Nigeria Demands Apology For District 9
On a roll from demanding an apology from Sony for insinsuating the country was a haven for scams, Nigeria is demanding an apology from the makers of District 9 for portraying Nigeria as full of gangsters and cannibals. They also want the movie to be re-edited so all the Nigerian gangsters are taken out.
"We have directed that [Nigerian cinemas] should stop public screening of the film," Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili said. "We are not happy about it because it portrays Nigeria in bad light." Additionally, Nigeria wants the reference to the movie's main gangster, Obesandjo, replaced, because it's only two letters away from the surname of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
With scenes like the one in this clip, where a local gang pulls the "cat food scam" on the hungry alien prawns, you can see where the Nigerian Ministry of Information might take umbrage. But maybe they should spend less time getting angry at people for highlighting their shortcomings and more on fixing the underlying problems that lead to the proliferation of scams and gangsterism in the first place. As the saying goes, it's funny because it's true.
Nigeria Says ‘District 9' Is Not Welcome [NYT]
PREVIOUSLY: Nigeria Demands Apology For Sony Ad Implying They're A Source Of Scams
Post a comment
Comments:
in place of an appology can we wire $50,000 via Western Union with homes of getting a $13,000,000 appology bonus back from a long lost uncle who was head of the finance committe in nigeria?
The movie portrays Nigeria in a bad light? More like NIGERIA portrays Nigeria in a bad light!
Looks like Sony pulled the commercial. Now he says, "Don't believe everything you read on the internet. That's how World War 2 started." Looks like Sony caved in on that front. But, obviously, the film will never be re-edited and/or removed from screens.
yes, we would like Nigeria to be known for its wonderful culture of upscale white-people.
I went to summer camp with someone who lived in Nigeria. IIRC, his name was Babatunde. Some of the stories he told back then (late 80's) still kind of freak me out. And yes, some did involve cannibalism.
Are they serious? Now they can capitalize on this by going to HBO and getting their own series. Not only that, but now scammers from Nigeria can put fear into their victims and remind people how ruthless they can be. Doesn't Nigeria understand that no publicity is the only bad publicity?
I wish they would put as much effort and attention into cleaning up the crime, corruption, and superstition that is the impetus for those portrayals.
What's with all the frigging "9" movies, Hollywood? I'm confused enough with "Nine" and "9" -- an animated musical about the post-apocalyptic world -- and now you add this one? Let's mash all the plots together and see what they get.
How many people went to the wrong film?
What Nigeria seems to be missing is that the movie was written and directed by a man from South Africa - so perhaps their anger shouldn't be directed at Sony, but at the person who should - for all intents and purposes - know a good deal about Nigeria and Africa in general.
I haven't seen District 9 (though I want to), but I haven't read anything to suggest that the movie was offensive to anyone except insectoid alien beings.
In other news, Germany wants an apology for Inglorious Basterds, France wants an apology for Pepe Le Pew, North Korea wants an apology for Die Another Day, Canada wants an apology for South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Rhode Island wants an apology for Family Guy, Gotham wants an apology for the whole Batman franchise ...
Yeah, no. True or not, you don't get to demand apologies, let alone demand that a studio stop showing a movie, if your country is depicted in a bad light.
@DarkKnightShyamalan: It is unfortunate that Nigeria COMPLETELY missed the point of this movie. It wasn't about the evil Nigerians. It was about the terrible way that South Africa treats and segregates its immigrants using aliens as a metaphor.
While SOME of the bad guys in the movie were Nigerians, I don't think their portrayal can do any worse for the reputation of Nigeria than the ousted Prince of Nigeria who will gladly pay you $200k to get back his $13 million.
I want an apology from Nigeria for all the effin Scam-Spam I receive.
Dear Nigeria,
Nobody cares. Italy isn't bitching about Mobsters portrayed in some of the best movies ever (maybe they did, but nobody cares). I didn't complain when Jackass came out, so shut your stupid mouths.
@pecan 3.14159265: I haven't seen District 9 (though I want to), but I haven't read anything to suggest that the movie was offensive to anyone except insectoid alien beings.
I've seen the movie and read a lot of discussions and critiques about it (and participated in some, which is about what a film MFA is good for), and actually, Blomkamp uses a lot of racial / cultural attitudes that currently exist, as well as the ones invented to deal with the aliens. The thoughts about that fall into two camps: either that Blomkamp is mindlessly parroting his local cultural attitudes, or that Blomkamp and the film are smart enough to be using existing attitudes to play off of each other and with the themes of the film. Personally, I run with the latter, because it was a very well-crafted movie.
