Independence Day: Resurgence or Moral Declination?
Recently, I adventured to our local blockbuster movie theatre in the heart of Missouri with my family to see the new Independence Day movie. My dad and sister were pretty hellbent on wanting to see it over any other movie playing, so I went along, considering sci-fi movies are pretty interesting and edgy in my opinion. I could not entirely recall whether or not I saw the original; I had a pretty vivid memory of Will Smith trying to save his family from some kind of destruction, but I was pretty sure I was getting that confused with I Am Legend (highly recommend, but I recommend everything Will Smith ever). So sadly, this will not be from the perspective of someone who experienced the original movie, but please bear with me, for I have some observations that you may find interesting or worthy of your attention. (Watch for spoilers, friends.)
The movie begins, but I wasn’t paying too much attention at first, because I had been high on caffeine from a very formidable iced drink from Dunn Bros, but eventually it gave me reasons to pay attention. A woman as president, who was addressed as Madame President (why the f*** Ms. or Mrs. wasn’t appropriate is beyond me but I digress), was prettying freaking cool at first. She was played by Sela Ward and was graceful and confident. How nice! Plus we have Dylan Hiller, son of Will Smith’s character Captain Steven Hiller played by Jessie Usher, who comes to meet her in the White House, who is a dashing young black man with purpose. But soon our attention is diverted to the impending attack by alien life forces. We catch up with Jeff Goldblum’s character David Levinson who has arrived at the site where the old alien spacecraft was still hanging out from the last movie and is greeted by large amount of intimidating African men who are itching to kill him with their laser guns. Soon, to break the ice, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s character Catherine Marceaux pops up from behind them to bring some much needed sexual tension with Levinson. The two of them meet with Deobia Oparei’s character Dikembe Umbutu, who seems to be the leader of this particular tribe (sorry, I was not paying much attention yet) to discuss this recurring symbol they keep seeing drawn by those having visions related to alien activity. Umbutu doesn’t say much, but he has this unending desire to avenge his brother’s death by aliens. He is also characterized by his skill in killing aliens, and even has tallies on his arm to keep track. This is a trope we have all seen far too often. Black men pegged as bloodthirsty, violent, and not much else. His character displays little to no character development: only some comic relief by the banter between him and Levinson’s assistant. But HEY, we still have Dylan to be a dynamic character! Or so I thought.
So like I said earlier, all these men are having visions and writing down alien language because they were exposed to a lot of alien activity in the first movie. Soon, there is an unknown presence approaching earth, and Area51 is FLIPPING OUT LIKE WHAT DO WE DO MADAME PRES!? Area51 and the President hold a conference call with all the world leaders they find to be powerful and important enough in addition to Levinson and Marceaux. Pretty much everyone is going “shoot the damn thing tomorrow is the 4th of July I still need to buy fireworks and have no damn time to deal with this alien shit” except for Levinson and Marceaux, who are pleading with Madame President to resist fire, because they have no idea if these aliens are the same ones who attacked before. The President calls for them to take it down, and down it goes. Everyone celebrates (MURicA), and Levinson hangs up on Area51 while they are trying to talk to him because he was probs right anyway. Later on, we find out that alien force trying to contact earth was actually just trying to help, and that we just gave them the middle finger.
The next day, celebration of 20 years since the last alien attack is in progress, and the President is addressing the world about how amazing it is that they were able to unite those many years ago to defeat the attackers. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ex-President Whitmore tumbles onto the stage to warn of the upcoming attack and has an intense vision as the next alien invaders start to attack. Chaos ensues, and everyone gets together to try to fight this while the alien spaceship attaches to earth; we now get to enjoy a montage of death and destruction to pull at the heartstrings.
By this time, we have already been introduced to Liam Hemsworth’s character Jake Morrison and his side kick Charlie Miller played by Travis Trope, and we are well aware of the budding romance between Morrison and Patricia Whitmore (President Whitmore’s daughter) played by Maika Monroe. They are part of the International Air Force, and much of the plot involves them. Morrison almost killed Hiller in the previous movie, so there’s an abundance of tension there, and we even get to see Hiller punch Morrison in the jaw. Later on an Asian woman named Rain Lao played by Angelababy joins the gang of kick-ass young adults, and she reigns from China, and serves as the draw for Miller’s character.
Anyway, the aliens are attacking, and they come to Area51 and kill Madame Pres. and others. Her reign was short lived. Almost immediately, General Adams (played by William Fitchner) is sworn in as president. No arguments.
Hiller is pegged as the leader in the fight, although it hardly feels that way with Morrison, Hemsworth’s character, getting much more screen time and lines.
The war is waged, and even though they lost some loved ones, earth wins once again. The movie ends with a speech by the new president talking about how amazing it is that such a diverse world can be so united, and you get some warm fuzzies about how great that it is that we can all love each other. This, and the good humor and jokes the movie packs, almost blind me from some huge holes in this movie.
By the time I had processed what I had seen, I realized the true message this movie was sending.
White men are in charge, and you better not forget it. Let me explain.
Like I mentioned earlier, there is a woman as president, but only until she makes a huge mistake that causes the death and destruction of many.
There is a young black man, Hiller, who is leader of the fight, but who does not get to have a main talking role, and isn’t even involved within the trope of the flowering young romance. His mom gets killed, he says some inspiring words to get everyone ready to fight, and tags along with Morrison and Miller as they dominate the conversation amidst the war against the aliens. By the end of movie, there is no focus on him.
Let’s please talk about Lao. Out first interaction with her, we see her flowing black hair fall out of her helmet with fans surrounding, and Miller drooling already. She is the only ethnically different female main character out of the young people, and she only has a handful of lines. She is there when ALL the shit goes down, but stays mostly silent except for a “Yes, I’m with you” and a “true dat”. She had so much potential to be a truly powerful female character, but instead is there to look at and to be a token role. It’s great to have diversity, but what does it matter when she just stands there to look pretty with no dimensional character traits?
Remeber Umbutu? Well, his main role is to kill aliens alongside Levinson’s assistant Rosenburg and provide witty banter about how silly and incapable Rosenburg is at doing pretty much anything, but especially at killing aliens. By the end, Rosenburg proves to be pretty damn good at killing aliens, so much so that he earns the respect and approval of Umbutu. I find it so funny and interesting that Umbutu just had to eventually admit that Rosenburg was capable. Wouldn’t want a straight, white man to be inferior to a big, scary, black man.
Then theres Patricia Whitmore, daughter of the former President Whitmore and Morrison’s fiancé. She has a pretty lasting presence in the movie, but she spends 60% of the movie crying, whether it be over her dad’s poor mental state and eventual death or over Morrison being in danger. She is a pilot, but never flies until the end, when she breaks down the queen alien’s forcefield. She is the reason they were able to defeat the aliens, but Morrison eventually comes to her rescue after him, Hiller, Lao, and Miller kill the alien since she had to eject herself from her plane. She was so close to have a really strong, kick-ass moment, but becomes the damsel anyways. Note that she is the only character to ever cry.
In the end, the white man saves the day, gets the girl, saves the world. Other people came close and helped, but are ultimately overshadowed. Hiller helped kill the queen, but is overshadowed by the reunion of Morrison and Patricia and the beginnings of a relationship between Lao and Miller.
Others help, white men prevail, get the girl, save the world. Next time you go to your local theatre to see the next blockbuster, don’t turn your brain off. It’s time we stop supporting this toxic message that is being spread to us and the youth. The action and colors and sound are very appealing and entertaining, but what message is it sending? What is it really telling you?
Don’t let the action and humor blind you next time.
