Independence Day and Close Encounters Movie ComparisonBoth movies belong to the science fiction genre but they are very different in terms of setting, audience and message. Throughout this essay, Independence Day will be referred to as ID and Close Encounters will be referred to as CE. Both films use the setting of a secret base, in ID there was "SETI" (Research Institute for Extraterrestrial Investigation) as the film setting and in CE the setting was Devils Mountain which is once again a secret military base. The iconography of both films is typical of that of the science fiction genre; for example, spaceships, bright lights, lasers. In both films, the costumes worn are also very similar and typical of people today in that era. You can say that the films are aimed at different audiences. ID was a big-budget Hollywood film aimed largely at a mass audience. Younger audiences usually go to the cinema to watch it, but the film can also be watched at home with family. So this broadens the appeal of the film. 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 cast Will Smith to play a lead role in ID as the main hero. The movie also has subgenres to appeal to different people, "Sorry sir, I'm just kinda can't wait to get up there and whip ET's ass." This shows a subgenre such as "trivializing the unknown" and "not taking aliens seriously", which also helps add a touch of comedy to the film. THIS was made in 1977 and was aimed at an audience who had a longer attention span because there wasn't a lot of action. It was a hit movie like ID, but because technology hadn't advanced much