Militarism, Misanthropy and the Body Politic: - Brunel University

EnterText 6.2
remain a couple.) The obsession with black bodies extends past Steven Hiller to her. One
sees this obsession in a subtle match cut. Hiller rescues Jasmine in a helicopter and they
embrace, forming a beautiful silhouette resembling afrocentric posters and statuary of the
seventies. The image cuts to the next scene, the doors swing open, and the president
comes through with his “brunette,” his daughter. They go to his wife’s death bed. The
fecundity of African-Americans is contrasted with the sterility of whites.
Jewish-Americans
As with many characters in ID4, Julius Levinson is given an array of attributes which are
incoherent within themselves and dissonant within the culture. Julius speaks in an accent
not appropriate for a Jewish-American of his age but rather something out of 1920s
vaudeville. Religious Jews don’t just “talk to God”—at least they don’t make it up as
they go along, and the Hebrew Bible that is handed to him goes from left to right like the
Christian Bible. It is hard to give an award for ID4’s most offensive character, but the
part of Julius is pretty extreme.
When he, Connie, and David are in the Oval Office, Julius cannot help looking
for souvenir pens. (Connie seems up on his game, because, before she leaves, she tells
Julius and David not to touch anything.) Julius opens the door of his townhouse with a
shotgun, and starts calling his neighbours vultures. (His rant will continue as a refrain on
the highway.) He constantly berates his son, saying some strikingly belittling things about
his not getting a better job and not staying with his ex-wife. “Believe me. They’ve got
people to handle this. If they wanted to call you, they would have called HBO.” Overly
tending to his son, Julius even tells him he should not sit on the concrete because he will
Carol Vernallis: Independence Day 79