The 10 Best Things About America I Learned from Independence Day
7. We bond over our social problems.
America has a lot of problems with race and class. Independence Day doesn’t solve them (shocking, I know). But if the solution were easy, we’d have done it already.
In Independence Day, the characters treat diversity the way I think and hope most Americans do — every once in a while, a little sideways look or a laugh, but overall, a discovery of one another that doesn’t seek too hard to change us, and a sublimation of the stereotypical to the iconic.
That is, the first thing we laugh at about a person becomes the first thing we remember, relate to and care about, and that remembering, relating and caring turns out to be more important than the eventual resolution of our disputes and differences.
Think of president Obama’s acceptance speech on election night 2008. It was a glorious moment, made possible by centuries of oppression. The descendants of the oppressors, many still enjoying the unasked for spoils of wrongful domination and benefitting from the structures emergent from its legacy, were as happy as anyone.
I’m sure if they (we) could fix it, they (we) would. But to live with a hopeful eye toward the future requires that we not be paralyzed by the gravity of our mistakes or the stains on our legacies. In the meantime, those moments of mutual celebration are beautiful things.
6. When we win, everyone wins.
Here is the most generous, quintessentially American line in Independence Day:
Get on the wire to every squadron in the world. Tell them how to bring those sons of bitches down.
By choice or by necessity, when America learns something, other nations learn it, and when America achieves a great victory, other nations share it. Most of the time, Americans are very uncomfortable withholding knowledge or aid from other countries, even when they can’t really afford it.
The exceptions would not be painful if they did not diverge from a norm. But they do.
People from other countries probably don’t see it this way — I’d imagine people from other countries see America’ s victory over the aliens in Independence Day as the glorification of their nation at the expense of others. But to an American, when the Americans defeat the aliens, of course all the other countries in the world also win. It’s the glorification of America in service to others, for the benefit of others. We tire from time to time of watching our neighbors get better than us in things that we invented, sure, but that’s the price you pay for leading the way.
I still wonder how the kids brought that spaceship down with those spears.
5. Our women are nigh-indestructible.
As anyone with experience can tell you (such as our current president or anyone with a mom), American women are formidable. They are some of the bravest, toughest people on Earth.
In Independence Day, the First Lady attempts to escape Washington by helicopter, but is hit by city-destroying laser beam. The White House explodes in an instant, but she nearly shakes it off. She only succumbs to her injuries later in the hospital, once she has said goodbye to her daughter. That’s tough.
A stripper survives a similar fiery blast by ducking into a maintenance closet in a tunnel. She even manages to save her dog. Steven Seagal wishes he were that hard to kill.
And a third woman survives a failed marriage to Jeff Goldblum.
I rest my case.
Gab on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 2:28 amAm I going absolutely nuts, or is this a repost? It’s good, it’s great, but why do I feel like I have read it before?
DaveW on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 8:52 amI was asking myself the same question Gab. Good to know I’m not crazy :)
That said, still a great post.
Matthew Wrather on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 9:55 amMore like a second edition. :) Pete added, changed, and revised a bunch of stuff.
almost witty on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 10:40 amBest of all? It’s written by a German, who were formerly enemies of the United States.
Then again, Bill Pullman’s fighter pilot being a prototype of George Dubya Bush is a bit of a scary idea…
fenzel on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 11:25 amThe scarier part is how much Bill Pullman resembles Ronald Reagan and how similar their careers have been up to this point in their lives ;)
But yeah, I wanted to bring this back and update it, because it’s one of my favorites and because we have grown a lot in the past year, and it will probably be new to a lot of folks.
Chris Richards on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 11:54 amLoved it! Also, the fact that you compared Cincinnatus to Bill Pullman…possibly the best thing ever. Also, Mary McDonnell is a nigh-indestructable tour-de-force herself (see her turn as cancer-ridden Secretary of Education Laura Roslin who becomes President of Humanity after surviving numerous Cylon-incited genocides in Battlestar Galactica). Also, not to be nit-picky, but the First Lady was leaving LA, not Washington.
Wade on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 12:11 pmExcellent. “Crazy people are our greatest natural resource” is a line for the ages.
dock on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 7:02 pmTo this day I still get goosebumps (and the occational lump in my throat) when I hear that speech. It was also the first time I, myself, heard a theater erupt into cheer during a movie. I wish they would re-issue this movie in theaters the way they did ET. On July 4th, of course.
lee on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 10:22 pmI’ve always seen the President in this movie as a reaction against Bill Clinton, who was oft criticized by the right as a pot-smoking draft-dodger. Contrast that with the President who’s military enough to strap himself into a jet and fly into battle.
I suppose the election of George W. Bush was in some ways also a reaction against Bill Clinton, so maybe it’s not so much of a coincidence that Pullman’s President presaged W.
David on Thu, 2nd Jul 2009 12:21 pmGreat article. “Independence Day” is one of those movies I’ve always been ashamed to like among my film-snob friends. But Whitmore’s speech always gives me the chills.
And the point about crazy people is priceless.
Trevor on Thu, 2nd Jul 2009 1:57 pmI get the feeling that, in Randy Quaid’s death scene, we were supposed to be moved by his final words. The only problem is, he’s got so many lines to choose from, it’s hard to pick which ones we remember and which ones we consign to the dustbin of history. I would’ve been fine with “tell my kids I love them.” Or even “in the words of my generation: Up Yours!” But did he really have to go with the “hello boys, I’m back!” That’s just final-line overkill, in my opinion. Luke Skywalker didn’t talk Rebel Command’s ear off with a bunch of potential catchphrases strung together in the hopes that something would take hold, a la Nathan Hale’s “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” He just blasted the Death Star and got the hell outta there.
rhys on Fri, 3rd Jul 2009 2:09 amwasnt the first lady in LA on a book tour or some shit? not in washington? regardless this is pretty over thought…2 thumbs up.
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