# Why do aliens in movies/TV always invade the USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014 "2009-03-27T17:03:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/41 "2009-03-28T20:34:08Z")
[QUOTE=Mars Needs Women!] Since the Earthmen, especially the Americans, seem to place their faith in luck rather than scientific certainties, I wish you all luck. [/QUOTE] I see, Mars needs _American_ Women! 🙂 > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Because of our obesity problem, we cannot run away as quickly, and we are also therefore chewier. 😃 Back on 1999, there was a brouhaha in San Francisco when Fat people protested against a local health club that put up a billboard depicting a space alien and declaring, ‘‘When they come, they’ll eat the fat ones first.’’ ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/42 "2009-03-28T20:45:19Z")
The US is at the center of a large land mass. Nice and inviting. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/43 "2009-03-28T22:36:38Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I rarely watch **Doctor Who** , but they definitely seemed to invade the UK in an episode where an alien was posing as a politician and eating people. And Wales is part of the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/44 "2009-03-28T23:14:46Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Why do you think aliens always seem to choose America? I would have to say that an invasion of North America would put ET under the nuclear guns of the US. Say for instance , the arcturians invaded earth and they picked Africa, specifically egypt cause of the pyramids. How many ICBM’s do you think would be dialed in and the pres would have no problem engaging the arc’s with on call nuclear fire support. Declan ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/45 "2009-03-29T02:29:43Z")
> [@Damfino](#): > > Could the aliens measure energy expenditure/heat radiation from outer space? Would that show the centres of industrial power accurately? Would the US still be no. 1 target if so? Without coming up with industrial output numbers, no, it’d be Europe. The United States is the world’s richest state, but it’s also spread out. If aliens were looking for a center of high population density, they’d land in India; if they were looking for a center of high population plus substantial technological and industrial power they’d land in Europe, which has far more people and measurably more economic activity packed into a MUCH smaller space - the entire EU’s about half the size of the lower 48. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/46 "2009-03-29T17:32:34Z")
That’s if they purely rely on externally-observable clues. OTOH as mentioned before, if they have done their intelligence-gathering homework, they’d know that the USA is a very valuable game piece to take early, specially if they want a lot of coverage of their prowess. Their choice of specific targets would depend, I guess, on if they wish to simply destroy, to take over real full control, or just establish domination, and how quickly. > [@Quasimodem](#): > > I wonder if they’d realize they were “profiling” us? > Yeah! How come it’s always **us** getting ab-ducted and rods stuck up our ass an shit? And how come it’s always Boby Lee Willis and his fishing buddy, and not Noam Chomsky and Dinesh D’Souza? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/47 "2009-03-29T19:07:19Z")
A few other countries to get invaded by aliens in the movies: Switzerland – **The Trollenberg Terror** (aka **The Crawling Eye** ) Sweden – **The Animal People** Great Britain – **The Quatermass Xperiment (The Creeping Unknown) Quatermass 2 (Enemy from Space) Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Years to Earth) The Quatermass Conclusion Doctor Who and the Daleks Island of the Burning Damned The Strange World of Planet X (The Cosmic MNonsters) The Man from Planet X Devil Girl from Mars** Italy – **Fifty Million Miles to Earth** ( Sorta – he WAS from Venus) That’s all I have off the top of my head, and doesn’t include general mosters (which would give us, for instance, Denmark for **Reptilicus** ). I’m sure people can add to this ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/48 "2009-03-29T19:56:09Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > …Great Britain – **…Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Years to Earth)…** Thank you for mentioning one my favorite alien invasion movies. Even though the invasion happened a long, long time ago… ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/49 "2009-03-29T20:04:34Z")
They hate our freedoms! ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/50 "2009-03-29T20:40:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > If they tried to invade Japan, Godzilla would kick their asses. Besides the Japanese are used to monster attacks and would take the warning seriously. Here, the invaders would have more time to wreak havoc while those trying to warn the scientists were dismissed as “woo-woos” > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I seem to recall reading an article about a recent alien invasion/disaster movie in which the producer was asked why Manhattan was so often the focus of destruction. The answer was that New York has landmarks and a skyline that are widely recognizable, much more so than almost any other city. From ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s song, _Slime Creatures from Outer Space_: “First they leveled Tokyo, then New York was next to go …” In the webcomic _MegaTokyo_, because invasions of monsters, aliens, zombies, and giant robots are so common, the city has a government department whose function is to issue permits to invading forces. It’s much like obtaining a parade permit in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/51 "2009-03-29T23:16:19Z")
