Allegory

In what ways can War Of The Worlds be considered as 'Post 911 cinema'?

World Of The Worlds is considered as post 911 due to the way director Steven Spielberg uses different uses of iconography and 911 references, for example in the first tripod attack scene the Aliens come down from a lighting storm into tripods that were buried before the event. This gives a feeling that they have been planted underground years before and have been waiting to attack, this is similar to the terrorists who took part in the 9/11 attack due to how they were American citizens and spent time living in America and didn't just arrive and attack straight away and were waiting for the right time which is similar to the Aliens.

Also during when the tripod attacks the american citizens are stood frozen unaware on what to do and stand and watch but when they realise how much of a threat they are under they begin to panic and run in any direction other than towards the danger, some of them run into buildings for cover and a sense of safety. This is the same way people reacted during 9/11 as they were un aware of what the threat was and were completely un aware of what to do which is conveyed in the way the people act in War Of The Worlds.

During this time a citizen is filming the attack with a small cam corder, he is filming the Alien's machine rising from the ground and preparing too attack. As he is filming he is zapped by the Alien's machine and turns to a cloud of dust thus the camera falls to the ground. The camera then zooms in to reveal what the cam corder is recording so the audience can see, it shows people running away from the Aliens machine which is surrounded by a cloud of dust due to the people being zapped around it. This is extremely similar to the 9/11 footage which was completely filmed by cam corders which people had to hand during the time, also the actual cam corder footage is similar to the 9/11 footage as it is ver similar due to it being of people running away from a grey cloud of dust.

Whilst the attack is happening people are being zapped by the Aliens machine and turned into a cloud of grey dust, this is visually similar to the 9/11 attacks as when the towers feel a huge cloud of ash and dust filled the air and covered the city.

The Aliens themselves are similar to the terrorists who took part in 9/11 as there motive is just to kill and spread fear and panic, also both cannot be stopped due to they cannot be persuaded or bargained with and how the both use vehicles which cannot be destroyed which they use as a weapon, for example the Aliens machine is protected with a force field and the terrorists plane they used could not be destroyed due to the fact people were not prepared for either events.  Both also practice a different way of live and have different ideologies they follow and believe in.

Spielberg himself said that he was influenced by his memory of September 11, 2001 and went on to say that 9/11 set the tone for the film and he uses references to it to make people relate to feelings of paranoia and fear they felt during that day to the events that take place during the film.