Things are Forever Changed: Business as Usual Michael Levine November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium Human beings seem to be put together in such a way that no matter how extensive and ironclad their experience, it is never sufficient to dash their hopes. On the whole, this is of course a fortunate thing. But ...
Cinema as Delphic Oracle Dmetri Kakmi November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium Cinema has been a prophetic medium from its inception. I'm not talking about the drama, musical, comedy, or the Western genres, but horror movies, science fiction, fantasy and thrillers. These genres, which are...
Cinema and Reality Thomas Caldwell November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium “We live inside an enormous novel. It is now less and less necessary for the writer to invent the fictional content of his novel. The fiction is already there. The writer's task is to invent reality.” - J.G. B...
Watching Horror: A Gendered Look at Terrorism, or, Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Psycho Jane McGonigal November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium "Oh God, I can't watch!" My boyfriend is used to hearing this protest, during Psycho, Halloween, and countless other horror movies we've seen together. Today, as always, I bury my face in his shoulder, avert...
Reflections on September 11 and its Aftermath Jonathan Rosenbaum November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium Like many other Americans lately, I've been scared – but like only some Americans, I've been scared both of Middle Eastern terrorists and those whom I regard as American terrorists, almost in equal measure. For...
On the Interval between Reality and Unreality Benjamin Halligan November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium As a counterpoint to Slavoj Žižek's interpretation of September 11th – the World Trade Centre Twin Towers as symbols of “virtual capitalism” and “the stark separation between the digitised First World and the T...
Just Like a Movie: September 11 and the Terror of Moving Images Bill Schaffer November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium A sulking vagrant arrives in a small American town, equipped with an absurdly large knife and lethal skills gained in the service of the same US military interests by which he now feels betrayed. Harassed by an...
A Reflection Christian Keefe November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium the winds of change begin to move hurts of which, they've come before telling silent sides to mend their ways upset by random effects and sways signs of peace have no place tonight I slap you hard from the...
Watching from a Distance: September 11 as Spectacle Jake Wilson November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium I switched on the TV soon after the planes hit, and there were the twin towers smouldering like giant cigarettes. As I watched this 'live' spectacle unfold from the safe distance of my lounge room in Melbourne,...
Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality – A Symposium the editors November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium The relation between cinema and reality changed on September 11. All distinction between screen fantasy and the crises of history seemed to disappear in a flash. Immediately, people registered the horror they w...
Email from Australian Documentary Filmmaker Tom Zubrycki to Friends, New York, September 18 2001 Tom Zubrycki November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium Dear Friends, It's hard to describe the last few days except that they've been traumatic and difficult – yet also strangely life-affirming. Last Tuesday I was having breakfast with my Australian friend Ir...
Reality and Illusion Bernard Hemingway November 2001 Terror, Disaster, Cinema and Reality - A Symposium In a recent article published in the Melbourne Age's lifestyle supplement, The Good Weekend, Jean-Luc Godard castigated Steven Spielberg, and by extension the Hollywood Dream Factory, for using cinema to entert...
