This is a major study of Independence Day, a key film of the 1990s. Rogin examines how such an apocalyptic, anarchic and violent film managed to achieve such acclaim, and suggests that it serves American power in the name of attacking it. He analyzes how the film reimagines American society and rewrites American history. Propaganda disguised as escapism, it salves American anxiety - about race, sexuality, disease and war - by means of delirious movie-making. Rogin dismisses the claim that the film is harmless entertainment, arguing that it is of the utmost significance - the defining motion picture of Bill Clinton's America.