Independence Day - a narrative analysis

 

The classic 1990's film Independence Day, directed by Roland Emmerich, is a good fictional example of the U.S going through a national tragedy or disaster. In this film, America has to fight off an alien invasion that takes place between July 1 through July 4. The main morals that are argued for in this movie are that we should not be separated by our petty differences such as race or gender, and that we have to fight(kill) for our independence.

 

I conducted a rhetorical analysis of the film Independence Day using a narrative perspective. A narrative perspective identifies arguments proposed as morals through storytelling, complete with characters plots and actions. Morals, in regards to narrative criticism, basically means the argument or point of view a story proposes about the way we should or should not believe or behave. One of the major steps in conducting a narrative analysis is to describe and interpret the text. During this step, one describes the setting, characters, events, and causal relations. Some of the main characters in this film are President Thomas J. Whitmore, who is played by Bill Pullman, Dr. David Levinson, played by Judd Hirsch, and Captain Steven Hiller, who is played by Will Smith. Some of the major settings in this movie include the white house, Area 51, and an alien mother ship. One of the major aspects of this film are the casual relations found in it. Aliens attack which cause the humans to go to Area 51 where they learn the secrets to defeating the aliens.The final step in a narrative analysis is to examine the narrative rationality. Narrative rationality is our assessment of the value-laden ideological arguments proposed. The two standards of narrative rationality we apply to stories are coherence and fidelity. Fidelity refers to the degree to which the values or morals conveyed in the story ring true with what we regard as truthful and humane. The first moral conveyed, as previously stated is that we should not be separated by our petty differences, such as race and gender. This moral is conveyed during the President's speech towards the end of the movie. The second moral is that we have to fight or kill for our independence. In other words, it is kill or be killed.