That said, the portrayal of the Nigerians is indeed less than flattering and the film does give enough cause to worry about the racial angle. But the film wants you to be worried about that, was the impression I got, rather than just glossing over everything.
@PixelProphet: Yes. In fact, I propose an exchange. I say that we offer an apology and pull the movie permanently off the big screens in exchange for their apology as well as their permanent commitment to force all of their ISPs to block the scam-spam. Of course, the scammers will probably just go some place else...
Nigeria should probably stop the scammers and military coups then...
@katstermonster: According to Sarah Palin, Paris is the least of your worries as a woman. What really hurts your cause is the kind of female politicians who whine and complain about the media being unfair instead of backing themselves, working extra hard, and proving themselves better by doing a good job.
Life in Nigeria sux--I know this from a friend who was born and raised there. Yep, cannibals. Yep, gangs. Yep, a crappy place to be.
Why is it that we can't just say what something is like, without being so PC? It's better to be realistic than not.
Oh well, I was about to say that you don't see Indians protesting over their stupid portrayal in Slumdog Millionaire, but then I looked it up, and sure enough, some right wingers have gotten their panties in a bunch.
Guys seriously, I know the prince of Nigeria, and if you knew the financial ruin he was facing, you wouldn't be so heartless about this. Good thing he found me of all people!
OK Nigeria, I defended you in the Sony PS3 affair, but, ummm, good luck with this one.
@TCama:
Well actually you can demand all the apologies you want. Whether anyone is stupid enough to make one is another thing.
If they want an apology for this, then I demand that they apologize to me first for the flood of spam that sucks up ridiculous amounts of Internet bandwidth. Then I want them to take action to stop it. Until these demands are met, the Nigerian government must agree to withhold any of their own demands for redress of grievances.
Keep your petty attempts at distraction from your crimes for your own people, Dora. We don't need them here.
@TCama: As far as the Batman franchise goes, I think we all deserve an apology for some of those movies.
Nigeria: The new world capital of Butt Hurt-dom.
give me a freaking break already. It's kinda like how you can't see a Speedy Gonzales(sic) cartoon because it
show Mexicans in a negative light. It's a freaking cartoon, people, get over it!
@RandomHookup: You went to the wrong film? It's a simple matter in my mind of knowing what you're asking for and paying some very simple attention.
"9" was no different from calling it "Dave" if the creator of #'s 1-9 had decided to name his creations instead of number them. So it was still perfectly relevant and reasonable to name the movie as such.
Bah, they still don't deserve an apology from Sony. He didn't say "OH HAI NIGERIA: SCAMMERS" or anything of the sort. He simply made fun of a common internet scam.
Next on Consumerist: Nigeria demands apology from email scammers
This "But maybe they should spend less time getting angry at people for highlighting their shortcomings and more on fixing the underlying problems that lead to the proliferation of scams and gangsterism in the first place..." is so stupid beyond words. I know this might violate the consumerist terms but please stick to what you know.
And don't edit your initial post to remove sentences you know you shouldn't have uttered.
dear nigeria,
i'm sorry that your country sucks so bad that it's portrayed pretty much everywhere as the armpit of the world. perhaps not actually being the armpit of the world would go along way towards changing everyone's perception of your nation.
just a thought.
---------
there. now stfu.
@jaydez: And how do you know that the email came from Nigeria? You wouldn't believe anything you read in an email from an anonymous person, would you?
@RandomHookup: That's a while ago for me. Saw it on vacation on release day and it feels like quite a long time since then.
@TCama: I think North Korea would be more angry about Team America: World Police than Die another day
@GitEmSteveDave_SomeAssemblyRequired:How's that indicative of the ENTIRE country? You think worse things don't go on in the United States? Didn't a guy once killed a fellow rider on greyhound bus and proceeded to eat him? Can I assume America is a county of school shooters because of Columbine and Virginia Tech? I don't expect everyone to know intimate details about Nigeria but don't let the (tall) tales of a few people cloud your judgement about a county.
@Mobius: They are trying but it's not easy to shed years of institutionalized corruption. It's like trying to reform campaign funding in the United States. Not going to happen in 1 day.
I've seen District 9. It's a good movie, and by the end of it, you're rooting for the aliens. Yeah, there's a Nigerian that's not very nice. But he's just one person. The ugliness of humanity goes far beyond just that one person. And it's not portrayed as "Well, that's the way SA'ers are...". It more like people can do and rationalize some terrible things. Americans against the Native Americans, Nazi's against the Jews, "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia, China against Tibet, and the list goes on.
Um, have they seen how American studio-funded movies portray our OWN criminals? At least the Nigerian gangsters were ruthless *and* clever in that movie.