means the nerves are fused basically vas escapes the government's laboratory and becomes the Most Wanted fugitive in the world because he represents billions of dollars in biotech and in order to go home he needs to find a cure to reverse the infection to which everything else is secondary oh when we learn more about the alien ship and the last command cabin and how the fuel can reactivate it all what is he saying about the fuel he is are you are you trying to start this it's like okay okay what matters is that that's the way to reverse the infection and we need to reverse it right now [ __ ] [ __ ] you ni it's not helping man my point is that information gets hidden by the time sensitive pressure of what must currently be done lectures don't feel like lectures when they're about a real-time situation in need of solution information doesn't weigh heavy when it plays a supporting role in an ongoing Mission nonsense doesn't stand out when it's secondary to what needs to be accomplished right now a cat food you know but of course it's not your house we need you to sign there in this way don't just invent the rules of your world and spoon feed them to the audience in a vacuum instead create them alongside something to make the audience think that they need and want to be fed figure out what the hero must urgently do and then weave the World building in as part of accomplishing that to take the alien language as one more example don't introduce it on its own don't establish it through characters just talking about it like oh the aliens have their own language here's a breakdown of how I spent 15 years to learn it that's a lesson nobody has time for that no establish the language aspect as a smaller part of what's going on the hero must go evict the aliens today before they realize it's happening and in the process we learn about this language app created by human experts the hero has used it on his phone for 12 minutes per day to do these fun Interactive alien language lessons and after 3 weeks he's already able to have a basic conversation in alien and tell this alien that he's homeless now element explained it's a bit like how I already explained Babble to you while just making this video see this thing is Babble a real super easy to ous language app designed to be a small part of your day 12 minutes per day it teaches you through a variety of efficient and entertaining Hands-On methods designed by real language teachers to get you talking in 3 weeks battle is sponsoring a 60% filmento discount with the link below or the QR code on screen so here's your best chance to learn a language as a small part of whatever it is you do with your days secondly the reason this movie's alien world never becomes alienating is because underneath its extraordinary sci-fi alien skin it has a very human heart that everyone can emotionally understand like I mentioned a lot about the beginning for example is left wide open how and why did the aliens come here what do you mean their ship doesn't work why don't they use their overpowered weapons to fight back what do other countries think about the aliens and are they involved in aiding them I don't know but the reason these logical gaps aren't the problem is because the main Foundation underneath is familiarly emotional what we're seeing is a site that all of us get a migrant Story the aliens are stuck here and they live in poor temporary conditions and a lot of locals hate them for who they are and even the government just wants to get rid of them while maintaining good PR that we all understand wasn't really familiar with your game and we may not know anything about Christopher or his kid or their home planet but we get that he's stuck here and he wants to go home that's the point that's why we relate to him and Care drop come on it's why it doesn't matter so much what his ultimate intention with going home is we don't know if he was simply escaping whether he will affect a rescue plan whether or not he will come back and declare war on us it doesn't matter and in this manner no matter the Sci-Fi elements on the surface District 9 always keeps things human underneath yes vikas's Journey on screen is about turning into an alien which is full of holes like like how thees ship fuel turn him into an alien I don't get it but these holes don't really matter because beneath the screen it's not a story about becoming an alien but more so a story about becoming different from what's perceived as acceptable that's what we understand we understand when vicis gets angry at his flawed body that makes him feel like he's alone and unlovable we understand when vicus gets shunned by people around him for being different we understand the urge to do anything you can to get to go home we understand the irony of falling victim to your own prejudices man not for S we may not know what it's like to be black painted as an alien meddler on TV but we do get the Injustice of being wrongly accused and lied about in front of others we feel for this man I can't do this it's not true please don't don't give up on me you know don't give up on me it's a simple formula extraordinary surface but familiar inside the third act here for instance gets pretty crazy on screen I mean it's nuts there's alien guns that Force push you like Yoda and turn you to dust on impact there's a gang leader who wants to cut off vikas's arm and eat it all I want is to eat that arm there's an anti-gravity beam and a flying pig and a mix suit that can do anything even if you don't know how to use it this basically turns into a Michael Bay movie on steroids and yet it's not a