Session Six Post-9/11 Cinema Department of Film and Audiovisual Culture Dr. Richard Nowell ¨14:20–15:50 ¨Screening: Taken (2008) ¨ ¨15:50–16:05 ¨Break ¨ ¨16:05–17:20 ¨Post-9/11 Cinema ¨ taken_ver5.jpg dark_knight_ver5.jpg world_trade_center.jpg village_ver3.jpg cloverfield.jpg fahrenheit_nine_eleven_ver1.jpg in_the_valley_of_elah.jpg iron_man_ver3.jpg manchurian_candidate.jpg twenty_eight_weeks_later.jpg united_ninety_three.jpg dark_knight_ver5.jpg ¨Major “Post-9/11” discourses ¨ ¨The pitfalls of positing a Kellner-esque vision of “post 9/11” cinema ¨ ¨Pro-Bush-Cheney “Post-9/11” Cinema ¨ ¨Against trauma: reconsidering the forces shaping post-9/11 cinema ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ taken_ver5.jpg v_for_vendetta_ver4.jpg ¨In what ways does Taken comment on Post-9/11 America? ¨ ¨Does this film take up any specific positions on issues relating to the US’s international role in the 21st century? ¨ ¨Does the film offer a coherent allegory of the Bush-Cheney years or more a scattering of views? ¨ ¨How does this film fit into Kellner’s portrait of post-9/11 cinema? ¨ taken_ver5.jpg ¨Major “Post-9/11” discourses ¨ ¨The pitfalls of positing a Kellner-esque vision of “post 9/11” cinema ¨ ¨Pro-Bush-Cheney “Post-9/11” Cinema ¨ ¨Against trauma: reconsidering the forces shaping post-9/11 cinema ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ taken_ver5.jpg v_for_vendetta_ver4.jpg ¨ ¨ ¨Based on both Kellner’s chapter and your general knowledge what were the major socio-political topics that characterized post 9/11 discourse? ¨Extends beyond 9/11 itself to become a synonym for Bush-Cheney era ¨ ¨Cluster of related discourses related to ¨US foreign and domestic policies ¨ ¨Coalesced around issues of State power; of questions about democracy ¨ ¨1. Vulnerability and Aggression ¨ ¨2. Transparency, reach, secrecy, ¨ ¨3. Violence, surveillance, preemption Bush_Hitler.jpg emperor_bush_dictator_quote.jpg ¨Alleged election fraud/Coup ¨ ¨Causes and Events of 9/11 ¨ ¨Invasion and occupation Iraq and Afghanistan ¨ ¨Escalation of military-industrial-complex extending to government ¨ ¨Use of torture and kidnapping ¨ ¨Dubious domestic surveillance and detention policies ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ newsweek 2000.jpg saddam-hussein-statue-and-flag.jpg guantanamo.jpg halliburton3.jpg police.jpg ¨Scholars doggedly looked for relationships between these topics and American films ¨ ¨Posited “Post-9/11 cinema”, “cinema in the age of terrorism”, “Bush-Cheney-era cinema” ¨ ¨1. Explicit Meanings ¨Topical and historical films ¨ ¨2. Implicit Meanings ¨Films as allegories ¨ ¨3. Involuntary Meanings ¨Films embodying supposed spirit of the times ¨ ¨ united_ninety_three.jpg star_wars_episode_three_ver2.jpg w_ver3.jpg war_of_the_worlds.jpg ¨What impression does Kellner give of Hollywood’s use of “post-9/11” topics? ¨ ¨What types of approach does Kellner elide or overlook? ¨ ¨Do you see any problems with any of Kellner’s claims? ¨Kellner exemplifies some general tendencies in studies of “post-9/11 cinema” ¨ ¨Pervasive and unilateral impact on filmmakers and society: working through trauma together ¨ ¨Wholesale subversive activity ¨Like himself, filmmakers were so outraged by Bush-Cheney years that it shaped their work ¨ ¨Liberal Hollywood Speaks Out ¨Underscores Kellner’s own outrage by suggesting universal condemnation ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ v_for_vendetta_ver4.jpg ¨What post-9/11 discourses are mobilized in this film? ¨ ¨What positions does this film take up on these topics? ¨ ¨Does this film also offer a coherent allegory on the Bush-Cheney years? Or is its engagement more patchy? ¨ ¨ ¨Offers temporally/spatially displaced allegory of Left-liberal perspective on Bush-Cheney years ¨ ¨Combines Left-liberal critique, with more alarmist conspiratorial ideas circulated during the period ¨ ¨Draconian acts and corruption engineered on the back of staged terrorism used to generate fear ¨ ¨Police state, fundamentalism, media