War of American Traditions

In Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds it is very apparent that the main conflict consists of aliens operating giant robot machines to vaporize humanity. Although the threatening of mankind’s existence instills fear into the audience, War of the Worlds offers deeper meanings into the post 9/11 American culture that we live in today. Spielberg presents the everyday struggles that a broken American family goes through and how they must come together in the most crucial of times. The film illustrates the call-to-action that Americans experience when there is terror on U.S. soil. War of the Worlds is an apocalyptic movie with an emphasis on an alien takeover, but the film has much more to claim about post 9/11 American society and family that exists in the modern era.

The title is simple and straightforward: War of the Worlds. There is no gray area when reading it, it simply suggests our world vs. another. However, the cinematography reveals something completely different; Tom Cruise’s subjective view of the alien attack. Other than the frame, the viewer only sees through Tom Cruise’s perspective which is limited to his journey from New York to Boston. The only times that the viewer gets to see anything happening anywhere else in the world is through a news report that Tom Cruise is watching or passing by. All other accounts of alien attacks on the rest of the world are told through rumors of people that Tom Cruise encounters on his voyage to Boston. This cinematography is what makes the frame so interesting. Morgan Freeman narrates the frame telling of the alien beings that have been watching us and inevitably want to destroy the entire human population and take earth for their own. The frame starts out with the visualization of tiny cells mindlessly floating around in a water droplet. It then moves on to what is distinctly unique about the frame which is while Freeman is narrating, the only pictorial’s shown are of regular activities (such as walking, laughing, and playing baseball) that humans partake in during regular everyday life. This sets up the notion of innocence and helplessness that humans possess as opposed to the aliens. The viewer is left confused after the frame ends as the film immediately jumps in to Ray’s (Tom Cruise) story of survival. It doesn’t become clear what the frame does until the second half of it is shown at the end of the movie. The frame shows the earth from outer space and then zooms in presenting a water droplet reflecting an image of the earth. The camera zooms in again depicting the same tiny cells floating around. While of this is being illustrated to the viewer, Freeman is narrating about how ordinary bacteria and the common cold killed the aliens. The frame demonstrates that even though the aliens were clearly more dominant and powerful than humans, it our weathered experience on earth that kept us from submitting to death from microorganisms. The frame relates to today’s standards because like 9/11, a tragedy can occur but it is the strong-willed nature of humans to survive and take a stand. The aliens weren’t ready for what humans had withstood for thousands of years and as a result their bodies couldn’t handle and they died.

Ray is an interesting character and Spielberg focuses a majority of the film on Ray’s personality and behavior transition for the better during his role as the father in a broken family. As the divorce rate increases to over 50% and people are staying married for fewer and fewer years, it is safe to say that marriage is a collapsing institution. Rather than dwell and mourn about these statistics, War of the Worlds suggests a solution that can work for any family in need: find an alien invasion, endure through countless perilous attacks, and if you make it out alive your family will be functional and ecstatic. Although the story line is cheesy at times, War of the Worlds suggests a truth claim that works for today’s post 9/11 American society. That is, crisis will join people together no matter what the situation is, it’s in a human’s instincts to care for someone in need. Ray is no exception to this claim either. At the beginning of the film Ray is a selfish, self-absorbed blue collar worker who has a very poor relationship with his kids. His two children Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and Rachel (Dakota Fanning) constantly disrespect him by calling him Ray, Rachel speaks to him as if she is more mature, and they always talk about how their step-dad Tim (David Basche) does so much more than Ray. Don’t feel bad for Ray though, he hasn’t done anything to earn their respect. The one weekend that Robbie and Rachel come to visit him; Ray shows up late, he doesn’t have any food for them, and he goes straight to bed instead of interacting with them. It’s so bad that Robbie steals Ray’s car without permission just in order to get away from Ray. Ray is a poor father figure in American’s eyes and he demonstrates the characteristics that are given to the stereotypical father who leaves his wife and kids. This immediately puts Ray in with a bad taste to the audience and his chances of being a likeable character appear to be futile. As the film progresses Ray transitions in to the fatherly figure that American’s like and appreciate. He starts protecting his children and putting their lives as more important than his own. He even allows Robbie to join the fight against the aliens because Ray knows that he must trust Robbie to be a good father. By the end of the film he has earned the respect of his children and the affection of the audience. Although it took a crisis to do so, Ray’s transition into a good father is one that the audience wanted to see. It puts a surreal spin on life because it brings up the question, why must it take a tragedy in order to cause change? In the real world the father is a role with much expected of him, and too many times the father will give up and forget the fatherly necessities that children need. War of the Worlds demonstrates that change is possible even in as something as complex as a person’s behaviors. Society must take these visualizations of change to heart, or the trend of broken families will continue. Marriage is strong institution and is not completely diminished, but change is needed in order to keep it from collapsing.