problem this does not turn into a bad Michael Bay movie because beneath the logically wacky surface is familiar emotion that touches us all it's a story of two outcasts wanting to go home so badly that one is willing to betray the other it's a story of a crippled man desperately looking for a way to become physically gifted like the aliens a story of a father wanting to take his son where he belongs and rescue his kind a story of a coward learning to stand up for others and against bullies a story of a bully finally getting what's coming to him the alien story feels human that's why it works you have breed piece of [ __ ] side back the point is no matter how extraordinary your sci-fi world the story and elements within it should feel ordinary enough to relate to because the more familiar and human the content the easier it is for audiences to get on board and invest without the need for Endless logical information for anyone to care about Christopher wanting to return to his Planet it must first be established what that planet is and what exactly he's going there to do and so on so on unless it's already understood that he's a lost migrant with a son who wants to go home in that case the emotion does the job thirdly the reason this world's complexity never loses you is because the movie offers a few Central ropes to easily follow through the noise so to speak once again the First Act ESP especially is a rapid fire of extraordinary sci-fi goly go the ship came aliens were found inside the more upper level aliens are dead the ship's command cabin went missing somehow and it's been 20 years and there's a slum and a government company and yada yada yada the Cowboys they shoot first and then they answer the question for casual audiences in particular it can be tough to keep track of all this to not get lost in the hurricane of information you I ow protocol dictates that we give the aliens 24 no offense but it sounds like some KY gobbley go you got me nor I mean I've never heard the word but the reason even the most Norm audience will not get lost here is because there's just one thing they really need to remember to stay on the right path the alien capsule containing special fluid that alone will get you through the hurricane okay I have no idea what all the factions and Dynamics here are but I know that the main point revolves around something bad happening to Vias he was a wonderful son that was my Vias yeah I don't think he can be forgiven for what he did okay I have no idea where the aliens came from but I know they have a plan and it involves this capsule of fluid okay I have no idea what the company vicus works for it but I know he gets infected with the fluid and it's doing something bad to him okay I have no idea what's going on but I know the answer is in this capsule and the aliens who made it the hurricane may be too thick for me to see where I currently am but thanks to this rope I know the direction I'm going easy I'm not lost in this manner the movie utilizes a basic form of word and image Association to create handles to grab on to that's not a substitute to building a good full story but it does help viewers to not fall off the wagon you know even if I don't know who the Avengers are or what planet this is I can remember that there are six magic stones and that Thanos needs them to snap away half of life it's about guiding the audience's focus to what's important oh when Vias is evicting aliens he comes across a bunch of alien weapons at which point there are shots of humans trying to use them unsuccessfully okay humans want alien weapons but they don't work gotcha and so later when Vias gets captured by the company we can remember that even if it's not entirely clear what the company is or what their individual motives are who the is that guy we know that oh yeah Vegas can now do what humans have been wanting to do he's important that's what's going on I know this is business oh when vas is in the slum he crosses paths with a local human gang who have stuck by a bunch of human and alien weapons there's the mental Association gotcha and so when Vias later goes to the gang as a fugitive the connection is easy for everyone to make even if I haven't been paying close attention and I don't know where we are or who these people are I do know that gang equals weapons oh the aliens go crazy over cat food and now vicus is going crazy over cat [Music] food to be clear I'm not saying that you have to be super on the nose with everything as if you're making Peppa peek this is the checkout where all the food is paid for but I am saying that if your extraordinary sci-fi world comes with a massive amount of arbitrary rules and factors then it can be useful to construct a couple Central ropes to guide the way through you you can put Focus even on the smallest details but maybe also offer something that's easy for all audiences to focus on you know primer is the most complex movie of all time yet it still has something very simple at the center because the thing is nobody is cema since when they go into a movie everyone wants to like a movie it's when the audience gets lost that they begin to turn on the movie and start ripping on it because if I don't know why fight's good then of course it must suck right use a maguen use image Association use anything you want to construct the Rope so long as you do it wisely and if you also couple it with the earlier tricks we discussed then you might get a result that all other sci-fi fantasy movies will Envy a rich cinematic World in a movie that's under 2 hours long and a wild ride from beginning to end [Music]