Like Independence Day, Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! mounts a pretty cohesive assault on many major iconic buildings and monuments. The Taj Mahal, the Washington Monument, the White House, the Pentagon and numerous other landmarks suffer the consequences of those crazed little dudes and their throbbing brains. We’re not quite certain what the Martians want, except to cause as much destruction as possible. But the Martians are as much tricksters as they are evil overlords – they make certain to take selfies before bombing famous monuments.
My personal favorite is the redesigning of Mount Rushmore according to the whims of the little alien bastards. They replace the faces of Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson with their own. I like to think that whoever those Martian leaders are, they deserve to be carved into the side of a mountain.
There’s a touch of satire (no, not just a touch) in the redesigning of Mount Rushmore too. How incredibly egotistical is it to carve the faces of our leaders into the natural landcape? Why do we put so much stock in famous buildings and monuments? And why is Theodore Roosevelt in the same place as Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln? These are questions that need answering.
