As most seasoned fans of classic science fiction can tell you, the story of Independence Day is nothing new. At its essence, the film is a remake of the classic story, The War of the Worlds. A monolithic alien force arrives at our doorstep and wants nothing but our extermination. They cannot be reasoned with and we have nothing with which to bargain for our survival: they are simply here to kill us. In both stories, our immediate response to their arrival is a reasoned one. We do not assume they are here for our destruction or to help us: we observe at a distance with a curious eye. But it is that moderate and reasonable response that the aliens exploit with disastrous results for us. Both stories elicit a shock in its characters and in its audience that we could be taken advantage of like this; that a vulnerability we did not know we had could be exploited and that we could actually face an existential threat to our very survival. Once the aliens have attacked, we find that our situation is far worse than we could have imagined: our traditional weapons are absolutely no match for their advanced technology. A continual series of setbacks, defeats, and massive exterminations of people throws us into despair. The wool has been pulled from our eyes and we have found out that we are far weaker beings than we could have ever imagined.
But this is where the two stories diverge on opposite paths. The philosophical difference cannot possibly be overstated. In The War of the Worlds, at the height of our despair, when it seems that all hope is lost and mankind is to be wiped out, we are saved by the blessing of God. The aliens are wiped out by a virus on Earth which their immune systems were not prepared for. From the 2005 version of the story directed by Steven Spielberg:
"From the moment the invaders arrived, breathed our air, ate and drank, they were doomed. They were undone, destroyed, after all of man's weapons and devices had failed, by the tiniest creatures that God in his wisdom put upon this earth. By the toll of a billion deaths, man had earned his immunity, his right to survive among this planet's infinite organisms. And that right is ours against all challenges. For neither do men live nor die in vain."
God was testing us, and in our suffering, we passed. We were fundamentally incapable of ever stopping the aliens on our own, but thankfully we had God watching out for us and intervening on our behalf. Thus The War of the Worlds is a story of our own humility: that we are not masters of the universe, that our intelligence, ingenuity, and determination are not special features of human nature, and that we should respect God and his infinite wisdom. This message is incredibly offensive to me for a number of reasons, but I will refrain from going into a deeper analysis of those ideas at this time.
Independence Day on the other hand diverges at our moment of greatest despair. When it seems that all hope is lost, one of the main characters devises a plan that will require all of humanity to band together in one massive last-ditch effort to overcome the aliens' technology and bring their attempted extermination to a decisive end. In a clever twist, the centerpiece of the plan is to disable the aliens' chief technological advantage, its shields, by infecting the mothership with a computer virus. The rest of the plan requires a complex interaction of many moving pieces and it puts everything on the line. To use a poker analogy, it's an "all-in" moment. Either humanity will defeat the aliens in this battle, or mankind is lost. No one is waiting for God to intervene and save humanity, no one is expecting some other force to help. Everyone knows that humanity must act to save itself, to prove its worth, to defend its right to survive.
With the leadership of the main characters of the story, humanity banding together in their common interest, and the determination to survive, humanity wins this ultimate battle and defeats the alien invasion. This story tells us something about human nature. It shows us that we are strong, that we have great potential within us, that we have the ability to use our rational minds to overcome any obstacle and prevail. Perhaps most importantly, it tells us that these qualities are not something privy to a particular class, race, religious sect, or country. They are universal human qualities that we all share. In our darkest hour, we have the capability to band together in our common interest and defeat something as seemingly insurmountable as an alien invasion through our own ingenuity and determination.
Critics of the film point to several problems with the way the story is told: the characters are all stereotypes (mostly true), the acting and dialogue has a tendency to be cheesy (yes, somewhat true), and some of the storylines are unrealistic (again, true). Roland Emmerich, director of Independence Day as well as films such as Stargate, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012, is known for essentially making the same movie over and over again with the same stereotyped characters and only small divergences in plot. This is undoubtedly true: most of his movies have the socially awkward yet somehow charming nerdy scientist, the wife or girlfriend who left that character, and the hard-nosed All-American hero. Emmerich recycles these stereotypes over and over because it is easier to get the audience invested in his characters if you feel like you already know them. That allows him to focus on what is really important to him as a story-teller: the plot. But as with his characters, Emmerich is essentially telling the same story over and over as well. In almost all of his movies there is some unrealistic impending calamity that only the nerdy scientist knows about. The government and/or military fails to heed his words, there is a major crisis, and it takes some unrealistic measure by the nerdy scientist to save the day.
I think perhaps the biggest complaint about Independence Day in particular is that it is highly unrealistic to believe that an alien race with extremely advanced technology would not have even the most basic firewall to protect its computer systems from a virus. There are possible ways of defending against this objection. For one, perhaps the aliens did have a firewall and/or virus protection but it was not setup to protect itself against a human computer virus because it has no experience with one (in the same way that brand new computer viruses can often get past virus protection software). Or, perhaps the aliens were so overly confident in their advantage over humans that they never even imagined we would have the technological capability or the means to deliver a computer virus to the systems in their mothership.
While all of these criticisms make valid points, I think they fail to see Independence Day for what it's intended to be. The characters are simply constructed and easily identifiable because getting to know these particular individuals is unimportant to the story Emmerich wants to tell. There are plot developments which require a little bit of a suspension of disbelief, because Emmerich wants to devote more time to something that is more important to him. The most important thing to Emmerich in Independence Day is to tell a story that shows you the strength and amazing potential of human nature as a whole. At our darkest hour we can overcome any obstacle through reason, ingenuity, and determination. Despite our differences, we can band together and defeat the greatest existential threat that mankind has ever known. Our ability to defend our independence, our liberty, our right to exist free of coercion and free from the threat of extermination is something to be celebrated. And that is exactly what this film is: a celebration of human nature.
I hope you all enjoyed my first review. There will be many more to come. Also expect a further analysis of many of the topics brought up here. For example, what is more important to a film: its philosophical message or its style in how it delivers that message? I would argue that both are important and both can be appreciated in their own ways. There are films I love with a fantastic style whose message isn't great or is even something I am philosophically opposed to. Independence Day is an example of a film with a fantastic message but a style that is lacking in some areas. Obviously the best film achieves excellence in both message and style, but those are few and far between.
If there are any particular films or TV shows that you would like me to review, please say so in the comments! Again, please keep all comments generally positive and constructive. Thank you for reading.
I agree that the biggest flaw is the film was how we were saved by a mac.
ReplyDeleteHowever:
In a scene that was cut, they go into a bit more about the technology. Specifically, Goldblum talks about how the scientists interface with the alien ship runs the same code as what was used in the satellites and he could use the spaceship's signal as a way into the alien system. It is not as unrealistic as some say. Piggybacking off the shuttle's connection to interface with the mothership is a possible hacking technique. A Trojan horse style attack.
I feel that it is a top 5 scene cut from a movie that shouldn't have been.
Well look at that. That is fantastic. My assumption was that at the time the movie was written, knowledge of computer hacking techniques was limited only to the most experienced computer programmers and technicians. I figured that Emmerich left out a complicated explanation of how Goldblum's character was able to access the mothership's computer systems for the sake of expediency.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing that.