Militarism, Misanthropy and the Body Politic: - Brunel University

EnterText 6.2
Besides Hiller’s girlfriend, Jasmine, where are the African-American women? A rough
count for sightings of African-American men in Independence Day is 150, excluding
Hiller. 30 African-American men are continually worked into the mise-en-scène, and they
do stand out—they are almost always young, tall, handsome, strong, and dark skinned. 31
However, besides white men and a few white women sprinkled in the background, almost
no one else is present—no Latinos, Asian-, Arab-, Indian- or Native Americans. African-
American female characters seem deliberately constructed as an absence.
In the film’s first 120 minutes, no more than forty-five seconds of screen time are
devoted to African-American women in supporting roles or as extras. 32 The New York
City street scenes are integrated racially, but the footage looks so different from the rest
of the film—with its cartoonish sets and actors—that the crowds seem reflected off rear
screen.
African-American men stand in as a shorthand for diversity, but not a diversity
that looks like reality. African-American men have done well in the military, but so have
women and many other minorities, and the White House staff should reflect a greater
ethnic mix. At its climax, the film will drive home the image of a black and white male
couple, and the placement of attractive black men against white men prepares us for this
partnership.
All of a sudden, at the film’s close, there’s an exponential leap in representation
of African-American women. 33 Some of Independence Day’s uplifting quality comes
from its ending, when the men continually congratulate each other: there’s a tremendous
amount of backslapping. Julius Levinson says he’s proud of his son. David Levinson says
Carol Vernallis: Independence Day 77