Laurence Nairne History and Theory of Animation 03/02/10

“Issues of representation are complicated, first by the purpose of representation,

and second, by its expression” (Wells, 1998:188). Discuss the process of
representation in animated film, making reference to critical texts and one of the
films screened during the unit.

Dr. Daniel Chandler, a lecturer in Media and Communication Studies at the Aberystwyth University writes
that, 'Representation refers to the construction in any medium [...] of aspects of 'reality' such as people,
places, events [and] cultural identities' (2008). Due to the nature of this construction, it is common for
representations to become exaggerated or exploited by media distributors, but also often misinterpreted by
an audience. With animation, the issue of representation is much more clear, in that the imagery used is
entirely created for the purpose of representing a particular reality. Due to this, characters are often based
upon social, cultural and racial stereotypes, even if it is unintentional. In this essay, I intend to study the
complications of representation in animation, why this medium highlights these issues more clearly, the
clever representation of race within the film District 9 (2009), and how it is used to express the relation
between supremacy and the oppressed. I will also attempt to analyse the effect of overtly using racist
representation to intentionally highlight historical realities.

As aforementioned, animations are completely constructed both in image and in character. It is for this
reason that ideas for characters come from experiences of other people, even if the characters are not
human. By this truth it is therefore impossible to create an animated character without representing someone
or something from the real world. Following their integration into a feature film they are then viewed by an
audience that is host to many different stereotypical references, and these representations become elaborate
and modified to each subjective viewpoint. The issues that can arise with this is that expressions of prejudice
are made much more clear. Irene Kotlarz states that, 'Some of the images of blacks in Hollywood animation
must be among the clearest expressions of national and corporate racism produced by modern mass media'
(1983:21) and this can be backed by Ralph Bakshi's film 'Coonskin' in which he satirised racist stereotypes
that were present within the corporate animation industry.

As stated in the title, quoted from Paul Wells, issues with representation are indeed complicated. This can be
for many reasons. A character or location cannot successfully represent a reality without initial intent in
animation. Therefore when issues of stereotypes arise, such as those of race, it is clear that there has been
either some intent to derogate, or a negligence on behalf of the creation team. Then there is the portrayal,
the way in which the character(s) in question is/are presented. It has been very common in animation history
to use caricatures when including ethnic minorities in films or shorts. The black character was seen to be
wide and full lipped, in unison with rhythm, gluttonous, and in often cases seen to be savage or of primal
instinct. The third factor involved with the representation of animated characters and locations is the
interpretation of the audience. This has is a major factor as it is the audience that leaves a viewing with more
that they entered. Animation has the power to manipulate mentalities towards anything that the creator so
wishes as long as it is done subtly, or as Kotlarz says, 'an iron fist in the velvet glove' (1983:22). The reason
for this ability is down to animation's roots in the novel and the caricature. People are more willing to accept

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Bugs Bunny out-witting a short, poor sighted, foolish and buck toothed Japanese soldier (Bugs Bunny Nips
the Nips, 1944) than to have a live action broadcast of overt racism, purely down to the fact that the medium
has always been considered light hearted and entertaining, even if it does cross the line of the politically
correct, hence its use in World War propaganda. As a result of such shorts as Cole Black and the Seven
Dwarfs and Fresh Hare (1942), these stereotypes were carried into British and American society and still on
some level exist today, even if only in parody or humour and as put by Robert Ferguson, 'these
representations may become normalised.' (1998:156-157).

Furthermore, representation can be seen (when concerning race) to be a complex matter as it is dependent
on the ideologies of the nation that the media is presented. For example, a nation that has racist tendencies
built into the nature and history of its culture, such as Britain or America have these unspoken ideologies that
consider ethnic minority status to be an issue to be dealt with. It is in this way that '”inferential” racism' (Hill
1995:20) gets expressed without the conscious knowledge of the media source creators, even if their primary
intentions are to express an anti-racist message. In the film District 9, that I will shortly be discussing, this is
the case. It unknowingly complements the racist ideology in that it puts the alien race as the problem to be
solved throughout the film. Even though it aims to express the need for empathy towards the minority, it still
presents humanity, or particularly South Africa as the dominant culture with the mission to be the “Good
Samaritan” and integrate them into western culture.

The representation within the film District 9 is no less complicated, in that the ideological messages
expressed are multi-layered and inescapably based upon the director Neill Blomkamp's exposure to Western
ideology. Out right with the documentary style of the film it can be surmised that the initial intention was to
represent the media's role in portraying Western superiority and self proclaimed “generosity” towards a
primitive humanoid species and as Stuart Hall states,

'institutions like the media are peculiarly central to the matters since they are, by definition, part of
the dominant means of ideological production. What they “produce” is, precisely, representations of
the social world, images, descriptions, explanations and frames for understanding how the world is,
and why it works as it is said and shown to work.' (1995:19-20)

Delving deeper into the medium of representation it can be speculated that Blomkamp was attempting to
remove the issue of same species racism in order to extract a moral reaction not directly connected to reality.
In this way, an audience is able to conclude that such treatment would be inhumane, without the guilty
defence that goes hand in hand with the ideological history of Western civilization. But its reference to reality
is unmistakeable as this is made quite clear. The fact that the film is set in Johannesburg, the capital city of
South Africa is of particular importance as it shares its location with the events of racial segregation under
the government acts of Apartheid in which black natives were shut off from the 'superior' white society under
the notion that the natives were too unsophisticated to comprehend or partake in normal activity, or to
integrate with civilization.

