Militarism, Misanthropy and the Body Politic: - Brunel University

EnterText 6.2
Jimmy Wilder, and Marty Gilbert are marginal characters, and each of them had been
warned. 65 Like ID4’s minor characters, Arab and Arab-Americans are absent, marginal,
or problematic. 66
I do not wish to suggest that Independence Day is the cause of the 11 September
attacks, nor that the film is America’s sole script. A repertoire of apocalyptic imagery, as
well as printed text, ways of talking and speaking, and so on, all contribute to our ways of
thinking about and acting toward Middle-Easterners. Nevertheless, Independence Day is
a good text to pull out and examine from the stream of popular culture. Quantitative
studies of the media suggest that media images can greatly shape our perceptions of and
actions toward other people. Independence Day insinuates the message that if you do not
heed the warnings or follow the rules very closely, you will be wiped out. Americans are
told that those who are on the border or outside the system are at risk, and the rest of us
should relinquish our civil liberties because we have nothing to hide. Those who raise
concerns about our government’s policies are unpatriotic. Independence Day may help
repackage 1950’s McCarthyism and Cold War ideology.
As Bush’s government continues the occupation in Iraq—either to conquer the
evil abroad, to make natural and acceptable the evils at home, to gain more oil and power,
or to exorcise their own personal demons—I hope we all take a few deep breaths.
Notes
1
“Hollywood movies and TV shows with terror plots face uncertain future” (The Associated Press State
and Local Wire, 12 September 2001).
2
ID4 was commonly used as a substitute title for Independence Day. It is redundant since the 4 in ID4
presumably stands for 4 July.
3
www.filmsite.org/boxoffice.html.
Carol Vernallis: Independence Day 103