Character

The character that appealed to my interest is Christopher Johnson from District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp. Going into this movie, the audience is already characterizing him from his appearance and the negative associations given to his species shown through the trailers. His species, labelled prawns for their mollusk appearance, are alien, shunned, and concentrated in isolated camps. The alien species are trapped on Earth because their spacecraft has been idled and unable to run. Christopher Johnson is one of the more intellectual prawn. He becomes a character of interest once the protagonist, Wikus Van De Merwe, discovers that Christopher Johnson is necessary for achieving of his own goal. But that's not the focus here; Christopher Johnson is the focus.

His goals are pretty straight forward - he wishes to go home and save his people from the cruel treatment of Earth. As the film progresses, the audience discovers another goal that Christopher Johnson needs to achieve: that he much re-power the spacecraft with a rare fuel that has been confiscated by the protagonist Wikus. Eventually, Wikus is contaminated by the fluid and begins transforming into a prawn. Christopher and Wikus come to an agreement that if Wikus helps retrieve the fuel for the ship, Christopher will return Wikus into his human form. Nonetheless, his main goal of returning home and saving his people trumps all others. This distinction is revealed through various aspects.

His character is represented as an intelectual of his species. We are revealed this through his oddities and attire. Unlike the rest of his species, Christopher wears a salvaged red vest as well as pieces of cloth covering his leg, like shorts. This not only identifies Christopher, but also shows that he is not like the rest of his species - crude and naked. In order to carry out his goal, Christopher feels the need to observe and conform to human patterns. He is also respectful and obedient to the human species. All of his actions are acts that he needs to carry out in order to achieve his goal.

In the final scene of the film, Christopher is trying to get to the ship to return home, but is under heavy fire from military personel. He and Wikus break through, but this physical barrier is not the main obstacle in the scene. Rather, it is the emotion decisions that he must make. The importance of his goal is shown through his hurry to return home. Consequently, he must leave Wikus on earth, promising to return after saving his alien race. This emotional decision is the greatest obstacle because it forces Christopher to make sacrifices in order to achieve his goal: either he abandon the lives of his people for cure Wikus, or he leave Wikus so he can gather resources to save his people. Christopher overcomes this obstacle through making sacrifices in order to save the lives of his race.