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The similarities between the aliens and the representations of African and South American tribes in historical
media are uncanny if physical attributes are put aside. Their demeanour is similar in their primitive reactions
to disagreements, as in one scene two aliens are seen fighting over a truck tire as the MNU enter the camp
to issue eviction notices. It is also seen in their gluttony and in their territorial nature when confronted with
outsiders. It seems pretty plain that this was an intentional decision on Blomkamp's part to satirise the use of
misleading tribe representations and this method is used greatly throughout, both in the reactions to these
'savages' and in the aliens acting completely in expected character until Christopher alters this generalisation
by being calculated, compassionate and forward thinking.

The term 'prawn' is used a great deal throughout the film as a derogative to refer to the alien refugees. Use
of such terms as these are part of historical racism and have existed in Western society for as long as it has
been powerful. Terms such as ape for blacks and slant eyes for the Japanese were used to describe physical
attributes in a demeaning context to enhance the view of inferiority and as in the film, with the justification,
'You can't say they don't look like that, that's what they look like right? They look like prawns' (District 9,
2009) these terms were passed off as simple visual observations, disregarding their insulting expression.

However, as stated, underlying this attempt at subtly depicting the issues of the Western ideology when
dealing with minorities, is a foundation of that same ideology. It appears to promote “tolerance” of other
races, as opposed to embracing said races and this is emphasised by the conclusion to the film being the
ascension of Christopher to the mothership and leaving earth to get help to save his people from terra firma.
The very fact that the solution given to the problem was to leave, rather than integrate. To consume, rather
than exchange ideas and progress is an example of racist, supremacist Western ideology at work and the
image of Western superiority in the face of a new civilization. It is also apparent that the actions of the whites
in the film are much more orchestrated and intellectual than those of the Nigerian gang within the camp of
District 9. They are portrayed as dealing in base profits, buying weapons they have no idea how to use for
food supplies, butchering the aliens in a ritualistic manner to gain power and brutalising in archaic ways. In
short they are shown to appear savage in comparison to the white South Africans heading the alien
relocation project. Though both black and white are shown to exploit the aliens' predicament, it is the
difference in the level of subtlety that makes this clear.

In so far as expressing the limitations of subjects of said ideology this is successful and highlights the
problem of representing race in a way that is independent from the ideology of a Westernised community
regardless of how liberal the intentions may be. In Black Looks: Race and Representation, Bell Hooks quotes
an essay by Ron Scapp titled Rorty: Voice and the Politics of Empathy in which he states, 'it is only after the
other has been redescribed as oneself that the liberal is able to be “sensitive” to the question of cruelty and
humiliation.' (Scapp, cited in Hooks 1992:13) and it can be argued that this is not a healthy attitude towards
cultural integration, as the Western supremacist ideology is then not challenged or amended, but simply
given exceptions to particular targets of racism and the issue of racist representation is then not corrected in

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its entirety, but simply directed elsewhere.

Concerning the positive, intended aspects of racial representation within the film, it is cleverly arranged to
initially lure an audience in to a false sense of awareness at the “problem” faced by humanity. Then develops
into a sense of realisation and then sympathy at the treatment and exploitation of this newly arrived species,
when the media network is not the only source presenting the alien situation. Subconsciously, the audience
is left to question the moral fabric of privileged society and relate the plot to historical examples such as pre-
emancipation America, the concentration camps in Germany and so forth. Using the audience's
interpretations is both an asset and a curse to the box office sales that the film received. The portrayal of the
Nigerians as previously mentioned, was taken badly by many Africans in general who thought that it was
giving a potentially damaging image of the general public. Researching the reaction in the Guardian website
uncovered that Hakeen Kae-Kazim, a British actor of Nigerian origin spoke out on the social network
Facebook under a group titled District 9 Hates Nigerians and stated that, 'If the African continent truly wants
to be liberated, we cannot sit back and allow this depiction of a 'few rotten apples' to be spread across the
world.' (2009) and this view has been reflected by many, hence the need for the website's group in the first
place.

To summarise, generally a film receiving a high level of global public attention such as District 9 is a success
in terms of the strength of its message, and regardless of the opinions given in the feedback, it all speaks of
the quality of the represented image. The power of such imagery is beyond the grasp of the film makers and
lends itself to the public to decide its morality, and this is generally the modern complexity of representation.
Ideologies within nations are now so deeply established that it becomes difficult to appease all concerned
and whether the representations are accurate or loosely based on reality is potentially irrelevant to the
interpretation that takes place beyond the screen. It is the wide variety of understanding that creates a
complication when evaluating media representations such as race, and how an image is explicated is
dependant on cultural and historical reference. As this essay has noted, different reactions have resulted
from Africa and the West and this is in a very general sense. Within both cultures will be a spectrum of
differing opinions based on personal levels of experience and on heritage.

Historically the intentions and methods of representation in animation have been more important in analysis
as this medium was used in racist propaganda during war time with shorts such as Der Fuhrer's Face (1943)
and You're a Sap Mr. Jap (1942) and Western superiority was not questioned from within. So it was
unchecked and allowed to be overtly racist. There was much less of a question of racial and social
sensitivity. It is now much more complex as there is significantly more 'red tape' when regarding the
production of animation due to the global market and the rising importance that it carries beyond its roots in
novelty. Any racist representation that does still exist in modern animation is now much more subtle and
harder to uncover without intended analysis, but as Stuart Hall states, 'Primitivism, savagery, guile and
unreliability- all “just below the surface”- can still be identified in the faces of black political leaders around the
world, cunningly plotting the overthrow of “civilization”,' (1995:22) and though directors try to reinvent the

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ethnic characters, there is still the shadow of former stereotypes within live action and animated feature films
alike.