Neill Blomkamp reveals the hidden face of the global city of Johannesburg in ``Chappie''

What is Zeff Culture, a new era of ideological expression?

In present-day South Africa, there is a high-income black class called the Black Diamonds and a white low-income class called the Poor Whites, and economic disparity is seen as a problem. However, not all black people are high-income earners, and of course there are some who struggle with poverty, but in recent years, the number of white poor people has been on the rise due to factors such as preferential treatment for black people in the country. It seems so.

Today, the white supremacist hierarchy is collapsing, and Chappie also highlights the subtle disparities around it. In South Africa, delinquency and crime due to poverty are rapidly increasing, especially in urban areas, and many people turn to crime as a way to overcome poverty. The white gang members Ninja and Yolandi that appear in the story are depicted as the ultimate poor white characters. The two are played by the South African rap group "Die Antwoord." Ninja and Yolandi Visser each appear in the film using their own names.

Formed in 2008, Die Antwoord defined their musical style as "Zef" and spread their unique culture around the world. Even in the movie, you can see the letters "Zef" on the license plate of the ninja's car and on the walls of the hideout. Zef is a new counterculture that was born among South Africa's white low-income class, or poor whites, and is a kind of slang that expresses that ideology. In other words, it is a culture that identifies itself as poor white and affirms itself as such.

There are various theories about the origin of the word Zephyr, but one theory is that it comes from the popular car "Ford Zephyr", which was popular until the early 1970s. The Zephyr was a car model that was popular among low-income white people, and the name of the car was shortened to "Zefr" (abbreviation for Zephyr) and became a nickname. From there, it was further abbreviated to "Zef," and the word changed to refer to poor white. Currently, as mentioned above, it is used in a positive sense as a counterculture term. In other words, ``Chappie'' is a kind of counterculture work that advocates the Zeff culture of Die Antwoord.

Johannesburg, a crime-ridden city