District 9 Offends Nigerian Government

[Logan Westbrook]

District 9 Offends Nigerian Government

[img_inline caption="" align='right' src='http://cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/galleries/display/59/59822.jpg']
Sci-fi movie/political allegory District 9 has come under fire from the Nigerian Government.

It's not just ads for the PS3 that are rattling the cage of the Nigerian Government, as now they are attacking sci-fi movie District 9, which it alleges shows Nigerians in a bad light.

"We feel very bad about this because the film clearly denigrated Nigeria's image by portraying us as if we are cannibals, [or as if] we are criminals," said Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili, "The name our former president was clearly spelt out as the head of the criminal gang and our ladies shown like prostitutes sleeping with extra-terrestrial beings."

The Nigerian Government is so incensed by the portrayal of Nigerians in District 9 that it has ordered its national film ratings board to ask all cinemas to stop showing the film and has demanded that Sony, who produced the movie, edit it to remove "all offending portions that injured our image as a nation".

Ms Akunyili said that the Nigerian Govenrment is demanding a full and unconditional aplogy from Sony for what she described as an "unwarranted attack on Nigeria's image." This fresh attack on Sony is part of a campaign by Nigeria to rebrand the country after letting the international community define the country's image by the behavior of a handful of criminals for far too long

But whilst not wanting to be known as a nation on con-artists and criminals is understandable, is being known instead as the country that complains all the time is perhaps that much of a step up?

Source: BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8264180.stm]


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[Katherine Kerensky]

I just don't know what to say.
I suppose a few things have been aimed at Nigeria recently...
well, I suppose it just adds to the story, not really aiming to insult Nigeria.

 

[Bassman_2]

Nigeria keeps whining about SONY poking fun at them. All I can say without going mad is stop.

EDIT: Trivun's right, they are singling SONY out, even after all the informative shows on the news that help people NOT GET SCAMMED BY NIGERIANS.

 

[Legion]

I think they need to grow the fuck up to put it bluntly. They are a country, not a school kid getting picked on in school for wearing glasses.

 

[CJ1145]

What, is Nigeria a gay fish?


Seriously, you complain about your bad light, when America is viewed as a bunch of overweight, slackjawed redneck neanderthals? Be glad that the discrimination is this minor.

 

[AkJay]

Dear Nigeria, We are sorry we offended your shit country full of corrupt government and scammers looking to steal from innocent people.

-Son. . . District 9 Crew

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I think that Nigeria would be better served by a government that spends more time and effort fixing its all-too-numerous problems at home (alas) than it spends on getting all pissy about its depiction in world media. This is not an image problem... this is an existance problem, one that needs to be dealt with and not papered over with press releases.

-- Steve

 

[Knight Templar]

That is just plain stupid. Did the US goverment ask that Borat be removed because it showed americans in a bad light? No, they were busy doing their jobs and didn't have time to ***** and moan.

Maybe Nigeria would have a better image if it stopped the shady dealing that occure within it, instead of complaining whenever sometime isn't nice to them. They are not so important as to get away with this ever time, and if a single company says no they'll look like fools.

 

[Therumancer]

Who cares if Nigeria gets upset. The bottom line is that they are a third world country that needs massive cultural reform. It might hurt, but the portrayals are more true than false, which is why they have been shown in such a negative light in movies and such (it's something everyone recognizes).

If Nigeria is apologized to, it removes weight from the indirect criticism. Rather Nigeria should be working hard to improve it's image, accepting the criticism at least as the way the world sees them (and for some good reasons).

Crack down on their domestic con artists, reform the central culture, and install a more progressive goverment. If all this happens and it "takes" for a few decades, then they might have some reason to complain.

I think it's an issue when every third world global armpit is given a forum to complain when someone calls them a global armpit, directly or indirectly. If they don't like it, they need to change.


Nigeria complaining is right up there with a certain South American country complaining due to the portryal of it in Mercenaries 2. Oh sure, that wasn't a flattering portrayal, but allowing for the fantasy conventions, it was pretty bloody accurate. It's not like we hate on Hugo Chavez because we have nothing better to do.

 

[Bassman_2]

I think they need to grow the fuck up to put it bluntly. They are a country, not a school kid getting picked on in school for wearing glasses.

What, is Nigeria a gay fish?


Seriously, you complain about your bad light, when America is viewed as a bunch of overweight, slackjawed redneck neanderthals? Be glad that the discrimination is this minor.

Those are my exact same thoughts that I was about to say but didn't for fear of seeming like a jerk. Both of them combined I mean.... You're not jerks....

 

[Brett Alex]

"and our ladies shown like prostitutes sleeping with extra-terrestrial beings."

Nil, are you helping Wilson out with Reliable Source this week?

 

[high_castle]

You know, I watched this movie and wondered how many people would be offended by their portrayals in the movie. The one thing you have o say, though, is that humanity as a whole is shown in a bad light. Not one person is purely good or even mostly good. So it wasn't like Nigeria was singled out.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

"and our ladies shown like prostitutes sleeping with extra-terrestrial beings."

Nil, are you helping Wilson out with Reliable Source this week?

That's a genuine quote apparently.

 

[Tolkienfanatic]

Here is my question... does anyone really give a f*&% what Nigeria thinks?

 

[USSR]

Oh for god's sake. *palmface*

..they are waaay to emotional about their infamous little country <.<

 

[Sonicron]

I highly doubt Sony is going to edit their movie in any way. And a good thing, too. Seriously, Nigeria keeps whining and whining because of 'lousy portrayals'... That's like Germany collectively complaining about Tom Clancy because several of his novels depict Germans as sophisticated yet ruthless bastards who won't hesitate to resort to genocide in order to get what they want. Just as retarded.

 

[NERDRAGE]

Wait, what? I thought the movie was set in South Africa...

 

[LongAndShort]

God, they've got a thing against Sony. But then maybe Sony's got a thing against Nigeria. I find that unlikely, even when they are racist or discriminatory they don't target one specific country but several continents. Its been said already but they (Nigeria) need to stop worrying about how the rest of the world portrays them and start worrying about pulling there people out of poverty.

 

[Knight Templar]

"and our ladies shown like prostitutes sleeping with extra-terrestrial beings."

Nil, are you helping Wilson out with Reliable Source this week?

Thats what I thought at first, but alas it's all sadly true. Or the BBC is playing a joke.