Yes, it’s the second story about a heavy-handed political/movie exercise involving a Gyllenhaal sibling in as many days...
Perhaps you’ve seen the trailers for this summer’s blockbuster sci-fi movie “The Day After Tomorrow.” The Dennis Quaid/Jake Gyllenhaal film, about what happens in the future after the polar ice caps have melted and caused a second ice age, has become an unlikely political football, with environmentalists attempting to use it as a cautionary tale and conservatives more or less laughing the whole thing off.
Al Gore, the “environmental president” who wasn’t, will partner with the noxious website MoveOn.org to host a rally down the street from the movie’s premiere in LA, presumably to demonstrate that if Bush is re-elected, the type of environmental devastation depicted on screen will become a reality!
Now never mind the question, as brought up on last night’s “South Park” season finale, of how exactly global warming will lead to an ice age- wouldn’t it instead lead to a flooded Earth, a la “Waterworld”? Don’t forget that sci-fi is short for “science fiction.”
What’s truly laughable about this particular film being used as a left-wing propaganda vehicle is that it was directed by Roland Emmerich and produced by Dean Devlin. Their most famous film, 1996’s “Independence Day,” was derided by many critics as “jingoistic,” mostly because it dared to depict Americans fighting back forcefully against invading space aliens. (Indeed, a Google search for “’Independence Day’ AND ‘jingoistic’” brings back 555 results.)
Emmerich and Devlin also made 2000’s “The Patriot” with that noted Hollywood liberal, Mel Gibson, and while their infamous 1998 remake of “Godzilla” had no particular political orientation that I can remember (unless an abortion-related subtext is to be inferred from the plot twist that had each new Godzilla being “born pregnant”), it is in fact guilty of being one of the most horridly awful Hollywood releases of the past 15 years.
If aligning with these guys and their latest silly movie is the best the left can do at this point, then they’re in even more trouble than I thought.
It's not because Americans "dared" to fight back against aliens. It's because we took our national holiday and applied it to the world (including England). That terrible "this is everyone's Independence Day" speech is a prime example.
Posted by: Jeremy Wahlman at April 30, 2004 10:49 AMok, everybody back on the pile!
Posted by: LilB at May 1, 2004 01:30 AM