SSC Film Studies

In what ways does war of the worlds comment upon post 9/11 society?
Josh Lee-Dawson

In War of the worlds it uses 9/11 to it’s advantage to make the film a lot better and more relatable

First is the cloud of dust that people turn into when they get killed by the Aliens lasers and the reason they turn into dust is because. When the twin towers fell down the smoke engulfed people near the twin towers and where covered in the dust. So the dust people turn into is to represent this as the dust covers people and makes it look like they where at the 9/11 attacks.

Second is the smoke that comes up when the machine is coming out of the ground this is to represent the cloud of smoke that engulfed people in 9/11. This adds in an extra reference to 9/11 enforce this thing about this movie representing 9/11 and meaning that people are scared more by the movie.

Third when we are given a low angle shot of the Alien machine when it comes out of the ground this is a reference to when everyone was looking up at the twin towers. Everyone can acknowledge this as when people where watching at home as well most of the shots we saw was from amateur footage from the ground meaning most people that watch this film will be able to link the feel of the film to 9/11

Forth When the person holding the camera shooting up at the Alien it is a reference to when footage was being taken from the ground level of New York looking up at the twin towers. This adds extra realization to the movie and extra realism getting people more engulfed into the film than they would of been.

Fifth when Ray meets Ogilvy this is to represent the the conspiracy theorists of 9/11 as it makes people think about whether the same thing is happening in War of the Worlds. As Ogilvy is suggesting the government is behind the alien attack so apart from making the audience think it again adds the realism of the 9/11 attacks so this gives the audience a link to the 9/11 attacks and war of the worlds.

Sixth for most of the movie it is shot at eye level as most of the images we think about when we think of 9/11 was shot from the ground. So this movie is shot at ground level apart from a few shot to keep the link to 9/11 there this also helps as well cause like in 9/11 people were all wondering what is going to happen next. This means that this notion is added into the film again making the film feel familiar like we have seen some of these types of things before. 

Seventh when the police are trying to keep people away from where the lighting striked the ground this is a link to 9/11 as there was barricades to keep people away from the twin towers so they would not get hurt if something else happens to the towers and this is the same situation as the lightning strikes.