(Untitled)

[agentrosecotton]

...

::points to this link, and then to icon::

W. T. F.

That is all.

P.S. Oh, yeah--sorry I haven't been aboot lately. The 'net is down for the moment. Will be back later.

Comments

[windcedar]

I don't know. There's a video clip here ("A Look Inside," not the trailer) interviewing the director and family members of people who were on that plane. They talk about whether it was the right time for a movie like this. Personally, I don't know that it is. But...I do think the stories of the people on United 93 deserve to be told, as long as it's done well and with sensitivity. And it looks like this is what they've tried to do. I don't think they mean to trivialize what happened by making a movie about it, certainly, and they did talk to the families first to see how their feelings ran.

It probably is too soon for very many people, and my first reaction was that it is - but no one has to go see the film. I don't think I will myself. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be a film.

[agentrosecotton]

But the thing is, we don't even really know what happened on that flight. We can patch some things together from the recorded phone conversations, but that's about it. Maybe the people making the movie don't mean to trivialize the event, but that's what they're ultimately doing. Yes, those stories need to be told, but which stories are we telling by making a Hollywood hero-vs-villain motion picture out of it?

I do think the people on United 93 were heroes, but...using their legacy to perpetuate the recent fervour of overzealous patriotism and identification of enemies as a unifying cause is not the best way to honour their memory.

Of course, I haven't seen the movie. I may, so as to have a better perspective on the whole affair, but the very idea of it just seems repulsive to me.

[windcedar]

I don't think the movie is necessarily a bad thing - depends how it's done - but like I said, I haven't seen it either. ...I also think my point of view on it is affected by the fact that that kind of overzealous patriotism is primarily theoretical for me - it's something I only hear about, read about, or see on television, and I don't expect the movie to stir up, um...violent feelings among people up here.

And while 9/11 was horrible and tragic, it did not and could not have the same emotional effect on the rest of us as it did on Americans; it is something that happened over there. So I suspect I have more emotional distance from films about it than I would if I were an American, or even living in the States.

[agentrosecotton]

I don't mean crazed violent patriots, specifically, I mean...the sticker on the back of the car down the street. "We are coming. We do not forget. God may forgive you; we will not." I mean the way the government has manipulated the tragedy and made it into a buzzword that they use to justify all the crap they've been doing recently. I guess it's really hard to describe to someone who hasn't lived down here. The movie seems to me to be taking that 'eye for an eye' mentality and running with it, saying "See! Look! We have heroes who sacrificed their own lives to stop the evil, evil evildoers from doing evil in evil ways, therefore we are good and they are bad and we can bomb the hell out of them and still be good guys!"

Of course, that may totally not be what the filmmakers are trying to do, but that's the message a lot of people will be getting. Justification.

[windcedar]

I don't mean crazed violent patriots, specifically, I mean...the sticker on the back of the car down the street.

I know you do. When I said violent feelings, I meant the kind of feelings/rhetoric/propaganda/etc you're talking about. I should have unpacked a little more.

I guess it's really hard to describe to someone who hasn't lived down here.

I think you describe it as well as one could. But it seems almost surreal when I imagine it - yes, this is sheltered little me in the ivory tower...*wry*

Of course, that may totally not be what the filmmakers are trying to do, but that's the message a lot of people will be getting. Justification.

Aren't those the people who already think that, though? I suppose the movie might reinforce their attitudes, which isn't exactly A Good Thing, but...I'm not sure that's enough of a reason to not make such a film, either. In general I feel that people should be able to make movies, books, songs, art, whatever, and let the chips fall where they may. Even - and maybe especially - when the