District 9: Johannesburg as Nostalgic Dystopia

Download or read book District 9: Johannesburg as Nostalgic Dystopia written by Landi Raubenheimer and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2025-01-02 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The film District 9 made waves as an allegory of apartheid on the big screen, but it has not yet been given its rightful place as a landmark depiction within broader visual cultural studies of Johannesburg and cities in the Global South. In this book, Landi Raubenheimer argues that District 9’s portrayal of Johannesburg reverberates within a larger body of representations of the city, collectively shaping a unique visual ‘idiom’ for the post-apartheid city as nostalgic dystopia. Delving deeply into District 9, Raubenheimer brings to light the fascination that images of the city as nostalgic dystopia has held for filmmakers, photographers, viewers, and lovers of Johannesburg alike.