English Club Chatter

At the risk of opening yet another can of worms, I'm wondering how everyone else feels about Oliver Stone's film World Trade Center. I realize most of us won't yet have seen it when commenting, so I suppose my curiosity has more to do with the idea of potentially profiting (via movies, books, TV shows, t-shirts, etc.) from tragedy than with the film's content per se.

On the one hand, lots of people are understandably leery of anything that looks like Hollywood's trying to cash in on the tragedy of 9/11, especially as this film comes on the heels of United 93. On the other hand, Stone and his supporters have argued that the film is a tribute to the very values (courage, honor, compassion) that terrorists supposedly want to destroy.

Where do we all come down on the question? Or is it too complicated to do anything more than remain ambivalent?

Before I get into Dr. Cautrells' question, I'd like to add a few things about movies and books I've experienced this summer so far. I recently bought and rewatched Peter Jackson's masterpiece Dead Alive (aka Braindead). While the story is little more than B quality camp, the special effects, cuts, and edits in this movie are phenomenal. The switchovers between live actors and props during dismemberment scenes and zombie turns are amazing. One particular scene features a closeup of a guy screaming as zombies pull at his hair/scalp. Though not physiologically possible, when his skin gives way at the neck and his skin is pulled off his head revealing his skull (imagine wearing a halloween mask that covers your whole head and pulling it off from the top), the switch to an animatronic skull screaming is flawless.
I'll second the previous mention of Primer also (Thanks, Aaron). I watched it for the fifth time this weekend and then saw Donnie Darko for the first time. Some interesting time-travel stuff going on in both.
As for books, I've been thouroughly enjoying some old svhool Choose Your Adventure books. One puts you in the role of a space explorer from a not Earth planet, and in one particular sequence you end up stuck on Earth waiting for the days of an unsolvable energy crisis and world involvement in wars in the middle east. It was published in the mid-80s (which fits that era very well, bu is interesting in a new way from a 21st century perspective). The other is a fantasy style book published by TSR in the early 80s.
I'm also in the middle of a sci-fi trilogy based on the Transformers. I've been working on it for a couple years now, and the thing that holds my attention the most is the huge loss of human lives amid a war of terribly destructive war machines and the impact that has on the few human characters. Some of them see opportunities for greed and gain from terrible tragedy, while others lose their lives in short instances of heroics. When the focus shifts to the stars of the series, we see the infinitely compassionate "good guys" torn between the loss of human life and their struggle to end their war versus the cruel, conscienceless "bad guys" pursuing their own agendas.
I'm still trying to work through House of Leaves (a 3-year project so far) and make some sense of, but I keep stopping and going back trying to stay focused.
Lastly, I've got an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel on deck for when my spanish classes finish up here in two weeks.
Now, as far as Stone and World Trade Center, I'm kind of divided. On the one hand, I think Stone can handle the subject matter in a respectable manner, though I think he could have at least waited until the ten year anniversary. On another hand, immediately following 9/11/01, I was completely appalled at the overt commmercialism of patriotism that surrounded all of us. I was not one the people with an american flag hanging on my car window, exposed to the elements day and night until it became a shredded faded piece of cloth destined for a land fill (which is improper display and disposal of the flag). I also did not ruch out and buy an "american flag" or "proud to be an american" t-shirt. In the sixties, the "hippie" culture would take flags and cut them and alter them into clothing and mainstream america saw this as desecration, but in today's commercially focused america it's possible to get a shirt that not only allows you to sweat all over the flag and spill ketchup and mustard from your hot dog all over it, but you can buy a shirt that is more an allusion to the flag than the falg itself (run a google image search on american flag to see both patriotic ones and ones touting guns or guitars). I recall one shirt in particular that featured thirteen horizontal red scribbles and one big blue scribble with less than thirty white blank spots (that I assume represent 50 stars). Now. I'm not saying that the flag is somehow super sacred (I'd burn one if their was a cause great enough for it in my lifetime), but the point I'm making is that everythig is capitalized upon in today's society. Wanna piss on those that piss you off? I'm sure you can find a urinal pad somewhere with bush or osama's face on it.
Back to the point of the movie though, it just seems to me that a movie like this might be running too soon on the heels of the actual events. I've refused to see Flight 93 for much the same reason. If the movie were intended to be for some purpose other than making money, the filmmakers would subsidize ticket costs to help people everywhere be exposed to this tribute to nobility surrounding the events of September 11, 2001. I made much the same argument when The Passion came out. If Mel Gibson really wanted us to be exposed to the wonder that is Jesus he could have subsidized ticket costs and DVD costs to help us all live our lives as purely as he does his.
No, I'll only be seeing one movie with any planes as a central plot point this year, and anyone who doesn't agree with me on the potential of it being a well made action-thriller gets a big "Harumph" from me.

(this is where i insert short quik one-liner)

someone should tell Mel that Jesus is Jewish...

My feeling concerning 911 is that a lot of people suddenly became a part of something. Each person in this country could choose to begin to define herself as American in whatever sense of the word they understood. My sense is that for many of these people, the fading away of the collective emotion left them feeling somewhat emptied. There will be an audience for this film, though I doubt I will ever choose to watch it.
I think it is a viable vehicle for Stone. He is adept at raising emotional questions and at delivering a stab at truth.
Ah hell, put me down for ambivalence.

