District 9

Intro

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• on the edge of my seat
• mockumentary
• no stranger to
• fixed-laws universe

• segregation
• xenophobia
• come out of nowhere
• low-budget

• a lot to be said
• top-notch

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The best science fiction uses aliens, monsters, and distant planets to comment about what’s happening right here on Earth. On the surface, the new sci-fi movie District 9 is about a clash between aliens and humans. But the film contains strong messages about controversial topics like segregation, xenophobia, and the treatment of immigrants.

District 9 is set in South Africa, where blacks and whites were kept separate for many years. In the film, aliens are forced to live in refugee camps, where they are kept separate from humans. Mason and Marni were so intrigued by the premise of District 9, they both went to see it on opening weekend. Find out if the movie met their expectations.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Marni

Mason:  District 9’s a movie that came out of nowhere. I think I first heard about it maybe a month ago, maybe.

Marni:  I read about it a few days ago, and then…

Mason:  And then a friend of mine dragged me to it opening night, and I was like, “Yeah, that sounds interesting,” and whatnot. Amazing! Right?

Marni:  Incredible. I…same thing, I read about it and I was like, “I have to go this weekend.” And that rarely happens, where I feel like opening weekend I must go to a film. But I was so intrigued by everything that I had read. And it didn’t disappoint.

Mason:  No. One, I kinda thought it was gonna be more low-budget than it was, and it was top-notch special effects. I was pretty much on the edge of my seat the entire movie.

Marni:  As was I. And I also thought it was really interesting to see a sci-fi movie that was mockumentary style, like pseudo-documentary. It made it really believable in some respects.

Mason:  Yeah. The sci-fi genre, it’s no stranger to having a lot of social commentary played out in this kind of fixed-laws universe. Even so, I was pretty shocked at how pointed a lot of the messages seemed to be about current political situations.

Marni:  Yeah, I think there’s a lot to be said for that film and I think it’s worth all the hype.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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