The 10 Best Things About America I Learned from Independence Day
4. We make our own traditions.
Do you think Will Smith’s little kid in this movie, who gets to watch the fragments of the alien mothership burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, is going to find fireworks deeply meaningful when he grows up?
Do you think he’s going to someday hand his friend a victory cigar that he’s not allowed to smoke until the fat lady sings, just like his dad used to do?
You bet (if he weren’t fictional, of course). That’s how our wacky American traditions and legends get made, and new ones are being made all the time.
In many of ways, our relatively short history is a bit unfortunate, but the freedom it affords us in this area — not to mention the joy we take in seizing these opportunities — is a true blessing.
And even the wackiest legends and traditions can be deeply meaningful to people. Just ask Steve Bartman.
3. Nobody talks as good as us.
Exhibit A:
The end of that speech was the first time I ever heard applause at the theater in the middle of a movie.
Exhibit B:
And that’s the first contact between humanity and a species from another planet. He simply welcomed him. What a nice guy.
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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