The 1996 Roland Emmerich-helmed film Independence Day was one of the touchstone movies for Emily's generation, so her flabber was absolutely gasted to learn Tracie had never seen it until a few years ago. Just in time for the 4th of July, Emily walks Tracie through what made this movie such a monumental hit in the U.S. and abroad, despite its jingoistic American exceptionalism and skin-deep application of science fiction storytelling tropes.
Both in 1996 and again in 2025, Emily appreciated feeling seen as an American Jew via the characters of David and Julius Levinson (played by Jeff Goldblum in his absolute prime and Judd Hirsch, respectively) and she loved the way German-born Emmerich celebrates America's diversity as our greatest strength. That celebration of diversity includes Emmerich's behind-the-scenes fight to have Will Smith in the lead role when the executives balked at a Black leading man.
But this mashup of disaster and sci-fi movies also appeals to some ugly stereotypes Americans believe about the rest of the world while refusing to ask any deeper questions about how aliens or people would react to enormous, world-changing events.
We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our extended family as the Guy Girls.
We both have super-serious personas in our "day jobs." No, really. Emily is a Finance writer who used to be a classroom teacher. Tracie writes and consults on social justice and mindfulness and works as a copywriter and project manager for non-profits. If you really need to see the bona fides, please visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com
For our work together, what you need to know is that Tracie is older (3 years), Emily is funnier (by at least 3 percent), and we're both hella smart, often over-literal, and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction and murder mysteries, good storytelling with liberal amounts of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find there.
Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video version, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.
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