Military Recruitment and Hollywood

So, once again this is David Levinson

reminding you and anybody else that’s

listening: Don’t mess with Earth!

The long-awaited sequel to the 1996

mega-blockbuster Independence Day hit

theaters this summer. Independence Day:

Resurgence is built on the same premise that

made the original famous: a potent combination

of alien killin’ and patriotic pandering.

Shouldn’t we be nervous?

Um, yeah.

Make them pay.

We are going to kick some serious alien—

Let’s show ‘em some fireworks.

On behalf of the planet Earth, Happy Fourth of July.

Is that all you got?!

According to most reviews the movie itself

was unremarkable. What was remarkable

however, was the marketing for the film.

Some of you might remember something a

little strange about the trailers. And I mean

in addition to Jeff Goldblum doing

his whole Jeff Goldblum thing.

When the world was brought to its knees,

the Army was there to fight back promised

us this would never happen again. They have

been the driving force in uniting nations around

the world to form the most powerful weapon

against another attack: The Earth Space Defense.

Brave men and women of the ESD are making

sure that the war of ’96 will never happen

again. Join Earth Space Defense. Next time,

we will be prepared.

So we see the stars of the film speaking

directly to the camera, praising the US Army

and then asking fans to join something

called Earth Space Defense. Then at the end

of the trailer we see a URL: JoinESD.com.

Once fans arrive at that website, they’re