‘Independence Day’ was made 40 years later, when sci-fi films had gone out of fashion. It was also made at a time when a threat was posed to America. China was emerging powerful both economically and politically. There was great fear at this time of the ‘millennium bug’ and what the 21st century had in store, and finally the uncertainty of who America’s enemy was caused again for the aliens to be made the villains. This period also launched space exploration projects, many of which were financed by Japan, bringing with them stories of alien abductions, crop circles and saucer sightings.
The other main similarity, other than Institutions is the genre of the films. They are both Sci-fi films, with Independence Day recycling the genre and bringing it not only into fashion, but also into the 90’s. Changes had to be made to update the genre, however the iconography had to remain the same so that the genre didn’t lose its identity. For example, the title sequences are very similar to each other, with spaceships coming to Earth, however Independence Day almost mocks the sci-fi genre. There is simple camera work and special effects in The day the Earth stood still, unlike the technological advances used in Independence day. Both films use the typical mis en scene of spaceships, aliens, and eerie music, however Independence Day does not need to use as much as the genre is already established and people find it easy to recognise.
Independence Day uses the aliens as evil beings, whereas the aliens in The day the Earth stood still come in peace and are only forced to fight when the Americans use violence on them. Due to its historical context The day the Earth stood still uses stereotypical representations of gender, age and race, such as weak women, boisterous boys, the representation of the British, Indian and French characters. It is very male dominated with only one female character in the film, a mother. It is shown by Morley that it is safe to use men in films as women can accept men, yet men cannot accept to watch films with female dominance. However, in Independence Day the aliens come to attack and women are represented as much more independent. There are no black people seen in The day the Earth Stood still however the main character in Independence day is a black man, showing a change in ideology over time. In both films America is shown as a place of great importance as this is where the films are both set and memorial places are shown throughout both films.
Independence day uses well-known actors unlike The day the Earth stood still. This is because they need to entice the audience back into a genre that had faded. Will Smith plays the hero in Independence Day fighting against the villains and trying to save his wife. In The day the Earth stood still the aliens emerge to be the hero’s and the Americans are shown to be the fools as they did not save the day they caused a fight, which goes against normal ideology. Independence day is a good example of Propps theory of basic situations and characters.
The audience is similar in each film, they are both films aimed at men, sci-fi enthusiasts, cinema goers etc. The Day the earth stood still would have been made entirely for people to watch in the cinema meaning the audience would have been sat there watching it, however when 20th century fox made independence day they knew that the film would be watched on other formats such as DVD or video. This meant that they had to draw in the audience so that they would not turn over the channel or change the video. A good example if the way they have done this is by making the title sequence shorter and placing the credits at the end.
20th century fox have succeeded in recycling an old genre using modern methods and concepts, by altering the narrative to make two completely different stories, yet very similar movies.
