Tom Pollard - Hollywood 9/11: Superheroes, Supervillains, and Super Disasters

Hollywood 9/11

TOM POLLARD

First published 2011 by Paradigm Publishers

Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright 2011, Taylor & Francis.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pollard, Tom.
Hollywood 9/11 : superheroes, supervillains, and super disasters/Tom Pollard.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Includes filmography.
ISBN 978-1-59451-759-4 (hardback : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-59451-760-0
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Violence in motion pictures. 2. Heroes in motion pictures. 3. Villains in motion pictures. 4. Psychic trauma in motion pictures. 5. Terrorism in motion pictures. 6. Motion picturesUnited StatesHistory21st century. 7. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001Influence. I. Title.

PN1995.9.V5P585 2011
791.43655dc22

2011010322

Designed and Typeset by Straight Creek Bookmakers.

ISBN 13 : 978-1-59451-759-4 (hbk)
ISBN 13 : 978-1-59451-760-0 (pbk)

This book surveys the major film genres and subgenres stimulated by 9/11 and related events. In previous work, I focused on the often complex relationships between the U.S. military and Hollywood filmmakers. During wartime, studios invest in combat films, but their rate of return depends on the wars justification, conduct, and ultimate effectiveness. I noticed that the events of 9/11 and the wars that followed affected an entire generation of filmmakers and inspired an important new film movement. Today critics widely acknowledge the existence of a post-9/11 movement and post-9/11 films. This new movement promises to be as seminal and influential as the classic film noir movement was in the 1940s and 1950s. In studying this subject, I realized that it called for a book-length study, and I became increasingly excited about the prospect of writing about it. The result is Hollywood 9/11: Superheroes, Supervillains, and Super Disasters.

I wish to acknowledge the assistance of Sue Dickey, lifelong partner and inspiring reader. Her patience in reading the manuscript and suggesting improvements helped immeasurably. I also wish to thank Carl Boggs, Ph.D., my close friend and collaborator, and Michael Parenti, Ph.D., who offered insightful feedback. Thanks also to Daryl Mitchell for his research assistance. I thank my parents for introducing me to movies and encouraging me to indulge in my passion for films. They, along with my brothers, Stephen and Michael, made going to the drive-in theater the highlight of many summer evenings.

In 2001, when television viewers tuned in to the images of the 9/11 attacks, the emotions engendered proved far more powerful than normal feelings. Large segments of the viewing population expressed shock, grief, horror, rage, paranoia, and a powerful thirst for vengeance against those responsible for the attacks. The first seven chapters on this study focus on the heightened emotional states stimulated by 9/11. summarizes 9/11s impact on Hollywood across all genres, from terrorist films and depictions of the war on terror to horror films, superhero movies, science fiction, war films, and thrillers, revealing areas of commonality and recurrent themes and patterns. This chapter also speculates on future directions in the post-9/11 film movement.

T he terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, shocked the world and led to the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. These dramatic events transformed the United States politically, socially, and artistically. But did this transformation lead to changes in the film industry? It may take scholars years or even decades to fully assess the impact of 9/11 on films, given the complexity of the changes unleashed by the terrorist attacks, the normal progression of technology in the film industry, and the fact that new styles, themes, and issues related to the attacks continue to unfold. Initially, many expected Hollywood to decrease graphic movie violence, while others wanted filmmakers to use the opportunity to lay bare underlying volatile sociopolitical issues. Both predictions proved wildly inaccurate. Hollywoods direct and indirect responses to the attacks initially seemed bewildering and unpredictable but upon deeper reflection appear perfectly reasonable and even inevitable. The attacks uniquely affected Hollywood compared to other events in U.S. history. Some genres that previously appealed to small, cultlike followers suddenly transformed into box office bonanzas appealing to the masses. Other genres became blended genres, whereas others disappeared completely. Hollywood melodramas and comedies alike assumed a comic-book quality with larger-than-life heroes and villains battling each other, often with humanitys very survival at issue.

The September 11 attacks became a historical watershed. The world transformed abruptly from one that appeared relatively normal and sane into one that seemed dangerous, unstable, and deadly. Gun and ammunition sales spiked to all-time highs, and the general public began expressing significantly more positive feelings about war and violence. Nicholas Carnagey and Craig Anderson studied public attitudes toward violence, and war before and after 9/11. Their broad, long-term study revealed that the terrorist attacks not only significantly altered relevant attitudes, especially war attitudes, but also resulted in self-reported increases in aggression, anger, and hostility. Pre-9/11 films now appear naive and optimistic compared with todays pessimistic genres, which include revenge thrillers, violent combat films, torture porn, and dark sci-fi. Critics refer to films produced since 9/11 as post-9/11, many of which bear unmistakable signs and references to the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath, often presented obliquely through tone, metaphor, symbolism, and innuendo.

Hollywoods immediate responses to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon bear striking similarities to its responses to the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into World War II. Both December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001, unleashed massive military campaigns. Both events affected people profoundly, galvanizing widespread public support for military retaliation and quickly spawning massive military campaigns. And both events launched new film genres with altered film styles, resulting in many important films. Substantive differences, however, remain between audience preferences in these two eras. The films created by Hollywood depicting the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, including Fred Zinnemanns