# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Klaus\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@Klaus\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaus_K)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/81 "2009-04-06T11:37:40Z")
I resent the Americo-centricism that implies that we don’t have bumpkin farmers outside of the US. Of course we don’t have as many as before; not since we sent loads of 'em over to populate America. ---
**Author:** ![Briareos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@Briareos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briareos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/82 "2009-04-06T15:50:14Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > The aliens in [the Thing](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/) attacked Antarctica. Which is either very stupid of them…or not particuarly ambitious. Well, the alien in The Thing didn;t have any choice. Its space ship crashed in Antarctica,a nd it was froxen in ice until the researchers discovered the wreckage and woke it up. ---
**Author:** ![Briareos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@Briareos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briareos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/83 "2009-04-06T15:51:45Z")
> [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](#): > > In The Abyss, the aliens settle away from humans in deep ocean. Sensible. There’s a lot of good real estate down there if you don’t mind water. I thought the ‘aliens’ in The Abyss weren’t aliens from space? I thought they actually evolved from deep sea creatures living at the bottom of the ocean? ---
**Author:** ![themog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@themog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themog)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/84 "2009-04-06T16:06:46Z")
Because most films are made by Americans and for Americans and since the majority of the American populace are unaware that there are actually countries beyond America it makes sense for the film-makers not to overcomplicate things. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/85 "2009-04-06T16:28:59Z")
> [@detop](#): > > People tend to forget that the **first** alien invasion was in England (_War of the Worlds_) In the Orson Welles radio adaptation and subsequent film versions, though, the aliens invaded the US instead. So I guess the answer is, “because the executors of HG Wells’ estate didn’t care about creative control.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/86 "2009-04-06T16:34:02Z")
It’s been years since I read it, but IIRC \*Day of the Triffids \*was set in the UK, right? ---
**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:** [April 6, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/87 "2009-04-06T16:42:04Z")
> [@](#): > > So I guess the answer is, “because the executors of HG Wells’ estate didn’t care about creative control.” Executors? H.G. Wells was still alive when that happened. In fact, although he at first deplored the adaptation, he latere had a very friendly co-interview with Orson Welles on the radio in san Antonio. The interview is recorded – I’[ve got two copies of it. I have no idea how the rights for the adaptation were handled, but there was never any legal action about it, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/88 "2009-04-06T16:57:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Executors? H.G. Wells was still alive when that happened. Hmmm. So he was. I thought Wells had died prior to WWII for some reason. I knew Welles’ broadcast was in 1938. Amend that to, “because H.G. Wells didn’t care about creative control.” ---
**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:** [April 6, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/89 "2009-04-06T17:03:50Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s been years since I read it, but IIRC Day of the Triffids was set in the UK, right? Not really an invasion. The 1963 movie made it seem as if meteors from somewhere else brought the spores of the Triffids, but if you read the book (or see the BBC adaptation), the Triffids weren’t really an alien threat, and the meteor wasn’t really extraterrestrial. It was a case of Man doing himself in. Although, to be fair, John Wyndham’s other book, **out of the Deeps** , does give us an invasion by water-breathing aliens. And they strike pretty much around the globe. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/90 "2009-04-06T17:20:51Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s been years since I read it, but IIRC \*Day of the Triffids \*was set in the UK, right? Yes. Because the book was written by John Wyndham–who was English. And the film was made by a UK company. Makers of a film or TV show featuring aliens are already spending money on special effects. Why should they spend more to go on location overseas? Generally, the audience is supposed to think “It Could Happen Here!” The US makes a large proportion of the “big” films–which tend to be shot here. So we mostly see aliens landing in the USA. (Or Vancouver, standing in for the USA.) The Japanese did lots of monster films–although the monsters may not have been aliens; they were set in Japan. If The Doctor is going to fight aliens, they usually show up in London. (Or Cardiff, standing in for London.) It’s just the film biz. The Europeans (& others around the world) just don’t invest in enough Creature Features! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014/91 "2009-04-07T00:41:36Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > Close Encounters of the Third Kind had them in Mexico first, returning American airplanes they collected over the gulf of Mexico. Then they put a ship in the Gobi, which shows their sense of humor. But eventually they help to Hollywood convention by buzzing Ohio and landing in Wyoming. The planes were “collected” off the SE coast of Florida, in the so-called “Bermuda Triangle.” [Flight 19 - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_19). Then the aliens buzzed Indiana, not Ohio. And the coordinates they broadcast didn’t include compass directions, meaning their landing site could have been in any of four locations around the world, IIRC, not just at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. Still a great movie, though! The mini-elephantine aliens in Niven and Pournelle’s novel _Footfall_ chose to land in the U.S. because they studied the world’s TV and radio broadcasts and realized the country’s dominance in political and military affairs. Knock off the U.S., they reasoned, and the rest of the world will be easy pickings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-aliens-in-movies-tv-always-invade-the-usa/491014.md?page=4)