On "Hollywoodization" & Hypocrisy
Jeez Louise!
It seems that a flick based on 9/11 will soon see release State-side.
And judging by the noise and furore on The Wright Stuff American distributors dither over allowing their cinemas to screen it.
Panellist Martin Lewis expresses his indignation over movie makers "making money off tragedy"....
...whilst presenter Matthew Wright beats on about "Hollywoodization".....
...and, judging by the callers to the show, the British public don't sound too thrilled about the prospect of this movie either...
Watching all this I thought: I bet all you fuckers lapped up Schindler's List and Titanic when they came out!
Making money off the tragedy? "Hollywoodization"? Spare me your holier-than-thou bullshit! I bet Stephen Spielberg and James Cameron didn't flinch at the hearty sums of cash they received in the wake of their historical horror flicks! Hell, some Holocaust survivors remain with us! Should Spielberg have waited for them to shuffle off their mortal coil before realizing his artistic ambitions? As for Cameron - well, he "Hollywoodized" the deaths of 1500+ people on the good ship Titanic to considerable financial success - and he proved merely the latest in a long line of cinematic re-enactors of the tragedy stretching back to 1942!
I'm not claiming this flick will be the best thing since broadband, but I will give kudos to the director for pushing through with his work in the face of mass malign. As for the ethical side of things, the fact the families of the dead okayed the project speaks volumes; volumes louder, certainly, than the moralistic hand wringing of those who would deem it distasteful, disgusting and what have you - just whose sensitivities do the naysayers seek to protect exactly?
Funny how I hear no complaint about the upcoming Nicholas Cage vehicle due for release this August....
And whilst we remain on the subject of the "Hollywoodization" of atrocity, the significance of this (Good(?!?)) Friday brings to mind Mel Gibson's Ode to Suffering and Slave Morality, otherwise known as The Passion of the Christ. Now assuming, as Christians do, that the figure of Christ existed and did indeed suffer and die on the cross, does it speak well of the high and mighty herds (particularly in the God-fearin' US of A!) who flocked to the cinemas two years back? Fuck, even if you take Gibson out of the equation, the very symbol of Christianity seems to thrive on aestheticizing atrocity - call it a pornography of pain if you will! BDSMers don't have a thing on an image of a near-naked guy bleeding to death on a crossface! Thaneros incarnate, no?
All that said, I do wonder if the release of the United 93 (and World Trade Center) will play into the hands of those with a more jingoistic agenda. With a "war on terror" still raging in the Middle East and many questioning its entire basis will these sentiment-inducing cinematic slideshows contribute to a renewed endorsement of the one-dimensional justifications of The Powers that Be (TM)?
I hope this film sees release for me to discern an answer....
~MRDA~
It seems that a flick based on 9/11 will soon see release State-side.
And judging by the noise and furore on The Wright Stuff American distributors dither over allowing their cinemas to screen it.
Panellist Martin Lewis expresses his indignation over movie makers "making money off tragedy"....
...whilst presenter Matthew Wright beats on about "Hollywoodization".....
...and, judging by the callers to the show, the British public don't sound too thrilled about the prospect of this movie either...
Watching all this I thought: I bet all you fuckers lapped up Schindler's List and Titanic when they came out!
Making money off the tragedy? "Hollywoodization"? Spare me your holier-than-thou bullshit! I bet Stephen Spielberg and James Cameron didn't flinch at the hearty sums of cash they received in the wake of their historical horror flicks! Hell, some Holocaust survivors remain with us! Should Spielberg have waited for them to shuffle off their mortal coil before realizing his artistic ambitions? As for Cameron - well, he "Hollywoodized" the deaths of 1500+ people on the good ship Titanic to considerable financial success - and he proved merely the latest in a long line of cinematic re-enactors of the tragedy stretching back to 1942!
I'm not claiming this flick will be the best thing since broadband, but I will give kudos to the director for pushing through with his work in the face of mass malign. As for the ethical side of things, the fact the families of the dead okayed the project speaks volumes; volumes louder, certainly, than the moralistic hand wringing of those who would deem it distasteful, disgusting and what have you - just whose sensitivities do the naysayers seek to protect exactly?
Funny how I hear no complaint about the upcoming Nicholas Cage vehicle due for release this August....
And whilst we remain on the subject of the "Hollywoodization" of atrocity, the significance of this (Good(?!?)) Friday brings to mind Mel Gibson's Ode to Suffering and Slave Morality, otherwise known as The Passion of the Christ. Now assuming, as Christians do, that the figure of Christ existed and did indeed suffer and die on the cross, does it speak well of the high and mighty herds (particularly in the God-fearin' US of A!) who flocked to the cinemas two years back? Fuck, even if you take Gibson out of the equation, the very symbol of Christianity seems to thrive on aestheticizing atrocity - call it a pornography of pain if you will! BDSMers don't have a thing on an image of a near-naked guy bleeding to death on a crossface! Thaneros incarnate, no?
All that said, I do wonder if the release of the United 93 (and World Trade Center) will play into the hands of those with a more jingoistic agenda. With a "war on terror" still raging in the Middle East and many questioning its entire basis will these sentiment-inducing cinematic slideshows contribute to a renewed endorsement of the one-dimensional justifications of The Powers that Be (TM)?
I hope this film sees release for me to discern an answer....
~MRDA~