9-11's impact on the film choices of teenagers

BOOM!! ScraPPPPee! And the next building is destroyed and torn apart---wait, the next EXPLOSION. Look at all the dust!!!!

It seems that every big-budget movie which is aimed at teens and males in their young 20s glorifies and capitalizes on the viewers conscious, subconscious and/or their repressed memories of 9-11. New York seems to take the brunt of some of those movies, and is razed and dragged over the coals reguarly on screen (I don't want to get into specifics - I personally hate spoilers and think there's something wrong with both people that spoil movies for others or the people who actually like spoilers i.e. previews). And the people who have the 9-11 horror and its purposely fear-induced aftermath imprinted on their "This is how the way the world is" brain coding are those who were young when it happened. In the United States particuarly, young people either remember 9-11t, were aware of the fear in their parents and other adults because of it, and/or have been exposed to it ever since in almost daily reminders. The meme of 9-11 is vast for those of a certain age.

So what do the studios do? Capitalize on it! Glory to the profit. A profit in its own country. etc.

The point of this thread is to see if others agree with this, as well as to give younger people watching those films another perspective of why they may enjoy them so much, other than the wonder of the special effects.

I'd write further on the subject but......INCOMING!!!!! BLLLAAABOOOOOMMMM.

I've cooked the popcorn and put out the best dishes, and waiting for someone to comment on this thread. The night sounds are deeper now, yet I wait. Ah, a movement!! No, only a bird, flying at night, chasing the moon on its endless journey. /eats popcorn, looks at moon.

Movies have always had explosions and bombs blowing up buildings.
Action movies are not new and didn't only start after 9/11.
Ever see the movie "Blown Away", it's an excellent film about a terrorist released in 1994.

The explosions are only getting bigger due to technology and not due to glorifying 9/11.

reply to post by Chukkles


Specific scenes of buildings or parts of buildings falling into their footprints and then heavy dust, bodies falling from the sky plooping on the ground, well, you either see the scenes as 9/11 echoes or you don't. I'm not saying that this is even being done on purpose, but social and race memories of 9/11 are in everyone who watched tv during those weeks (remember, the event seemed to go on for at least two weeks on all the networks).

This thread can't be fully completed because I did put up the specification of no spoiler alerts, which cuts off an exact discussion of this observation.

Posted on behalf of "Curious7", sorry if I took too long, I never saw the message until now


Action movies aren't using 9/11 hyteria to "program" anybody nor are they capitalising on it. NYC is one of the most recognisable cities in the world and as such, has been a favourite target of action moies for decades.

Should they switch to blowing up Prague? No because not many people know what it looks like and thus a sense of familiarity of known landmarks isn't there.

You see explosions in Spiderman and The Avengers movies because for decades, New York has been the home of those characters. Just like Chicago has become Gotham due to the Nolan movies being filmed there since Batman Begins."

reply to post by Chukkles


Since this thread was written the trend has continued unabated. Some movies are just too boring to watch with all the explosions and commotion. No, movies in the "Golden"", "Silver", and "Bronze age" of cinema did not have these themes. They were much more people-story centric. Lot of violence, yes, and gunplay, but the actual meme of buildings blowing up, not so much.

I did read awhile back that Hollywood films have to be produced with China in mind, as it's become a major money-spout for new American films. Hence less dialogue and more spectacular (read "commonplace") destruction.

Movies have always reflected the fears, obsessions and current events that prevail in culture at the time they are made. In the 1950's and 1960's the fear of a Nuclear Hollocaust is ingrained in many movies of the time.... the 1970's saw a raft of political allogory reflecting a paranoia about corrupt governments and society on the brink of violence after the Watergate Scandal and race riots/vietnam demonstration. Even as far back as 1902 and the release of Melie's 'Journey to the Moon' (Voyage dans la Lune) movies were exploring the concerns of the time - there extoiling the virtures of Empirism with the brave adventurers encountering a savage race and the technologicly superior 'enlightned' minds prevailing and returning home as heroes.

9/11 is no different in this respect - many movies have used the imagery that has been imprinted on peoples minds from that day for dramatic effect - most overtly possibly in 'Cloverfield' (think the moment where the group shelter in a convienience store as the dust cloud caused by the the monster's destruction rushes past the windows.) It is also responsible for many tv shows that have become poular in its wake - Homeland, 24 etc.....

There will be a point where other concerns take over and we look back at the last decade like other periods of entertainment history and use the movies of the day to explore how people felt during the early part of this century.

reply to post by WeAreSound


Very well said. American movies in the late '60s and through the mid '70s used the metaphors of war and personal angst as themes, and the depression years of the 1930s showed many films of unhappy rich people (see, riches won't make you happy was the theme). Good points, thanks for your perceptive post.