It's not a transformation, it's not loneliness

Joanny 2022-03-17 09:01:02

After watching "District 9", there are still many ideas. As the saying goes, human beings are humane, what can beasts do? There is the animal way, what about the worm? There is a bug. If a man becomes a beast, what path should he obey? Become a worm, should we uphold the humanity or the worm? The story frame of "The Metamorphosis" alone is very attractive. In the last shot, the actor Wikus carefully produced a beautiful metal rose through compound eyes, but underneath him was desperate ruins and barrenness. The contrast is great, bringing out the so-called irony. De Botton said in "Identity Anxiety": In everyone's heart, there is an unspeakable anxiety about their own identity. The inner part of Zone 9 expresses such anxiety. The question is, what is the essence behind the anxiety?

Let's turn aside and talk about another topic. In the field of psychology, there was a war that provided a large number of materials and models for psychological experiments, through the two sides of the war. This is the Korean War. First of all, there are psychologists who used the captured soldiers of the US military, the "repentance books" they wrote in the prison camps and the anti-war declarations they made to test how the civilians in the United States think that these captured US soldiers are truly rebellious. It's still just an ideal lie. A large amount of data finally concluded that if ordinary people only hear the audio-recorded statement, the recognition of the mutiny is relatively low, but if they see the documents autographed by the captured soldiers themselves, the recognition of the mutiny will be greatly increased.

According to the theory of "situational attribution" in psychology, psychologist B. Weiner conducted a systematic study on the attribution of behavioral results, and concluded that most people will internally attribute others. The so-called attribution of behavior to personal characteristics (personality, quality, motivation, attitude, emotion, mood, effort level, etc.). It is believed that these captured soldiers would only act like this when they were really disloyal. I call it internal deformation.

The soldiers in the other camp had more tragic incidents in the prisoner-of-war camp. These soldiers were tattooed, tattooed, and mutilated by their opponents. And these words are the so-called "opposition", "down" and "re-behave" and other targeted words. When these soldiers returned to their home countries, they suffered more cruel persecution than those in the prison camps. To the hearts of these soldiers, they explained thousands of times, and they couldn’t convince their own people about the circumstances and backgrounds under which they were persecuted. Tattooed and tattooed. I call this external deformation.

No matter how it changes, it is deformed anyway. The body becomes a worm, or the mind becomes a worm. For shapeshifters, in what capacity should we treat them? We ourselves are all anxious about the belonging, division and unity of our identities. Regarding the issue of other people's status, is it even more "want to talk" to love whom? Many such parts can be seen in "District 9". In the first two decades since the bugs came to the earth, the curiosity and friendliness of human beings have been wiped out. All that is left is the impatience and boredom of these "non-self races, even if they are far away". Therefore, the subsequent bad behavior will be natural. Until, Wikus began to transform and re-understand the civilization and history of insects through the "compound eyes" of human beings.

In psychology, in order to avoid attribution errors, it is recommended that people should use internal attribution more when looking at themselves, and use external attribution more when looking at others. This is consistent with many stories and the angle of the film. Going back to the anxious identity, probably the origin is when we know ourselves or the outside world, we have a single channel. Basically, we can only think and understand from one latitude. Today, I cannot live in a big house or become a successful person. I am anxious today because my job is not going well, I am unemployed at home, and cannot be an elite member. I am wandering in a foreign land today and I am anxious if I am not accepted by this city. I have to worry too much, just because I have forgotten what the essence of life is and what is the essence of time. Leaving our single-eye perspective, everything else becomes a blind spot.

No matter how much we change, we cannot change the root of life and the root of time. So at the end of "District 9", we still leave us with a beautiful scene, no matter what kind of ruins under our feet, no matter how the body is mutated, the roses in the depths of the soul are still in full bloom, no matter whether it is hard metal or soft fragrant fei.

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Extended Reading

District 9 quotes

  • Wikus Van De Merwe: [Wikus is obviously falling sick] Okay, let's cut some cake!

    [Wikus begins to hallucinate and experience distortion in hearing his own speech, slowing things down considerably]

    Wikus Van De Merwe: C-U-T S-O-M-E C-A-K-E!

  • Fundiswa Mhlanga: [about Wikus Van de Merwe] He was an honest man, and he didn't deserve any of what happened to him.