I guess my point is that the movie, like so many these days, wasn't made for me. I've met plenty of people for whom this is likely a must-see.

OK, fine. I'll wait to see what you all think of snakes, plane, and Samuel L. I hear some of the snakes are really very fine actors.

On the 9/11 films, I did see United 93. I thought I wouldn't like it (was expecting the sort of commercialing Nic mentions), but I did, very much. I understand anyone who would rather not see a 9/11 film yet, but this is really a remarkable movie. It's not at all exploitative, and very un-Hollywood. I think what makes it so powerful is it's resistance of anything hyperbolic, or sentimental, or even judgmental. For instance, the film pays quite a bit of attention to the anxieties of the terrorists as well as those of passengers and crew. This doesn't come across as an apology for terrorism, but rather as a humanizing of the story, exploring it in all its complexity. The intensity of the film is amazing, and so too the sense that basically everything and everyone on the ground was in complete chaos -- no one knew what to do. I recommend this one. I haven't seen Stone's film yet, so I'll reserve judgment, but everything I've seen in the trailers tells me it's the exact opposite of United 93 -- sentimental, jingoistic, very Hollywood. I'd be happy to be proved wrong, but this is not a film I look forward to seeing. If anyone sees it, let us know how it does.

So how were the snakes, on the plane?

I regret not being able to attend the premier, especially after getting a personal phone message from Samuel L. Jackson (imagine my surprise!). I'm wondering if Sam can be persuaded to do some telemarketing for my courses this year? "Get your sorry ass into his class" or "are you sick of the usual mother#$%#@! books in those mother&*$$%&# courses? Take Shakespeare!!"

Hmmm.

I see they have remade The Wicker Man. The original is one of my favorite films. I'm interested to see how it translates to a California motorcycle cop.

That's a great Samuel L Jackson impersonation. I'm still laughing.

I have not watched any of the films about the 9/11 happenings, and I don't have any interest in doing so. Watching it happen, and being in the city in the days following filled that void in me; that want to SEE everything. What a magnificent disaster. What a terrible thing to do, to have happen. And here! It was almost like a natural disaster, in that there have been aftershocks, but none that even remotely mirror the original catastrophe.
I don't need the movies to give me the "in" of what went down. I knew people in those buildings, was living just outside the city, watched those buildings fall to the Earth, and it was a physical event for me. Those two towers were me. I've never felt so close to "America" than at that moment. Then, in the hours that followed, I never felt so disconnected. It was like a psychotic episode of the most horrible kind. Thrown about violently. I felt so silent and still. I just watched and listened. How quickly it was established that we were going to "get these bastards." We had their pictures, names and everything. The only thing I could think of is what if we didn't do anything? What if we maybe started burying our dead first, before there was more death, on either side? Of course, that was the thought that was furthest away from what everyone was thinking. Of course they were angry and upset and just trembling in vulnerability. Trembling in the face of such destruction and "evil." No one wanted to understand what was really going on. We just wanted to get out the guns. That's where I just fell of the axis, completely. I couldn't hear any more. Fight or flight for the masses. Our wings had been blown into oblivion. Fight it was, and continues to be.
Retransmitting these events in film means nothing to me. Nothing. I was there. I saw what happened to the city, to the people - to the families roaming the streets of the city with photos of their loved ones, of the dead, frantically asking and pleading, "where is he? have you seen her? please tell them come home, please." The posters of the missing covering various establishments like tragic graffiti. I saw all of these things, tasted the smoke, the dust of the dead on my tongue, wandering about, covered in dust, coughing and crying.
I saw it. It wasn't a movie. The truth of it will never be captured on celluloid. The country had the option to come together and move forward as one, made stronger by the attacks. This did not happen. In the beginning, perhaps it seemed as if it were happening. But it wasn't. We can see that now, but we've blown the chance to become one in strength and resolve. We will never win this "war." We don't know the face of the enemy - how can we win?
These movies can be a nice film experience, but they can't be anything else.
The truth has already faded to black.
end credits
lights
empty screen
empty theatre

next showing

Discussion seems to be dying down, but if anyone is still out there in the ether, the HBO series "Rome" is fantastic (not to be confused with another cheesy one -- this one's directed by Michael Apted, stars Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy and a host of other superb British actors). It's just out on six DVDs, and it's worth every hour you put into it. Essentially, it's a retelling of Roman history from the time of Julius Caesar's civil war against Pompey the Great until Caesar's assasination by Brutus et al. (I think -- I have two episodes to go). Much of the basic material will be familiar if you know Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and/or Antony and Cleopatra. It's the best TV production I've seen in ages, the acting (and casting) is brilliant, and the writing and direction is also great. Highly recommended.

(One warning -- lots of nudity and sex -- probably fairly accurate, if a little accentuated, but be warned.)

HH

I'd second HH's recommendation of *Rome*. It's one of the best TV shows I've seen in the last 10 years. Another such show, powerful, dramatic, and well worth the time is *Battlestar Galactica* (Sci-Fi). It's *not* a science fiction program in the traditional sense and deals intelligently with questions entirely relevant to our own post-9/11 world, including how terrorism has been and can be defined; from what/whom moral authority derives; the intersections among politics, the military, and civil society; and technological advance and dependency (and all the opportunities/responsibilities thereby entailed).