FM2 Essay Question

FM2 Essay

Post 9/11 cinema
9/11 cinema is films that have been affected by the attacks whether it be through the narrative or something a character says in the film. War of the Worlds is considered as a post 9/11 due to references to the attacks, for example in this clip - http://youtu.be/kytDzjuBGJI?list=PL5E3748EC1F803E4C - a shot of a hand held camera is used to show the screen showing the tripods attacking, this is similar to the footage of the 9/11 attacks which is completely shot through hand held camera due to it being footage being from things like mobile phones which people would have had to hand during the disaster.  This is used by the film to compare the 9/11 attacks to the tripod attack as it serves as a visual link between the two. 

Communism
Communism is by definition a socioeconomic system structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and characterized by the absence of social classes, money, and the state. It is the theory of social organization in which the community owns all property and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. This was a major issue for American society as their beliefs and ideologies clashed with the Russian followed communism which started a 'Cold War' between the two. This also caused people in a America to live in fear of each other as if anyone was a communist they would be black listed and hate by all, this caused people to fear each other and talk about their beliefs and ideologies in public.

Both films, Invasion of the body snatchers and War of the Worlds highlight the key themes and issues that were taking place during the time of the films. In Invasion of the body snatchers the key themes and issues are; paranoia, fear of others and the fear of extermination. In War of the Worlds the key themes and issues are; fear of others, fear of annihilation and extermination. 

Invasion of the body snatchers 

Invasion of the body snatchers was made in 1956. During which a labelled 'Cold War' was taking place between the USSR and America due to a difference in ideologies. Each of either country had their own nuclear weapons in which they threatened each other with, this caused people to become extremely anxious as this War would have taken millions of lives. During the time of the film a man names Joseph McCarthy, a keen hater of the communist way of live was taking part in hate campaigns against any Americans who believed or followed the communist beliefs. If McCarthy found anyone who was believed followed the communists he would black list them causing them to become hated by the public and caused them to lose their lively hood and lives as they became seen as the enemy. McCarthy often used undermining tactics to get his poor and made people fear him as he had the power to destroy their lives. These issues are shown in the film and this is how:

Paranoia is a big issue in the film, this is shown throughout the film for example In this scene - http://youtu.be/Q4DczfLhTM8. In this scene Miles and Becky are hiding in a office away from the POD people, during which the phone rings and Miles looks down in complete fear. Becky asks whether she should answer the phone as it may be someone they know but Miles tells her not too as it may be one of the POD people, so they both do nothing. This shows how Miles is paranoid to even answer the phone because it may be one of the POD people and wouldn't be anyone either of the two could trust.

This issue of paranoia reflects what was going on in the real World during the time of the film. This paranoia was generated from the 'Cold War' which was going on at the time between the Russians who believed in a communist way of live and the contrasting beliefs of the Americans who believed in a capitalist way of life. This caused the people of America to live in fear of expressing their beliefs if they didn't follow the capitalist views as if they didn't they would be black listed and viewed as a enemy to the country they live in. This caused a real paranoid feeling for American society as they became forced to keep their opinions and feelings to themselves and instead follow the status quo.

The fear of others is another theme in the film, these two scenes show this; http://youtu.be/WLsjlmrQ6Mw?t=45s and http://youtu.be/Q4DczfLhTM8. In the first scene Miles enters a green house to find a pod on the ground, it begins to make strange noises and moves about to reveal a human shaped figure beginning to come out of it. The camera shows a CU of Miles during this to show the emotions on his face as he looks terrified and completely unsure on what to do. Miles eventually screams for his friends as they too react in the same way as Miles, in fear and uncertainty. In the second scene the phone has just rang and Miles leans up and looks out of the window and sees what he describes as "just like any Saturday morning", but yet he still hides from people he has known his entire life. As the scene continues people gather around trucks as they arrive and begin to take PODs from the trucks.

This fear of others was a issue in everyday life in the real world during the time, this was linked to the fear of communism and one man, named Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy ran witch hunts for people who followed the communist way of life and he black listed them causing them to become hated by the American public and ruined their lively hood and lives completely. This fear is shown in the film with Miles having a fear of others which is relate-able to the people during the time of the film as they would have had a fear of sharing their beliefs that may have been different to Capitalism as they would be labelled a communist.

The fear of  annihilation is another key issue that is in the film and was a big issue in real life. In the film this fear is shown in this scene -http://youtu.be/KpNdzSxXw-I. In this scene Miles and Becky are found by the POD people and are told what it is like to be a POD person with no emotion or feelings and they have no choice or no way out.

This links into the a common fear in Americans during the time of the film. This fear was the  American way of life being annihilation along with its people, this fear was generated from the 'cold war' which involved two countries (America and Russia) threatening each other with nuclear weapons due to a different belief in the way to run their country and a contrast in ideologies being communism and capitalism. This could have sparked the first and possible last war which would have taken countless lives due to the weapons of mass destruction in the armory of both America and Russia.

