Response to Cat's question about 9/11 movies

[realsickgirl]

Why did we make movies about Pearl Harbor, or Vietnam, or WWII, or the Holocaust, or Desert Storm? Why did Munich ever get made, or Schindler's List, or The Pianist, or Three Kings, or Slaughterhouse-5, or Casablanca for that matter

Comments

[hafuch_bshemesh]

I certainly understand the value of this movie (WTC) when it comes to making people feel better--but the thing is, when the movie's based on truth, the fact that it is rife with errors is terrifying. it shows the power of film to make people believe just about anything. for instance (i heard this from dani, who i think may have heard this from cat?), when the police officers are being rescued from the rubble by firemen, there was a major casting error. the firemen who was doing the rescuing was black in real life, but was cast as a white man. they never consulted the real guy when telling his story.
add to that the tags in the previews: "the world saw evil that day." i do agree that the 9/11 attacks were downright shitty, even horrible things to do, but to judge a person as evil when their belief systems have long since been the butt of America's jokes is a little...whack.
and what do these two things teach the average joe american who's seeing this movie? none other than white supremacy. and not hitler-esque, KKK-type white supremacy, but the fact that being white IS the opposite of evil, and is a symbol of strength (which, i guess, in this day and age, it IS). when you're telling a story that's so emotional for so many people, you're going to be able to influence their beliefs, and as far as i'm concerned, calling islam evil and erasing color from the heroism that took place almost five years ago is doing nothing but promoting the unfair and oppresive nature of American culture.

can you tell i'm an American Studies major?

[realsickgirl]

I understand the flaws with it - there's flaws in every movie, and yeah, these are substantial. But the question was, why was it made at all? And I think there are good reasons for movies of this sort to exist.

[realsickgirl]

oh, and yes. what happened to meteorology?

[hafuch_bshemesh]

i do acknowledge that the feelings a movie instills are often as, or more important than the plot and such. i just dislike this particular movie because of the power it has and how that power has been either ignored or been used unwisely.

and i ditched meteorology after my first semester--an entire semester of 2 meteo classes, chem, and calc will make you hate the maths and sciences. i thought i wanted to do music ed, so i transfered from Iowa State to the University of Iowa (whose music program is outstanding). I spent my first semester here with an undeclared major, taking gen eds and such, one of which included a women's studies course. so now i'm majoring in women's studies, american studies, and sexuality studies. oy.