9/11 movies
April 12th, 2006 by shinzu
There seems to be a new controversy brewing nowadays over a sensitive topic.. which is 9/11 movies. A lot of people are saying that people in the U.S aren’t ready for a movie yet.. And the other argument is that production companies making these movies are exploiting profits over a terrible tragedy.
In my opinion, I don’t think any company would be willing to risk its pr image over making profits over a 9/11 movie. If anything, production companies would choose a safer route by dodging 9/11 movies.
To the other point about people in the U.S. aren’t ready for the movie who is really to say when the appropriate time is. It’s not like we have a concrete metric saying something like “oh.. after 10 years from a tragedy you can make a movie.” Being in the U.S. I strongly believe in the artistic freedom of whoever wants to make a movie. And if you don’t want to watch the movie, then fine don’t watch it. Who is to say the public is or isn’t ready. You will know the public isn’t ready when no one watches the movie.
Seems like in the immediate future, there is going to be a theatrical release detailing the event of Flight 93. I was thinking if I was going to watch this movie or not, but if I did I probably would cry throughout the movie. I’ve talked about this on my xanga before, but 9/11 hit me in a pretty profound way.
I consider myself to be a patriot of this country. I love what the opportunities this country has to offer, and the freedom of expression and creative thought which is repressed in many other countries. We often complain about things about the U.S., but at my work and in my travels, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to people from all over the world on how their native countries are. For instance in Europe, many of the countries are paralyzed by unions. Just look at France. Their union lobby is so powerful, the country is having hard times passing capitalist type reforms. And if you look at some other socialist countries, it seems like those countries just stay stagnant where there is no motivation to succeed in society.
However I was naïve in one thing. And that was that war and terrorist attack could never hit U.S. soil. The closest to war I’ve gotten to is knowing that my parents and relatives have been directly affected by the Vietnam War.
So when growing up, I believed I would forever live in an era of peace. Boy was I wrong..
I think fundamentally, 9/11 has changed a lot on how we think and some of our paradigms in society. For example, if you read any new book about a particular topic, they will often say “in post 9/11..”. One great example of this is the job hunt. Seems like in the post 9/11 world, people have had their innocence shattered and probably believe that life is more fragile. Because of that, many new job seekers are seeking that their jobs have purpose. It often takes a traumatic event to make you put things in focus. And I would say 9/11 is one of them.
Just look at many of the new tv shows and movies being produced nowadays. We’ve had movies like ‘The Interpreter’, ‘Sentinel’, and tv series like ‘24’ and ‘West Wing’. America is fascinated with terrorism nowadays.
There is also a double standard between books and movies. There have been a torrent of books released about 9/11. One of the best selling books is ‘The 9/11 Commission’. If you go to Barnes and Noble you’ll see many many books written about failures of 9/11 leadership, to net centric warfare, to the new shadow enemies.
Movies are no different than books. Just a different form a medium that is easier to absorb. So let these companies make these 9/11 movies.