The Themes of Independence Day

[John Crichton 4]

OK, I promised this a long while ago, but I've finally gotten around to cobbling something together. I've always been amazed at this score's thematic depth, and even more amazed that no one, to my knowlege, has never tried to really do any kind of analysis of it. It's not done, as there are quite a few minor reccuring motifs that I still need to get a solid hold on, but this is the most important stuff. Oh, and everyone knows I'm no expert, so I've misued a musical term or mis-identified an instrument please correct me. And feel free to comment on anything else too.

Major Themes

Main Theme – There’s really nothing else to call this theme as it has no specific associations, but definitely acts as the main theme in the score. A heroic fanfare, really rooted in an American patriotic sound. It first appears right at the start, over the opening shot of the moon plaque, and it’s biggest statement is in The President’s Speech. A common statement of it is a solo piccolo with a long pause between the 4th and 5th notes.

Russell Casse’s Theme – Your traditional rousing heroic fanfare, and possibly my personal favorite theme in the score. It’s introduced when the character is, but has very sparse usage after that, only really coming into play during the final act. It’s also the featured theme in the End Credits, being both the first and last thing played.

Hiller’s Theme – The most versatile theme in the score. It’s used as a soft character theme, a love theme, and another heroic fanfare.

The First Lady’s Theme – Another personal favorite. The theme is achingly beautiful and yet almost haunting, given the fate of the character. In another context and with minimal adjustment it would function perfectly well as a love theme. As it is it sounds like a love theme that’s been twisted into something tragic. This is the theme that is used as a perfect musical transition from July 2 to July 3.

The Aliens:

- Main Theme – A menacing, battle-like theme that signifies the destruction the aliens bring to Earth. It’s first statement is at the end of the SETI cue, during the zoom in on the speaker, but it doesn’t fully take over until The Darkest Day. A personal favorite is the way-cool statement of it in Nuke Attack, when it’s revealed that the ship wasn’t destroyed.

- Secondary Theme – The lesser used of the two, this is more of a “dark wonder” or “dark mystery” theme. It’s the primary theme used for the aliens until The Darkest Day, then gets only a handful of statements after.

Fanfare – Another non-specific theme, it could really be classified as more of a minor motif if it wasn’t one of the most quoted themes in the score. The most common presentation of it is a single note then two triplets, and it’s used more as a buildup to an important moment rather than a payoff.

Minor Motifs (As I said still a lot more work to be done here)

Alien “battle” motif – A (usually) six-note descending motif that’s used to signify danger from the aliens during many of the action cues.

The fanfare that plays at the start of Countdown is hinted at in the Welcome Wagon cues.

[Trent B 337]

Nice breakdown on the themes there John. Independence Day is my favorite score for David Arnold. The two disc set helps tremendously with the listening experience of course. A lot of good material was left off the original soundtrack.

[crumbs 14,364]

This score is wonderfully bombastic, perfect for the film. So many great themes, but it does get a little tiring to listen to in long doses. Each cue is unique in some way though.

[bondo 33]

ID4 could definitely benefit from a complete release, including alternates. The current bootleg/promo has a terrific alternate for the entire final battle, but it'd be nice to get both the alternate and the film version released legitimately on CD.

Thanks for the theme analysis, John!

[crumbs 14,364]

The current bootleg has damn impressive audio quality too. Better than most Shawn Murphy mixes.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Some track times or musical notations for examples would be helpful.

[John Crichton 4]

Well, you're not going to get any musical notations from me, but if anyone else feels like doing it feel free. But I'll work on getting some track times in there.