Butler - Mars Attacks

Mars Attacks is brilliant with its use of satire, and the film does a great job of making fun of the government and highlighting its flaws. One scene in which Mars Attacks does an especially good of this is when the President is deciding what he should do about the Martians. The President firsts asks his Press Secretary for his opinion, which is that it would be great press for the Martians to come. He then asks the War General for his opinion, which is to blow up the Martians. Next, the president asks the Lieutenant General for his opinion, and he questions whether the Martians are peaceful or violent. Finally, the Professor states his opinion, which is that the Martians should be treated with respect and that the American people should be friendly towards the Martians. This back and forth between the characters is great social commentary about the government. The scene shows that the government cares about appearance above all. The President asking the Press Secretary for his opinion first shows how much the government cares about appearance.

A second scene that shows brilliant social commentary towards the government, the military, capitalism and patriotism is the scene in which the Martians first land on Earth. The President, his wife, his daughter, the Professor, the Press Secretary, the War General, and a bodyguard are all in the White House watching the landing on TV. However, they are not watching the regular news that Michael J. Fox’s character is reporting. The people in the White House are watching Sarah Jessica Parker’s character, who is more or less a talking head, report the news. This shows how the people in the White House would much rather get their news from an awful source rather than a reliable source. This is a commentary of how again, the government mainly cares about appearance rather than substance. Caring more about appearance rather than substance is a major flaw, and Mars Attacks does a great job of highlighting said flaw.

Mars Attacks, in addition to being filled with satire, makes great social commentary about sacred institutions. The commentary that Tim Burton is making is that sacred institutions are not really that sacred. This is best shown through the scene in which the Martians destroy a bunch of monuments. This scene best shows how the film is saying sacred institutions are not really all that sacred.