Comparison between the films Independence Day and Close Encounters Both films belong to the science fiction genre but are very different in terms of staging, audience and message. In this essay we will refer to Independence Day as ID and Close Encounters as CE. Both films use the setting of a secret base, in ID it had the 'SETI' (research institute for extraterrestrial investigations) as the setting and in CE the setting was Devil's Mountain, which is still a secret military base. The iconography of both films is typical of the science fiction genre; for example, spaceships, bright lights, lasers. In both films the costumes worn are also very similar and typical of today's people in that period. The films can be said to be aimed at a different audience. ID was a big-budget Hollywood film aimed primarily at a mass audience. Younger audiences generally go to the cinema to watch it, but the film is also suitable for watching at home with the family. This then broadens the film's appeal. ID was made in 1996, and director Roland Emmerich realized that his films would need high-profile stars to make his films popular. For example, he chose Will Smith to have a starring role in ID as one of the main heroes. The film also has subgenres to appeal to different people: "Sorry sir, I'm just a little anxious to get up there and punch ET." This shows a subgenre like "trivializing the unknown" and "not taking aliens seriously" and also helps add a bit of comedy to the film. CE was made in 1977 and was aimed at audiences with longer attention spans because there wasn't much action there. It was a very successful film like ID, but because the technology was not very advanced