Movie 666

This is not the essay I planned on writing this month. My original article was about the contemporary “crisis in film criticism.” But in light of September 11, what I originally called a “crisis” seems like, well, not that big of a deal anymore, especially now that bombs are dropping overseas and the terrorist scare continues at home.

Today’s news: Trade Center rubble

For now, I have some thoughts on media that I want to put forward. Movie 666 is subtitled “the herald of media apocalypse.” The events of September 11 might very well be titled the same. Media will not be the same after September 11 - or at least it shouldn’t be. September 11 could very possibly change not only the movies and television we see, but how we see movies and television.

Ultimately, September 11 for most will be recalled through its media. The striking images of that day demand no additional description here. The images and sounds of horror and spectacle will linger with us forever, as will the stories of tragedy and heroism reported to us through radio, print and television.

Many have been quick to analyze the impact September 11 will have on Hollywood. Perhaps this is something native to Los Angeles, and not happening in other places. In this city, in any case, I have already listened to multiple critics in print and on the airwaves discussing the future of film, some within days of the disaster.

Without a doubt, Hollywood will be greatly impacted by September 11. Already, some titles have been postponed and others re-edited in regard to the current viewing environment.

I saw a film the other day that took place in New York City and had multiple scenes that featured the New York skyline. The Trade Towers in this film had been digitally removed. It was a strange sensation, since I found myself looking for the Towers, and could not locate them, despite knowing the movie had been made before the destruction. Ultimately, I am not sure what the correction was meant to accomplish, because although the buildings were gone, the ghosts standing in the gaping hole remained.

What is certain is that September 11 will initiate a new sensitivity in films. One must assume that the themes and metaphors of September 11 will enter our screen life, even if specific references to the events of that day are avoided. The history of Hollywood is, in effect, a political history, albeit a metaphorical one, as gods and demons of culture make their way into even the most innocuous movies. Communism took the form of body snatchers in the Cold War science fiction of the Fifties. Vietnam was reflected through cowboys and gangsters in late Sixties and early Seventies bloodbaths. The hardball politics of the Reagan Era were embodied in the muscled military warriors of the Eighties.

I could predict the kinds of films we will see, but I don’t want to turn the recent tragedy into a guessing game about next summer’s action lineup. More spy movies? More monsters? You get the idea, and why I don’t want to go there right now.

Movies, in our new world, will most likely take paths of both increased realism and increased escapism. We will see films which attempt to address the world with a newfound eye for complexity and a renewed sense of realism, while others will attempt to remove us from the current climate of fear and confusion. Many will do both, somehow, at the same time.

Yesterday’s news: O.J. Simpson

More detrimental than movies, however, is the future of television. Cinema is no longer a source of news, only history (and a suspect one at that). Television, on the other hand, brings us recent and live images and sounds from around the world - or at least is capable of doing so. However, televised news has become more tabloid in nature in recent years, basking in O.J. and Clinton and Condit at the expense of detailed international coverage.

The networks claim that they are only meeting audience demand when they present us with soap opera scandals, but this is an unacceptable excuse for giving us worthless information. Ultimately, America needs better and more responsible news from the corporations that lease our public airwaves. As it stands now, home grown news is easier and cheaper to cover, and when scandal is presented as a kind of unfolding, serialized drama, then demand is not merely satisfied - it is created.

I am in no way trying to blame the events of September 11 on the media. However, one of the most frequent questions being asked by Americans after the attacks is “why do they hate us so much.” With effective sources of information and educated citizens, this question would not have to be asked. Potentially, educated citizenry can help foment the decisions that will alleviate hatred in the world, or at the very least allow us to better anticipate and prevent the projections of that hatred. The shortcut to understanding is war.

Ultimately, if the events of September 11 tell us anything, it is that we cannot ignore our world. Events in far reaches of the globe are of vital consequence at home. This awareness, alone, could mark a major shift in American thought. May we soon see the effects in American media.

Related posts:

1. Equilibrium: A Bush Like Vision of the Future
2. The Future a Long Time Ago: Attack of the Clones
3. Anticlimax: Fema on Film
4. Oh, Brother, This Film is Violent
5. Thighs Wide Shut: Kubrick’s Final Film

Trackback Post