Chapter 1
In: District 9: Johannesburg as Nostalgic Dystopia
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Abstract
In Chapter 1, I examine recent research on the city of Johannesburg’s depiction in film, photography and popular media. Within this field, I uncover elements of a shared visual idiom – notably exemplified by District 9 – which may have been explored to some extent in existing research, but not in the manner I propose: as a coherent visual vocabulary. These elements include nostalgia, dystopia, and the sublime. I consider how both research on District 9 and research on the city either foregrounds or overlooks these important concepts. This suggests their significance and their potential as indicators of an emerging visual vocabulary that extends beyond District 9 to popular media after 1994.