The document discusses how three science fiction films, Starship Troopers, War of the Worlds, and Independence Day, use allegories of war, particularly World War 2 and the Cold War, in their plots and imagery. Starship Troopers was influenced by the director's experiences during World War 2 and the Cold War. Scenes in War of the Worlds reference the 9/11 attacks. Independence Day used imagery resembling the effects of bombings in World War 2 and Vietnam. The document also provides brief summaries of the plotlines of each film.
2. Starship Troopers Starship Troopers began filming on the World War 2 resistance drama, Soldier of Orange. ‘For his juvenile readers to survive in a potentially harsh and constantly challenging future, such as he saw facing the United States in the Cold War’ ‘Perceptions honed during the violent Nazi occupation of his homeland’ From the quotes above we can see that the Director (Paul Verhoeven) was also basing some parts of the film on his own experiences during the Cold war and Worlds War 2.
3. War of the Worlds In War of the Worlds after the aliens have attacked for the first time on Earth, Steven Spielberg uses the scene of Ray, Rachel and Robbie walking out of the house to the car to show sever allusions of the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers. A crashed airplane in the mist of housing development, personal belongings falling from the sky, gray ash filling the air and most explicitly, homemade placards on the walls and fences advertising loved ones missing since the fall of the twin towers.
4. Independence Day ‘World war 2 was certainly on the minds of both who saw and of those who made Independence Day’. ‘Black pilot from Los Angeles and a Jewish computer genius from New York, that wipes out the alien menace, reminded New York magazine film critic David Denby of Hollywood’s World War 2 multi-ethnic platoons’. ‘Independence Day entered production at the peak of World War 2’. ‘The firestorms that incinerate the Empire State Building and the White House, and lay waste to Los Angeles, New York and Washington DC, resemble so much as the incendiary effects of American air power from World War 2 to Vietnam – Unless it be the imaginings of World War 3 produced in the wake of Hiroshima’
5. Storyline War of the Worlds: Ray Ferrier (Cruise) is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. When his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son Robbie and young daughter Rachel for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm suddenly touches down. What follows is the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it in this contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells seminal classic sci-fi thriller. Starship Troopers: In the distant future high school kids are encouraged to become citizens by joining the military. What they don't know is that they'll soon be engaged in a full scale war against a planet of alien insects. The fight is on to ensure the safety of humanity. Independence Day: On July 2nd, communications systems worldwide are sent into chaos by a strange atmospheric interference. It is soon learned by the military that a number of enormous objects are on a collision course with Earth. At first thought to be meteors, they are later revealed to be gigantic spacecraft, piloted by a mysterious alien species. After attempts to communicate with the aliens go nowhere, David Levinson, an ex-scientist turned cable technician, discovers that the aliens are going to attack major points around the globe in less than a day. On July 3rd, the aliens all but obliterate New York, Los Angeles, and Washington. The survivors set out in convoys towards Area 51, a strange government testing ground where it is rumored the military has a captured alien spacecraft of their own. The survivors devise a plan to fight back against the enslaving aliens, and July 4th becomes the day humanity will fight for its freedom.