War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds was made in 2005. War of the Worlds is considered as post 9/11 cinema due to it being made after the attacks and having references to the day, for example the protagonists daughter Rachel asks after the attack "Is it the terrorists?". After 9/11 a war on Afghanistan and against terrorism began to take place which would last over 10 years. After the 9/11 attacks people reacted in different ways, many people wanted revenge straight away and wanted to attack who ever caused the attack, others wanted to be with their family and close ones and wait for a sense of security others where completely unsure on what to do as they didn't know what kind of threat they were under or what they were capable of. This post 9/11 reaction is shown throughout War of the Worlds.

The fear of being completely annihilated is shown in the film through this scene - http://youtu.be/_kopi8gT9KE, in this scene Ray's daughter Rachel is abducted by the aliens and Ray tries to find her which causes him to see a field as far as his eye could see covered in darkness and what looks like blood. This shows how Ray is under threat of being completely annihilated as he is against a force that has the means to destroy and cause mass terror.

This links into life during the time of the film being made in which people had a real fear of being annihilated due to the War that was going on around them and the complete unexpected attacks on the twin towers. In the film Ray is unsure on what to do as he hasn't been in the situation in his life before and his reaction to the situation is that he wants to find his daughter, this links to the reaction of people post the 9/11 attacks as they were completely unsure on what to do and wanted to only be close to family. The fear of annihilation in the real world came from the attacks as people became unsure of why the attacks happened or whether they could or would happen again, this caused people to fear that they would be annihilated as the people who took part in the attacks had no motive other than to cause terror.

Also in the film people have a real fear of others this is shown in these two clips; http://youtu.be/NBS7J3KHWhQ?t=1m and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYGWG2_PB_Q. In the first clip Rachel is hiding behind a fence like wall watching the aliens from a safe distance. The following shot is a POV through her eyes as she is looking through a gap in the wall because she doesn't want to be seen by the aliens. The POV shot continues as she watches the aliens, the aliens make a noise and began to move around, the camera jerks down to signify the girl ducking as she doesn't want to be seen. The scene continues to show Ray wrestling with another character who wants to shoot the aliens, this shows how Ray is in fear of what the consequences may be if he fights back. In the second clip it begins with a low angle shot looking up at a tripod as it towers on the streets above people. As it makes a loud noise people begin to panic and hide behind cars, etc. Others stare at the tripod as they are unsure what to do but are also scared due to how huge the pod is. Different CU's show peoples faces as they are clearly scared, this highlights the fear of the unknown and others especially.

This is allegorical to the way people lived in real life during the time this film was made after 9/11. People began to fear others with a background from countries like; Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. People began to fear terrorism as they became so shocked by the attacks and began to see the terrorists as the new enemy and mainly Muslim extremists who took part in the 9/11 attacks. The film shows how different people reacted to the attacks as some people like the character who wants to kill the aliens wanted revenge on who ever caused the attack where as other people reacted the way Ray did and wanted to protect their family over anything.

The film shows the fear people had of being exterminated, this is shown in these scenes mainly http://youtu.be/rYGWG2_PB_Q?t=47s and http://youtu.be/tMw_xOuU9DA?t=37. In the first clip the tripod first appears out of the ground and people begin to hide and duck, the tripod towers over people and begins to shoot them with its rays in which the people burst into a cloud of ash. The second scene a tripod attacks a boat full of people, it begins by appearing out of water and then pushes the boat over and begins to zap people. Whilst this is happening the tripod picks people out of the water and the boat and throws them into the air.

These two clips link into the fear people had after 9/11, because they saw the destruction that had been caused to others and the amount of lives that were taken and began to fear they could too be killed just as spontaneously. The first clip has a direct link to 9/11, as people are zapped they turn into a cloud of ash. This is similar to 9/11 as on that day when the towers fell there was a huge ash cloud that surrounded New York city. Also the low angle shot looking up at the tripod links into the 9/11 attack footage as most of it was shot by people on the ground looking up at the building. The second clip also has links into 9/11 as it shows shots of people falling from the sky when being thrown by the tripods which is similar to people jumping from the top of the twin towers on 9/11.

Narrative/conclusion:

War of the World’s ends with the aliens being killed by Earths microorganisms and Ray returns his daughter Rachel to her mother. When he gets there he finds his son Robbie there. A VO from Morgan Freeman explaining that the Aliens couldn’t cope with Earth and it was things like Bacteria that killed them rounds off the conclusion of the film. War of the Worlds has a lot of links to 9/11 throughout the film for example one thing I haven't mentioned, is during the film a train is used by the aliens as a weapon by setting it on fire, this links into the idea of using transport as a weapon which is what the people who took part in 9/11 did with the planes. Invasion of the body snatchers ends up with Miles returning to the present from his flashback, the doctors still think he is insane until they are informed that he is not. In Invasion of the Body snatchers the film ends with a open ended narrative with there being no clear ending and no way of stopping the pods, this is used because the film represents communism and how the fight against it didn't seem to have a end during the time of the film which is shown by the open end in the film.