Why does Independence Day have one of the most developed portrayals of sex workers in any movie I have ever seen?
Like, the girlfriend of one of the main characters is a stripper. But not only is her sex appeal NOT a defining, or even noteworthy aspect of her character, her personality is well developed outside of her job. Women in movies are almost always limited to three roles: Hot Girl, Wife, or Mother. Sex workers in movies are almost always relegated to the first, and it's rare that a woman is even two of the three. But Jasmine is written to be all three, without any of them standing out as the Main One. She is a hot and desirable girlfriend, she is good marriage material for Stephen (and NASA is being unfair for judging her for her work), and she is a dedicated and loving mother to her son. In addition to being all three of these female archetypes at once, she also has character traits that have nothing to do with the men in her life. She is resourceful and intuitive, and she is able to very quickly adapt to her situation after her whole world is destroyed by aliens, and she even leads her own rescue efforts for other survivors. And she also feels no need to be "saved" from sex work. She tells the first lady of the United states and she is not at all embarrassed or sorry about doing sex work, because she makes a good income from it and it's enough to support herself and her son.
Like, it's weird that a movie about space aliens trying to destroy the world has better sex work portrayal than many other movies that are about the lives of sex workers. But I'm glad for it.
