THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 5, 1996 TAG: 9607040019
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: Keith Monroe
LENGTH: 77 lines
This is the time of year when we find out what we fear. And it's interesting that alien invaders are back.
I'm talking about the summer movies, of course. Some are simply swashbuckle, but those that aim to deliver chills as well as thrills can only succeed by touching some authentic chord of fear.
In past years, we've been spooked by nature. The idea that something bloodthirsty was lurking just out of sight delivered real terror in ``Jaws.'' The toothless viruses of ``Outbreak'' and ``12 Monkeys'' were less terrifying. But in the hands of the master, mere birds proved malignant.
Moviemakers have played on our fears of natural disaster by trapping us in towering infernos, damaged aircraft and upended ocean liners. They've tried to spook us with every act of God from earthquakes to the recent ``Twister.''
For years, Nazis were reliably frightening. More recently, the stereotypical villains of choice have been swarthy Islamic fundamentalist fanatics. They tried to blow up the Superbowl as long ago as ``Black Sunday'' and Arnold Schwarzenegger as recently as ``True Lies.'' For a while swarthy Latin American narco-nasties gave the Middle Easterners a run for their money, but their star has faded. Apparently we're less frightened of crack than of crackpots nowadays.
There's no end to the homicidal maniacs who have populated the screen. Their continuing ability to frighten must say something about what really worries us. Hannibal Lecter gave us bad dreams and earned an Oscar for Tony Hopkins. Dozens of films with Michaels, Jasons and Freddies have played on real fears of real creeps. In a world where a Polly Klaas can be snatched from her bed and a Jeffrey Dahmer ate his neighbors for lunch, those who make the movies don't require much imagination to scare us with weird loners, dangerous drifters and serial killers.
Back in the '50s, it was fear of The Bomb that kept us awake at night, and the fallout at movies was endless mutations. The bomb made men shrink and insects grow huge. Our heroes were threatened by giant ants, moths, spiders and praying mantises. Nature gone mad.
Often, mad scientists were behind the trouble or aided and abetted it. They made the bomb that engendered the mutations in the first place. And they also invented terminators that took over the planet and tried to keep The Thing and Alien alive. They both created and sabotaged Jurassic Park and one even turned himself into a fly. Men in white coats who mess with the natural order obviously worry us.
In many cases the mad scientists work hand in glove with the violent military, the amoral corporation, the out-of-control CIA. It is a mark of how cynical the country has become that the real villain in our movie fantasies is often the government - plotting, covering up, eliminating witnesses.
In Tom Clancyland, the military and the CIA may be heroic, but the elected politicians (up to and including the president) are reliably unreliable. In the Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and Dirty Harry movies, the heroes may be cops and the menace may come from mean streets, madmen or criminal masterminds, but the good guys often have to spend as much time battling their own bureaucracies as they do in thwarting the bad guys.
In movies where aliens are higher forms of life, the lower forms of life on earth generally work for the government. They shoot Klaatu, want to capture E.T. and intend to dissect Starman.
In some ways, this year's big summer thriller is a throwback to a less cynical era. As in earlier alien invader films like ``Earth vs. the Flying Saucers'' and ``The War of the Worlds,'' in ``Independence Day'' the good guys are the earthlings, the bad guys are the slimy aliens, the government is in charge of mobilizing the defense of the planet and good triumphs over evil.
``Independence Day'' may be nothing more than what one critic has dubbed it, a $70 million B-movie. But in the wake of Oklahoma City, it is worth noting that there's no sympathy in the film for those who blow up government buildings - in this case, the White House.
If the movies do offer an indication of our subterranean hopes and fears, maybe ``Independence Day'' suggests we've come to fear those who want to explode our civic life and disrupt our society whether they are space aliens or The Viper Militia. Maybe the movie means we're tired of chaos, destruction and division and ready to pull together to defeat common threats. That would be a refreshing change. MEMO: Mr. Monroe is editor of the editorial page of The Virginian-Pilot. by CNB