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In studying
ideology in films, whether implicit or explicit, one can sometimes
position the ideas they depict and the values they propose along political
lines. An in-depth study of the characters, scenes, and plots of the
two box-office hits, Independence Day and Men in Black will
show that although they deal with similar subjects--aliens coming to
earth--they do so with very different messages and agendas. In Independence
Day, the military is privileged. The military, and people affiliated
with it, are the heroes, in spite of the too-big and wieldy government
that keeps secrets from its own Chief
Executive, a former pilot who is still (heroically) willing to don a flight-suit to
personally combat the evil aliens, an act which reinforces his
(masculinely-depicted) leadership qualities. In
Men in Black, however, the secret government agency that heroically
saves the world is clearly skeptical of the other
governmental branches' (military's) abilities. The agency,
itself, is government-run and depicted as a very efficient and necessary
organization.
Independence Day tends to glorify in the use of stereotypes. Mad
scientists, crude males, dizzy
homosexuals, and somewhat inferior or barbaric
non-Americans all have supporting roles. One of
the most tellingly unquestioned assumptions of the film is that Americans
are the bravest, strongest, most intelligent, and perhaps most moral of
nations, a nation that has the right to make its Independence Day the
world's independence day. Conversely, Men in Black contains many scenes that
use humor to teach viewers
to question their deeply-held assumptions, such as the written
test-taking scene, the target-practice test,
and the moral nature of aliens. Unlike Independence
Day's unquestionably evil aliens, MiB's, it turns out, are just
as good, and as bad, as humans are.
Perhaps the
biggest clue to the conservative nature of Independence Day is the way men
and women and their relationships are treated. Men, in addition to having
the license to be crude (as shown above), are allowed to be aggressive
and violent (and not very smart), and indeed, are rewarded for such
behavior in
the story line. Even more telling, is that after the dweeby computer guy
finally proves his bravery, the other men can
accept him--even the President, who has been treating him and being
treated by him hostilely throughout the film. Male bonding rules, even in
absence of communication and personal interaction. The film teaches, too,
that dads always keep their promises, even
though they clearly should not be the primary
caretakers of their kids, as they aren't competent.
We learn the corollary
point, too, that mothers should put their children--and husbands--before
their own career plans. Indeed, women are treated as either good or
bad--"angels" or "monsters," respectively, according
to terminology by literary critics Susan Gubar and Sandra Gilbert. Women
who are pleasing to men, and who obey men, are rewarded.
Women who disobey are punished.
Women, it seems, are there to be protected by men
and to take care of others: sick or injured people
or their children--and dogs. The most
interesting female to consider in this analysis is Connie: the career
woman who has left her husband to further another man's political career,
and who has apparently done this very well, as he's elected president.
Even though her commitment to the President is primary, he does
not seem to appreciate her dedication as much as she should.
Thrown together with her husband in crisis, they apparently are able to
reunite spiritually (portrayed by their reunited hands with wedding rings
during the wedding scene), with no
communication as to their problems, and she is turned into a
"saved" woman, stereotypically jumping
and running to her husband (as does the good Stripper-wife), while the
men nonchalantly return from their against-all-odds suicide mission.
This social gender
training starts early, we can see in Independence Day, as the little
boy learns to play with guns and is dedicated to killing the aliens,
while the little girl clings to her teddy bear
throughout the film. In Men in Black, of course, the male character
who recognizes that "little Tiffany" could be intelligent and
even threatening is rewarded by winning the highly competitive and secret
job. Interestingly, it is only when this open-minded male is dealing with
a sexy competent female that he seems to lose this open-mindedness
regarding traditional values and assumptions.
Gender is not
treated as traditionally in Men in Black. In fact, the male
with the most traditional (borderline abusive)
attitude is punished almost immediately with the loss of, first, his most
prized material possession, his truck, and, then, his very life. The
film introduces us to a professional, competent, and self-satisfied woman
in the medical examiner's character; in fact, she clearly seems more
competent and more intelligent than the MiB agent played by Will
Smith. Their scenes tell us that when he slips into a traditional
male role with its inherent assumptions, he gets punished in the plot in
way way or another. The "daddies always keep their
promises"-type platitudes offered in MiB are show to clearly
be empty and shallow, as in the male agent's
"it's going to be okay" assurance to the female character.
In fact, both the new and the experienced MiB agents do not end up being
the final heroes in the film. They must actually be saved
by the female character. The final scene of the film has the
female dressed in less revealing clothing, perhaps recognized
as equal in ability to the male agent, if not equal in status.
Upon analysis,
one can see that Independence Day is more conservative a film than Men
in Black, in terms of its ideological position. If you're still not
convinced, then think of the heavy-handedness of the audience's emotional
manipulations in the following very cool shots from Independence Day: the shadow
over the capitol and the deep focus shot of the
neighbors fleeing the stripper's neighborhood. Pushing the argument to the
limit, interpret the following scene from a "Freudian"
perspective. Imagine this alien chase scene as being symbolic of human
procreation, following the typical traditional (and perhaps not true)
interpretation of the male being active (sperm racing toward the female's
passive static egg. Listen carefully to the dialogue as you watch the chase
scene with the idea of conception (new life, rebirth, etc.) in mind.
(Note: Jeff Goldblum's character's lines "must go faster" are an
allusion to his character's lines in Jurassic Park. This parallels
Randy Quaid's "Bad day to quit drinking"
allusion to Airplane and Lloyd Bridges's lines about his
character's addictions.
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