I think that this has more to do than Bill Pullman and his acting than the actual lines themselves. But I still think the lines are powerful:
Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in this history of mankind.
Mankind -- that word should have new meaning for all of us today.
We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore.
We will be united in our common interests.
Perhaps it's fate that today is the 4th of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom -- not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution -- but from annihilation.
We're fighting for our right to live -- to exist.
And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice:
"We will not go quietly into the night!
We will not vanish without a fight!
We're going to live on!
We're going to survive!"
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!
There's just something in the way he says the lines that makes it very believable. It doesn't seem forced or fake in any way at all. (And, of course, the other actors were fantastic!!)
It seems to me that what makes them speech so iconic is that for years and years people have wanted this kind of mass cooperation from the world. There's a yearning for - let's face it - world peace (no matter how Beauty Pageant like it may be). And there's something that's wholly appealing to everyone. (Or maybe everyone in America.) How awesome would it be for everyone to stand together at one time for one purpose.
Granted, every country has a 4th of July, but only in America does it stand for the battle that was the fight for Independence. With this kind of epic battle, not one country but all countries are in a battle. And it's not for freedom from things that we once fought for - instead it's for the right to keep living. To keep being. It's a bit scary to think that if everyone didn't work together, the world would have been gone. I know, I know - it's a movie for bloody crying out loud... but there's always that what if in the back of everyone's mind.
I'm not going to go all into the whole UFO and aliens really exist debate, but I can't believe that in the vastness that is the universe - that great and horrid nether - we are the only living beings out there. To calm my mind, I have to think that somewhere out there, there's another life - or lives. That we're not just flukes. That we really aren't just some cosmic bastardization from some sudo-sexual masturbatory mistake.
And even if the other beings are malignant like the ones in *Independence Day*, I would hope that the people would band together.
Anywho, more on how the actor says his lines...
Without Pullman's ability to pause, rise and fall, use inflections, the wit and sarcasm, and the passion behind the lines he speaks, I don't think that the speech would have had the same impact. And I don't think that just any actor could have pulled that off.
Take where he says, "Mankind -- that word should have new meaning for us all today.", there's this great pause. It's really as if he's thinking of this speech while he's standing up there on that truck bed instead of spitting it out with rout memorization. He's not just standing up there and saying lines like some people (cough, cough *The Hills-Heidi Montag* cough, couch, hack), but he's actually delivering them. There's totally a difference.
Why? Because instead of just bleah blah blea - it's... there's emotion. It's not just some blank stare into the camera. It takes a good actor to know when to pause and for how long, when to raise and lower his voice, and when to change his tone. Of course, I use he sparingly - I don't care about really being PC - using he is just easier than saying he or she or (s)he.
Anyway, yeah. That's part of the reason why this speech is a great speech.
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