theconversation.com: One of the most common responses to the events of September 11 2001, both among witnesses on the scene and more distant commentators, was that the destruction of the World Trade Center was like something only seen in the movies. This famously prompted veteran director Robert Altman to declare that 9/11 was an instance of life imitating art: “The movies set the pattern, and these people have copied the movies.”
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The phrase “life imitates art” is one that one of my high school history teachers said quite a bit, but I always took to mean that things like - teenagers attempt to decorate their rooms similar to how movie teenagers do, meaning that Hollywood has significant control over teenage aesthetics. Calling a terrorist attack an instance of life imitating art seems kind of like a stretch to me only because it feels like it’s just life imitating life. Modern day terroroism - indiscriminate and or suicide killings - is something that’s not actually all that new. The only reason people say that it seemed like a movie is because most humans have never experienced something so extremely tragic and massive with real building collapses on that order of magnitude. It will be interesting to continue reading opinion pieces as we remember the 20th anniversary of an attack that changed so much in this country leading to a war older than the soldiers who were fighting it.
Flood and Frank make some salient points here about the way 9/11 and the “war on terror” have influenced film over time; however, the specific point about Marvel leaves out the fact that many Marvel films have been produced using money from the U.S. Department of Defense. For example, the Air Force worked with Marvel on the movie “Captain Marvel,” using specifically timed commercials and press events to strongly tie the military branch with Brie Larson’s character. After the release of the film, the percentage of female applicants (compared to male) to the Air Force increased by nearly 5% (https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/01/05/captain-marvel-effect-air-force-academy-sees-most-female-applicants-5-years.html). A subtle questioning of the effectiveness of our invasion of Iraq can be effectively “canceled out” by the fact that these movies actively support the military. Even the fact that these themes have to be so subtle is a product of the Pentagon’s required script approval in exchange for use of military equipment in the films (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/09/wandavision-pentagon-propaganda-marvel-disney-fbi).
9/11’s ramifications on greater American culture were so damaging and deep rooted that we still feel them twenty years later. Because of the attack, a whole generation of children grew up believing that the largest threat to global safety is terrorists coming from the Middle East, specifically Muslim and Sikh peoples. I remember being told that turbans were for terrorists, even though Sikh religion is based on charity and helping others. This comes from depictions of middle eastern countries and cultures in film in the past 20 years. In order to shield yourself from these stereotypes you have to have a critical eye and challenge them in the media, which is very hard for a literal child. Some adults can’t even comprehend the idea that media is often biased and has an agenda. The use of the white woman as a soft protagonist to even further demonize foreign cultures is even worse to me. I want to make sure I keep a critical eye on media, especially as major events affect America that may cause another shift towards bigotry for the larger culture of our country.
How could the article mention the ramifications due to the "War on Terror" and site Loki while completely ignoring the geopolitical themes in "Falcon & The Winter Soldier"? The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had the themes of western aggression and foreign terrorism threaded all throughout the movies it has created. Whether it is echoing the comic book arcs from the character origins or the more realistic world we live in.
We can also see the shift as who the antagonists are. There is a tiny window after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 90's, with its Russian villains, and the post-9/11 world where we had many villains from middle eastern or extremist ideologies. In that window there were some movies that centered around the middle east, with Operation Desert Storm, that featured villains from that region.
Films will always take the most current boogeyman from the news and put them in movies. High schools being shot up by students, Nazi's in the '40's, Soviet spies and counter-spies, it doesn't matter. We have been caught in our most recent war mentality for 20 years and it has become ingrained in who we are as a society.
The phrase, “life imitating art” is surprisingly shocking, but also so accurate. The entertainment industry has such a profound impact on society by establishing cultural norms and expectations. The shocking part is that something so awful could spawn from entertainment that has the goal of recreation and provoking thoughtful conversations. The effect on the industry after the event is also surprising because we can see that there is the goal to be sensitive to addressing the subject, but also diligent in recognizing the importance of storytelling and reporting on it. There is also a movement away from the glorification of war, moving away from images like G.I.Joe to media that shows people fighting for peace like The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012). There are huge social ramifications because of the film industry’s potential to influence social norms. This includes new images of racial profiling of Middle-Eastern people as mentioned, but it also includes a new image of American soldiers and War as a whole.
As the article notes, 9/11 is such an important event in American history that remembering it is one of the dividing lines between Millennials and Gen Z. I don't remember it, but its ramifications are everywhere in film. The idea of terrorism and heroism themselves have been shaped by these events, and their new forms are present in movies. I think that Marvel movies and their villains are often very good examples of how 9/11 has impacted the popular imagination. Instead of supervillains of the past who take a single person dear to the hero hostage, or threaten to "take control" of the capitol, post-9/11 villains indiscriminately destroy cities, which become concrete playgrounds where buildings are toys to topple. In their fight against the villains, heroes are free to cause as much damage as they'd like in return, as long as the bad guy gets stopped. 2012's The Avengers comes to mind in particular, with its army of airborne foreign invaders wreaking havoc on New York City. The parallels throughout that movie and similar media are clear, although what they have to say is always up in the air. How this will affect foreign policy in the future remains to be seen.
Before reading this article, I hadn’t thought much on how influential cinema is on the world we live in. In fact, I thought it was the other way around on a one-way street. When I think of art being influenced by its surroundings, I immediately jump to think about a sculpture made of recycled plastic found on a beach, not the tv and film industry. I admire the amount of attention to detail that goes into cinema, but I never thought of it on such a large scale. I didn’t realize that not only is the piece probably referencing the flaws in our world, but they are also combatting them by alerting the audience to such prominent issues. The article mentions the fact that the twin towers were taken out of several films postproduction as to not affiliate the events occurring on 9/11. I find this interesting because it shows that this industry is trying to take a step back in how accurate action movies are when applied to the world we live in today.
I think the first thing about this article that stuck out to me was the removal of the twin towers in early films post 9/11. It's an interesting reflection on where Hollywood wants to be- that when a movie is released if taking place in the present it must be completely present with the times. Another thing that although not related to film really stuck out to me was the idea of the separation between those who remember 9/11 and those who don’t. Yesterday I saw people posting all over social media who were born post 2006 saying “remember 9/11” and pictures from 9/11, however they weren’t even born. For some reason that doesn’t sit right with me, and I do wonder if their thoughts to post have to do with the media's narrative on 9/11. I think so many people ignore how twisted many of the action movies created these days are. As the author stated about the recent Loki movie, there are subtle political messages that many don’t see but develop the perspective of the watcher.
I have never really thought about how 9/11 impacted cinema in the United States until this article. The thought of referring to “Life imitates art” with regard to the Twin Tower Terrorist Attack feels wrong in a way. I think it feels wrong because it puts a little bit of the responsibility on Hollywood for portraying fictional mass casualty events and, in a way, inspiring attacks that everyone only thought could happen in movies. The taboo nature of screen depictions of the Twin Towers is something that I have noticed in film and TV, for me, most notably in the sitcom series Friends, setting shots of the city with the towers still standing still feels very erie and surreal. While I was too young at the time to form my own memory of that day, unfortunately my generation has experienced the Jan 6th coop at the United States Capital and I can only imagine that surreal feeling on 9/11/2001.
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