wotw exam practice

War of the worlds

 In War of the worlds, there are may visual signifiers that reflect the time and situation in which it was made. In the opening sequence of the film, with the narration of Morgan Freeman, there is music played that is a non-diegetic sound which creates a dark and eery tone for the film. This music reflects the world the film is coming into which is a post 9/11 society were people are less trusting of government and each other. Morgan freeman talks of being "watched by others" which taps into the fear of the Western society after 9/11 because they were afraid of another planned attack. "Confident of our empire" shows that people were complacent, certain they were safe because of the power they had created. It shows that before the attacks, as a society we were arrogant and thought we were safe, and this dialogue links to social attitudes before the 9/11 attacks. This is also very critical of the attitudes before 9/11, they were too certain that they were safe, that they should have known.

The scene then cuts to a montage of many different city scape's showing people going about there normal lives. This shows the ideas of paranoia that we are being watched by others constantly. "Being watched by cool, unforgiving intellects" adds to this idea of being watched and links to 9/11 because those attackers watched over America and made their plans. Steven Spielberg said, "Paranoia is what happens when you're afraid that something is coming at you right around the corner and it never materializes. Our story starts with paranoia, which is very quickly realised." This shows that he was aware of the paranoia in America, specifically New York at the time and that everyone was afraid of attack from 'others' and he tried to add that fear into his film so that people could relate.A graphic match shows the earth then turning red which tells us that the earth is in danger and very vulnerable to attack, which people are now very aware can happen to them.

An establishing shot is shown of New York, telling the audience that its set in New York, but also to establish the lack of the World trade centre, telling us that the characters in the film have lived through the attacks. Ray's blue collar job allows him a good view of the city and its skyline so it could be possible that he saw the attacks from his box in the crane. The setting is very important because New York was mostly affected by the 9/11 attacks and was one of the first places to be attacked by the tripods. The shot of New York outside the city is an unusual and makes it unfamiliar to the audience.

The next scene we see is with Ray and his ex wife and her new partner, dropping off his kids whom hate him. This is not the typical Tom Cruise character we are used to seeing, he is part of a broken family with an estranged wife, kids who hate him and a working class career, everything the American dream isn't about. We see a very unfamiliar representation of America and American life, this shows that the global and political order of things has been completely rocked post 9/11. The harsh lighting in the scene creates a washed out look, making the world look dull and lifeless, a representation of American lives and moods after the attacks. The trees are bare and this shows that the world is and unpleasant place to be.

Another scene in this film is the tripod attack scene in which we first see the tripod rise from the ground. This scene is filmed with mostly handheld, low angle shots which are shaky, very reminiscent of the footage from 9/11 filmed on phones and cameras. The audience at the time this filmed was released would recognise the link. Another reference to 9/11 through filming is, we see the attacks on the people happening through a cam corder lying on the floor, most of the footage from 9/11 is filmed on handheld devices.

In the scene there are many people, including police officers standing and watching rather then running, this reflects peoples disbelief and there shock on that day at what was happening. People were too shocked to run and protect themselves. Only when people started getting killed and turned into dust did people run, much like people only running after the towers collapsed and the dust clouds came swarming. The grey dust people were being turned into and the debris/ clothing floating everywhere is a visual reference to 9/11. This shows how film captures the chaos of the aftermath of an attack.

The first big building destroyed is the church, creating a link between the church and the tripod, suggesting that the tripod is a new, higher power. It also signifies a loss of hope in the people that there has been another attack. However, it shows that the American icon has been destroyed, the idea of religion and nuclear families that America love, just like the centre of trade, and big icon for the world was destroyed.

The scene then cuts to a shot of Rachel, a young girl, through a door and she looks shocked, she doesn't know whats happening. This shot feels like a horror movie and very unoptimistic. We understand the world through her eyes, the shock and confusion of an attack. It also reflects an attack on the innocent, many families were destroyed in this film and in the events of 9/11. Her response to the attacks is "is it the terrorists?" which highlights the fear of others, in this film, aliens are used as an allegory for others, which the audience would know to be islamic militants.

In another scene, the plane crash and encounter with the media scene, there is a direct reference to the 9/11 attacks. The crashed plane is an icon of the attacks. We also see how the role of the media was influential. Ray finds out "there is more than one" of the attackers from the media just like people were shocked to find out about a second plane hijackings when it was broadcast all over the media. The media however, are good at fear mongering, Ray gets new information from the media which as a result, his fear and paranoia are increased to be made more intense as he believes whatever they say, just like many theories and sceptics were believed in the aftermath of 9/11 due to the media looking for a good story thats different to everyone else's. This is shown when the media woman says "would have been a great story" about Ray possibly being a plane crash survivor, she wasn't interested in f he and his family were alright.

The aliens in this film are allegory for terrorists and both have the same ideologies. This ideologies include unjustified annihilation, wanting "our world" for themselves which involves killing of the 'inferiors' and world domination. The media woman says "everything lights up like Hiroshima" when the tripods arrive which is a reference to another event which caused complete annihilation and was a world changing event like 9/11, but on another scale.

The character of Robbie as a good example of many young men and women after the events of 9/11. he starts the film as a typical teenage boy. However, like many did after the 9/11 attacks, he lost his home and city because it was attacked. His natural, initial reaction was to fight back, after the shock had worn off and at every opportunity he saw, he was trying to get recruited to the army and eventually goes off to war. For Robbie, having lived through 9/11 as well, he wanted to avenge the people who had been lost from attacks from 'others'. After 9/11 through to November of that year, the US military saw 23% increase in recruitment because people wanted revenge, just like Robbie.