Militarism, Misanthropy and the Body Politic: - Brunel University

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numbed response when the aliens’ incinerate populations and buildings later in the film.
Other ID4 characters experience the brunt of the aliens’ aggression before the U.S. does:
the Iraqis witness the unfurling of mushroom clouds, and the Russians suffer the first
deaths. In the Oval Office, the White House staff watches news footage of the destruction
in Novosibirsk, and a young boy’s bloody, bandaged head is placed in the foreground of
the screen. General Grey turns away from the sight—is he too busy, uninterested, or
repulsed? 10 The television images elicit a re-enactment of Freud’s narrative of a child
being beaten. 11 The film cuts away too quickly from this scene for the viewer to fully take
in what she has just seen. Off the coast of California, a plane with U.S. pilots flies into a
grand, stormy fire cloud. (Okay, we’ve lost some of our own.) Three diminutive
“welcome wagons,” awkwardly jerry-rigged helicopters with large light panels jutting out
from the sides, as at a rock concert, come to meet the aliens with a message of peace; but
they are such a joke that, like enlarged mosquitoes, they deserve immolation by the
aliens’ death ray. The music underscores these blasts with ethereal music on impact—
only after a long held chord does the music darken in tone. Next to go down are the UFO
fans. One woman wants to bring back Elvis, many people partake in a rave, and most
wave silly handmade placards like “Make Yourself at Home” and “Take me with You.”
An ebullient Tiffany runs up the ladder to meet the aliens, despite Jasmine’s having
warned her not to go. The first real character who dies—or who speaks more than four
lines of dialogue, anyway—is gay and Jewish. His death lacks any semblance of dignity:
he slouches, says “Oh, crap,” and gets levelled by a car.
Even the moment before the building explodes is worth a second look. We cannot
tell which buildings and cities are exploding. The second impact shows the aliens’ blue
Carol Vernallis: Independence Day 66