On Wednesday 5/8/96, Brian D. Mudd wrote:
 
>Question:
>
>Is it any coincidence that -- in an election year -- we are being
>greeted with trailers and other images for a summer movie release featuring
>the White House being zapped by an alien invasion ?  (Note the front page
>of today's USA Today).
>
>Is this an attempt by the filmmakers to tap into the country's perceived
>dissatisfaction with the political process, lengthy negative campaigns, etc.?
>
>If I recall, 10-second trailers with only this scene began appearing
>in theatres in December and January before the primaries, and every
>trailer for the film I've seen features this image somewhere.  Perhaps it's
>just the standard, blockbuster summer-movie hype, but I'd be interested
>in the reactions of others to these seemingly repetitive images.
>
>It seems intriguing, at the very least, that such a film is chosen
>for release in an election year......just a thought.
>
 I don't recall seeing that teaser, just the one with cars being blown
through New York streets.  In any case, from what I've heard about the
storyline, it seems that the President, an ex-fighter pilot actually gets
back in harness to fight the aliens himself.  That would seem to posit an
almost primitive notion of a political leader as personal hero defending
his people--the very antithesis of the hypothesized significance of the
exploding White House.  Of course, the people who put together the trailers
are generally not the people who make the film, and their motives and
intentions can be very different.  Or is it a matter of appealing to
audience dissatisfaction with government and then showing them a strong
president overcoming overwhelming odds?  The question of what it all means
remains an intriguing one.
 
--Richard J. Leskosky
 
Richard J. Leskosky                     office phone: (217) 244-2704
Assistant Director                      FAX: (217) 244-2223
Unit for Cinema Studies                 University of Illinois
 
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