Independance+Day+Social+Context

__CONTEXT__

Instructions – Read the following information about the context of __Independence Day__ and refer to it when explaining and analysing the codes/conventions of the film.

__US President: Bill Clinton__ Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States on January 20, 1993. In his inaugural address he declared: “Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”

__Technology__ The 1990s was truly the electronic age. - The World Wide Web was born in 1992, changing the way we communicate (email), spend our money (online gambling, stores), and do business (e-commerce). By 1994, 3 million people were online. And by 1998, this figure increased to 100 million people. - Internet lingo like “plug-ins”, BTW (by the way), GOK (God only knows), IMHO (in my humble opinion), FAQS, SPAM, FTP, ISP, and phrases like "See you online" or "The server's down" or "Bill Gates" became part of our everyday vocabulary. - We signed our mail with a :-) smile, a ;-) wink, or a :-* kiss. - And - everyone has a cell phone.

__World Politics – World Conflicts__ In the 1990's the United States played the role of world policeman, sometimes alone but more often in alliances. - The decade began with Sadam Husein's invasion of Kuwait and the resultant Gulf War. - In 1993 the war was in the African country of Somalia, as the television images of starving children led to an attempt to oust the warlord, General Adid. - By September, 1994, the U.S. was once again sending troops to a foreign country to overthrow a military dictatorship, this time in Haiti. - In 1996 about 20,000 American troops were deployed to Bosnia as part of a NATO peace keeping force. In late March 1999, the U.S. joined NATO in air strikes against Yugoslavia in an effort to halt the Yugoslavian government's policy of ethnic cleansing in its province of Kosovo. The decade was to end much as it began with U.S. forces deployed in many countries, and the U.S. playing arbitrator, enforcer, and peace keeper throughout the world.

__Homeland Issues in America__ Violence seemed a part of life. - In 1992 South-Central Los Angeles rioted after four white policemen were acquitted of video-taped assault charges for beating a black motorist, Rodney King. - 1993 brought terrorism to the American shores as a bomb was detonated in the garage beneath the World Trade Center. NY -  February 1993 also saw four agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms killed during an unsuccessful raid on the Branch Davidian cult compound in Waco, Texas led by David Koresh. - Americans were glued to their TV sets in 1995 as the football hero, O.J. Simpson, was tried for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her male friend, Ron Goldman. This trial pointed out the continued racial division in the country as most blacks applauded the not guilty verdict while most whites thought an obviously guilty man had gotten away with murder. - The shock of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19,1995, was compounded by the revelation that the perpetrators were not foreign terrorists but were U.S. citizens led by a U.S. Army veteran, Timothy McVeigh.

__Good news__ There was good news, too. - The booming economy led to record low unemployment. - Minimum wage was increased to $5.15 an hour. - The stock market reached an all time high as individuals learned to buy and trade via the internet. <span style="font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times; mso-font-width: 0%; msofareastfontfamily: Times; msofontwidth: 0%; msolist: Ignore;">- Americans enjoyed the country's affluence by travelling more, by revelling in sporting events such as the Atlanta Summer Olympics -1996, and by "consuming" as never before. <span style="font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times; mso-font-width: 0%; msofareastfontfamily: Times; msofontwidth: 0%; msolist: Ignore;">- America faced the new millennium with an open, diversified society, a functioning democracy, a healthy economy, and the means and will, hopefully, to face and overcome its problems.

__Independence Day__ <span style="font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times; mso-font-width: 0%; msofareastfontfamily: Times; msofontwidth: 0%; msolist: Ignore;">- In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. <span style="font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times; mso-font-width: 0%; msofareastfontfamily: Times; msofontwidth: 0%; msolist: Ignore;">- Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, picnics, concerts, baseball games, political speeches and ceremonies, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. <span style="font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times; mso-font-width: 0%; msofareastfontfamily: Times; msofontwidth: 0%; msolist: Ignore;">- Independence Day is the national day of the United States.