In the film "Independence Day”, there is a distinct commentary on human’s use of their resources. The aliens in the film are scavengers, and their intention on earth is to strip the planet of it’s resources. The character of David, the computer whiz who works for a cable television station in New York City is the character who wants to “save the world”. We see him, bucking the norm and riding his bike to work and reminding his colleagues to recycle. Later in the movie, when he is overwhelmed with the seeming impossibility of stopping the aliens from attacking, he gets drunk and complains that humans should have made a bigger ecological mess of their planet, then there would be no reason for the aliens to scavenge the planet. It’s almost as if he is realizing that the very virtue that he had triumphed had become the planet’s downfall. It is only when his father tells him to get off the cold floor, to avoid becoming ill, that David realizes how he can outsmart the advanced alien technology.
All of this emphasis on the earth as a resource makes one wonder about the implications of humanity as exploiters and scavengers of their own planet. This theme of irresponsible overuse of earth resources has become increasingly popular within science fiction and disaster movies, a kind of plot twist half way through the film, implying that the entire disaster and resulting chaos is the fault of the very people who are trying to deal with its earth-shattering effects. This worry and fear of overusing and irresponsible use of earth resources has become more and more prevalent in popular thought, with worries ranging from adequate sources of drinkable water, to responsible food production, and the destruction of needed resources by human action.
This is distinctly opposite of theme of the earth protecting its inhabitants, as seen in “War of the Worlds” and other science fiction films where the aliens are exterminated, or at least halted in their tracks by a virus. “Independence Day” takes that theme of an earth-virus protecting humanity, and cleverly turns it on it’s head, when David employs a computer virus to disable the alien spacecraft and render them defenseless to the attack of the human aircrafts. This is a very cleaver reimagining of an old concept that speaks to a change in the way people, especially Americans of the 1996 view themselves. They no longer need to rely on a deity to save them from a strange alien threat, because they have developed the ability to create their own virus (in this instance a computer virus, but in other disaster movies biological viruses are created as well). This is a dramatic change in how people view themselves and their relationship with deity, from a very dependent relationship to a much more autonomous and “independent” view of their abilities. They don’t sit around and wait for God to send a virus, they proactively find a way to protect themselves, as seen in the character of David in this film. Even his name could be a reference to the biblical David, who went up against Goliath, an apt parallel to the David of the film going up against the alien horde.
In the end, with much bravado, David, who ironically can’t even drive a car, finds a way to
“save the world” after all and even gets the girl back in the process. His, and the audience find
their faith in humanity restored, and an increased responsibility to use the earth’s resources responsibly, because they are a gift that could be taken away, by human action or by alien scavenging.