Steven Spielberg expresses numerous situations throughout War of the Worlds that allude to 9/11 and terrorist attacks. The most notable scene is when Ray, Robbie, and Rachel are staking out at Tim’s house when the whole establishment begins to shake. Ray walks outside and realizes that a plane has just crashed into and destroyed the neighborhood that Tim lives in. The plane wreck makes a direct reference to 9/11 and it relates to any American audience member watching. This scene wouldn’t have been as breathtaking to the American public if the terrorist attack on the twin towers had never taken place. This film works for the post 9/11 society that we live in today because Spielberg adds scenes, like the image of the fallen plane, that force the audience to feel emotion and react. The terror of 9/11 left each American with a different impression, but few people feel neutral on the tragedy. After the terrorist attacks happened, many Americans had a sense of anxiety and national security became the frontline of every news report. Spielberg utilizes the fears and insecurities that most Americans feel post 9/11 to reinforce the emotions that the people in War of the Worlds are experiencing. One way Spielberg does this is by demonstrating the call-to-action that people undergo when their homeland is being attacked and innocent people are dying. Robbie’s reaction to the alien attacks stand out the most; anytime an army vehicle passes him he immediately bolts for it in the effort to suit up and join the fight. Robbie is only a 15 year boy and has no experience or expertise in fighting or firing a weapon so it seems absurd that he would be willing and insisting to fight. Although his immaturity shines through in these instances, his character reveals the anger and fury that an American can sense when there is terror threatening the U.S. Despite one’s limitations, when homeland is endangered people unite as a nation and fight for their right to live safe, secure, and anxiety-free. Ray explains to Robbie that it is in his and Rachel’s best interest to keep going and Ray urges Robbie to separate from the idea of assisting the army. Ray watches Robbie throughout the film and sees that Robbie proves himself to be a courageous person who puts his life on the line to help others. Ray’s witness of Robbie’s selfless acts established that he is mature enough to make his own decisions, so when Robbie tries to fight again later in the film Ray objects at first, but then lets Robbie go realizing that he made the right decision. The world trade center attacks left Americans with worry and concern that drew us as a nation closer together. War of the Worlds suggests insights to post 9/11 American culture that reveal as a nation we rally in a time of need, and terror on U.S. soil is unacceptable. American’s experienced a call-to-action after 9/11, and through War of the Worlds Spielberg illustrates the reaction that American’s endure when U.S. lives are put in danger.

American society has changed drastically in recent years. Marriage is no longer treated as an institution that cannot be broken, and the general public has national security anxieties. War of the Worlds sets it apart from other films by confronting these two issues head on. Spielberg visualizes the American family gone wrong, but insists that change back to the unacceptability of divorce and good parenting is tangible. Spielberg also suggests truth claims about the operation of our post 9/11 society which calls for American’s to react and unite when terror is afoot. Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds is a contemporary film with more to say than “aliens are attacking”; its meaning can be derived much farther into what we are as an American society.