manipulation ¨ ¨A hired gun comes back to overthrow the state; recuperates conspiratorial Bin Laden/CIA link ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ v vendetta.jpg vparliamentexplosion.jpg vendetta.png v_for_vendetta_freedom_flames-thumb-425x177-36161.jpg ¨Traumatized baby-boomers protect an enclosed community by inventing monsters ¨ ¨Stephen Prince reads film as a sympathetic allegory of Bush-Cheney policies ¨ ¨Exaggeration of outside threat serves to build a sense of community and maintain order ¨ ¨However, this film also utilizes and spotlights the darkest of anti-Bush-Cheney of positions ¨ ¨Film suggests that threat is fabricated as an alibi for oppression, control, and despotism ¨ village_ver3.jpg ¨Yet, there was no consensus among filmmakers ¨ ¨Story of American students encountering an international torture ring in Slovakia ¨ ¨Initially offers critique of US cultural insensitivity, privilege, and arrogance ¨ ¨Film recuperates US privilege through hero’s stalking and killing of his torturer ¨ ¨Film endorses neo-conservative position of US violent pre-emptive intervention overseas ¨ hostel.jpg ¨Lionizes: Privileged classes, military-industrial complex, vigilantism, hyper-masculine displays, torture, surveillance, myth-making ¨ ¨Frames threat as: ¨Anarchistic, apolitical, irrational, sadistic, targeted at the people not institutions ¨ ¨Casts full range of Bush-Cheney conduct as a necessary evil, and as knowing martyrdom ¨ ¨Criticism is treated like a straw man, ¨safety is safe in the hands of the establishment ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ dark knight wayne manor.jpg Dark-Knight-Joker-Heath-Ledger-Illuminati2.jpg dark-knight.jpg dark knight -board-room.png ¨In what ways does Taken comment on Post-9/11 America? ¨ ¨Does this film take up any specific positions on issues relating to the US’s international role in the 21st century? ¨ ¨Does the film offer a coherent allegory of the Bush-Cheney years or more a scattering of views? ¨ ¨How does this film fit into Kellner’s portrait of post-9/11 cinema? ¨ taken_ver5.jpg ¨Promotional allegory of Bush-Cheney positions ¨ ¨Innocent Americans threatened by globalization: covert paramilitaries/technology is the solution ¨ ¨Valorizes ¨US interventionism overseas, surveillance, torture, preemptive violence, private contractors ¨ ¨Demonizes ¨US liberals, French bureaucrats, Post-communist immoral capitalism, Middle-Eastern Money ¨ ¨ taken-2.jpg taken girl.jpg taken arab.jpg taken french.png ¨Scholars typically explained Post-9/11 cinema as a byproduct of a nation traumatized by attack and by the troubling responses of its government ¨ ¨This position is presaged on the existence of a critical cinema, and on a Left-liberal consensus supposedly pervading American culture ¨ ¨But these critical films existed alongside pro-Bush-Cheney tracts like Taken; we cannot account for the these by invoking ideas about trauma ¨ ¨1. Not all filmmakers were anti-Bush-Cheney: was this personal politics? ¨2. Overtly critical films underperformed: was this product differentiation? ¨3. US was polarized, were these films made more for Conservatives? ¨4. Was this about redeeming US in the eyes of key overseas markets? ¨5. Were such films about currying favor with the US State Dept? ¨The striking nature of 9/11 and the events that unfolded in its wake led scholars (hungrily) to find and explain their effects on film ¨ ¨The assumption that these developments would change things led to some questionable suggestions, such as Kellner’s about Star Wars ¨ ¨Some films thematized erosion of democracy /civil liberties, state power, military-industrial complex, US roles overseas, preemptive violence ¨ ¨Yet, there was also a tendency among scholars to over-emphasize acts of critique, in order to stress the traumatic nature of 9/11 and its aftermath ¨ ¨By contrast, some filmmakers clearly used cinema to voice support for the Bush-Cheney administration’s domestic and international responses ¨ ¨ ¨