Are Aliens the oppressed or the oppressors?

LINK:  ALIVE IN JOBURG
This was the question that kept coming to my mind as I watched this amazing viral video for the upcoming movie District 9. Placing it 1990 South Africa makes the premise of the movie all the more troubling and conflicted. What struck me most was the various layers of power between everyone here, from the lowly alien begging for water, the bio suit alien that could crush someone like an insect, the giant ships, to the race and class differences right at the height of Apartheid. I love the comment someone made on Vimeo, "I love that the aliens just become a social problem, not an apocalyptic threat."

Where there is pattern there is meaning.

This is something I learned very early on from Sean Kane, the guy who wrote this book, Wisdom of the Mythtellers. Myths are full of patterns reflected in nature, and their telling reveals layer by layer their connections.

It would take a keen ear to catch such patterns, and perhaps the patterns mean different things for different people at different stages in their life. I'm trying to be aware of this as I write, where I draw on the natural world, but also on the web of social relationships between the characters. All of this while within a story being narrated, which I guess acts as a synecdoche (I love that word, hehe).

The story I'm using as reference is inspired from the Mabinogion, "Branwen Daughter of Llyr" which features some of the most vicious scenes. I'm taking my time with this one...