Feltes- Mars Attacks

The movie Mars Attacks, directed by Tim Burton, satirizes the government, military, capitalism and patriotism by depicting a scenario in which aliens from Mars land on our planet and wreak havoc. The scene in which the aliens land and are greeted by Earths ambassador is particularly humorous, in which the aliens flip out and start shooting everyone in attendance because a hippie form the crowd released a dove into the air. In this scene, the U.S. military presence is portrayed as close to useless; the aliens cut down soldier after soldier with their advanced laser beam technology. Burton has the soldiers run around like crazy, unsure of what to do and ignoring their basic training, and kills several minor characters played by very famous actors, including Michael J Fox and Jack Black. In doing this, Burton mocks current Sci-Fi movies and how they tend to kill off minor characters played by mediocre actors while the more recognized actors miraculously escape.

In general, Americans are raised to believe that sacred institutions, such as the government and the military, can be trusted and relied upon to make beneficial decisions for the safety of their country. In this film, the government invites the aliens to land on Earth repeatedly, and each time the aliens murder people mercilessly. In this way, the film is saying that sacred institutions invite their own destruction and don’t learn form their mistakes, which could be expressive of Burton’s views of the government. In a scene in the movie, an alien disguised as a beautiful woman manages to get into the white house to have sex with the presidents PR representative. The disguised alien is very odd, in that it says nothing, and sways constantly as it walks and seems to merely float across the ground as opposed to walking on it. The film mocks the government in that the alien is able to murder the PR rep very easily and even get into the presidents chambers in an attempt to assassinate him before it is killed. This really speaks to the government’s lack of security, and the buffoon like qualities of some of its representatives, such as a lecherous PR rep and a security team that we’re so distracted by the fake woman’s beauty that they completely ignore her unearthly attributes when the protection of their leader should be their foremost concern. In the movie Alien, the aliens are portrayed as vicious beasts that have the ability to tear humans apart with ease and the humans can do almost nothing to stop them. This is mocked by the aliens in this movie, that are defeated by yodeling in the final scenes, really mocking the myth that all aliens are superior to humans in almost every way.