Leonardo said:
There's self hating jews, though, as I'm sure you know this already.
I don't know, he looks and sounds very stereotypical. He's practically Watto. Of course, the difference is Watto is portrayed as greedy, Julius looks more goofy than anything.
This is another quote from the movie:
If I knew I was going to meet the president, I would have worn a tie. I mean, look at me. I look like a schlemiel.
I still chock this up to lacklustre writing than any real anti-semitism, though. Devlin's never been great at writing characters of any ethnicity.
As for Watto, I've always seen him more as Italian than Jewish. ;-)
and another one:
I don't really see the problem with this scene. It's just a guy leading a prayer and making a joke. If the character was changed to a Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Wiccan, etc. but the rest stayed the same, would it be considered an offensive portrayal of any of those groups? I doubt it.
Independence Day was a dumb, dumb movie.
Agreed. Still, it's an enjoyably dumb movie.