Bastardisation of the East: Canned Food for Thought

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Canned Food for Thought

Florencia Prado also struggles to find value in the movie 'United 93':

"My opinion is not necessarily based on whether or not audiences are ready, but whether or not this movie should have been made in the first place. I believe that movies are either for entertainment or to learn something new about a subject. I have not seen the film, but I would not see it for its entertainment value as well as for its educational value. What more can we learn about the tragic events of 9/11? Unless there is some new information regarding the events, it seems a bit heartless to profit on it. Are we supposed to somehow relate more to the families, mourn more over those that passed away. This is not Titanic where the lives of those had long been drowned along with their stories. If some length of time- like 10-15 years had passed, perhaps it would serve the purpose of re-telling the series of events to our children, so they may learn and keep fighting against terrorism. At this moment in time; however, it seems like Hollywood will present any movie, about any topic just to make a buck."

Like I mentioned my doubts about this movie before, Florence would agree that no matter how accurate United 93 will depict the events, it serves neither purpose of entertaining nor educating. I wouldn't imagine a person eating popcorn or having a hotdog while re-living 9/11, nor would I predict any intellectual gain from this movie. If anything, it might serve as a really really expensive memorabilia to the families of 9/11 victims. It does not aim to provide answers nor questions. Merely a re-enactment in honour of those in the hijacked planes.

Some may notice the suspicious timely release of the movie with Bush's latest popularity poll. And it does beg the question if a movie that already holds little or no value, holds potential to perpetuate again anti-muslim sentiments and false associations between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks. The truth is that while the film may have been made all with good intentions, people by large are impressionable and misinformed. A movie powerful enough to move the families of the victims is equally powerful enough to rekindle anti-muslim sentiments amongst ~~Republicans~~ those who cannot differentiate.

For those who actually plan to watch it for whatever your reasons, then I suggest avoiding documentaries such as Loose Change or Confronting the Evidence, which I found a lot more intellectually 'nutritious'. A person who goes to see United 93 is likely to accept those events as accurate, and more disturbingly, wanting to accept that as the truth simply because it is the simplest to understand. Easy to digest. Canned food for the mind. While I don't make claim to any particular scenario being the accurate version, I do believe that if you go seeking for answers, you will only find more questions that disturb you way too much to think you're going to spend £5 on a movie ticket about something based on a few telephone calls.

¶ posted by Jon at 8:12 PM

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