I forgot **Japan**! \*\*The Mysterians Godzilla vs. Monster Zero Godzilla: Final Wars\*\* and others. ---
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/52 "2009-03-30T01:45:45Z")
Its not a movie, but in the DC Comics series “Invasion!”, Australia is the first to go. One of my countrymen wrote an amusing letter to DC at the time which was published in one of its comics asking for money to be sent to his address to assist freedom fighters. The earlier mention of Independence Day got me thinking… we see in the conclusion of that movie massive alien ships burning in front of various global land marks. Aside from the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the Sydney Opera House, the Pyramids, and possibly the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, most globally recognised landmarks are in the US. This is one of the reasons why the Statue of Liberty so frequently gets blown up and left as rubble (Planet of the Apes) or ripped to shreds (Cloverfield), why the White House gets lasered (Independence Day), and why the Chrysler Building gets smashed and toppled (Armageddon) in sci-fi movies. I’d guess the Pentagon, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Hollywood sign, and pre 9/11 the World Trade Center have suffered similar catastrophic fates in film. Granted that many movies are made for a US market, but US landmarks, recognisable in so many places, getting pulverised makes for good visuals in film. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/53 "2009-03-30T01:59:26Z")
I read a short story a few years ago which turned the “Aliens always invade the U.S.” trope on its head. I _think_ it was by Spider Robinson, but I’m not sure, and I don’t recall the title. It featured an alien invasion in which the aliens were remotely possessing and teleoperating human bodies in order to accomplish their alien and incomprehensible goals. The American protagonist thinks he’s being smart by fleeing the U.S. He arrives in Canada, only to be told that that’s where the aliens had arrived first. 🙂 \*\*\* Ponder ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/54 "2009-03-30T08:31:41Z")
The aliens/monsters typically invade whatever country made the film. Aliens invade the USA in American films, Japan in Japanese films, etc. Sometimes they invade the entire planet, such as in Signs or Independence Day or V. Occasionally they invade NY because that’s where the UN is (Day the Earth Stood Still). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/55 "2009-03-30T08:42:23Z")
In \*The Arrival \* the aliens are in Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/56 "2009-03-30T10:14:27Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > In Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste, the aliens invade New Zealand. Presumably, this was because Jackson had no money at the time- and was thus unable to film on location elsewhere or fake another city. No, it’s because he’s a New Zealand director making a New Zealand film - his first, incidentally - in New Zealand: where the hell else would he set it but New Zealand? You think film and TV made outside the US secretly aspires to be “made in America” but just can’t afford it? It’s that kind of blinkered parochial US pig-ignorance which assumes that the whole world really wants to be American - and is willing to go to war to prove it - that makes your country both despised and laughed at. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/57 "2009-03-30T10:27:03Z")
Calm down, **Jack**. You’re acting like a dingo ate your baby. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/58 "2009-03-30T10:45:55Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Calm down, **Jack**. You’re acting like a dingo ate your baby. Uh Friedo - dingos come from Australia, I kinda think maybe Scissorjack is a New Zealander.. I know we sometimes refer to Australia as our “west island” but it is a different country ya know… ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/59 "2009-03-30T10:49:54Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Of course, reasons like this are the same reasons America is hated overseas, which has lead to terrorist attacks. 'snip… err - I know you are being somewhat facetious and all - but I kinda don’t think terrorists hate America because of jealousy, but rather because they perceive America to be interfering in their rights / religion and supporting people they don’t like… it’s kinda a bit egocentric and arrogant to say people hate America because it’s successful and just feeds back into the whole arrogance and cultural insensitivity meme… ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/60 "2009-03-30T11:05:15Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Uh Friedo - dingos come from Australia, I kinda think maybe Scissorjack is a New Zealander.. I know we sometimes refer to Australia as our “west island” but it is a different country ya know… Dingos come from all over Southeast Asia and Australia, actually, but thanks for ruining my obnoxious joke wherein I insult an irate Kiwi with a stereotype about Aussies. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014.md?page=4)