More Sci Fi and Poli Sci

I went to see Transformers last night and was amused by the level to which political concerns have penetrated into popular culture. Early in the movie a group of American Special Forces personnel encounter a friendly Arab youth who leads them back to his home village for refuge. The soldiers fight side by side with the (heavily armed) villagers against the alien invader, an idealized version of what some expected when we invaded Iraq, the locals rising up to support the US against what all could have viewed as a larger threat.

Slightly later in the film while trying to figure out who or what perpetrated the attack a comment is made to the effect that the Iranians weren't smart enough to build something like the machine that committed the attack, an interesting comment about a country that, despite whatever other problems they may have, seems to have no lack of engineering ability as the underground bunkers sheltering their nuclear weapons program would indicate.

This movie also reminded me of my last post. It seems that Schmitt's conception of global peace through alien menace have been pretty well absorbed by the national mass media. Many science fictions movies, especially the big summer blockbusters, include some sort of global alliance to combat invading aliens, Independence Day in particular comes to mind in this genre. I wonder what other concepts of political science theory have entered into common usage and could be seen in popular entertainment?