Ashes To Ashes, We All Fall Down
THIS JUST IN...Apparently AOGB has been chosen as Feedster's Feed of the Day! I don't know how you get this honor, but this link gives a pretty good description of how they might do it. I'd like to thank whoever did the choosing. I also would like to welcome any new readers who might click through. If anyone knows how to create a button to commemorate the event, I would be much obliged!
When I first heard rumors that they were going to make a movie about the World Trade Center disaster I, along with others, was filled with mixed emotions. Part of me understood Hollywood wanting to attempt to capture the human interest aspect, while another part of me felt sick to my stomach.
After all, 9/11 is not the first event of its kind to be immortalized on the big screen. In the past ten years alone we've had Titanic and then Pearl Harbor attempt to do the exact same thing.
I enjoyed Titanic, if only because it told the beautiful love story of Jack and Rose, two star crossed lovers whose devotion was doomed, with or without the damn boat. But then when you think about it, Jack and Rose, no matter how moving, have nothing to do now, or ever with the true story of the Titanic. Oh sure there were probably many moving, real life stories behind the people who were on the Titanic, some of them even possibly involving a "Jack" or a"Rose", but the true story of the Titanic is really about a boat capsizing. On some level this seemed to me like a sick way to capitalize on human emotion. Overplaying that Celine Dion tune was another.
But the inconsistencies in the stories of Titanic paled in comparison to the "storyline" of Pearl Harbor. I'm not gonna mince words here. That movie was just a bloated mess. At a running time of 183 minutes, it took half the film just to get to the actual event. Call me crazy but I don't know how you forget that. It's the name of the freakin' movie!
So now with World Trade Center just being released I can't help but worry that this disaster movie will ironically, end up a disaster on a different scale, no matter how potentially great a film it is. For one thing, no matter how moving, the bruises are still fresh on this particular event. Hollywood didn't wait 40, 20 or even five years before deciding to bring this to the big screen. And further prove the paint has yet to dry is the most recent event of thwarted airline terror. Adding insult to inury World Trade Center Oliver Stone is at the helm, a man who has never exactly been known for his sane work ethic.
I know it sounds sadistic, but part of me thinks that Hollywood actually gets semi-excited after the shock of these types of things wears off. Just watching the news sensationalize such events is evidence of that. Everytime there is a major disaster, every news station from CBS, to FOX to CNN has to have colorful "breaking news" graphics and along with it, titles that attempt to catch phrase particular events for years to come. Names like "Tower of Terror" are etched in my memory forever, not so much because it captured the feeling of the event, but because they repeated it over and over, sufficiently creeping the hell out of me.
It's almost as if I'm living out the reading of a will. There's always the one greedy relative who is there under the guise of caring about the deceased, but is really wondering what is in it for him. I really don't like to think of Hollywood as the sleazy uncle but hey, if the relative fits, wear it.
The way I see it, the only way Hollywood can really make good on a movie like World Trade Center and show their hearts are in the right places would be to give all the proceeds to the people effected by the disaster. That couldn't be done with movies like Titanic or Pearl Harbor, but that money could do a world of good in the lives of many World Trade Center victim's families.
If I was Nic Cage I don't think I could sleep at night knowing I pocketed a few cool million to relive an event some people aren't even sure they want to be reliving in the first place. Most of us say we are sorry in the face of a disaster, but remain powerless to do anything about it. But these people have some power and more importantly, lots of money. Maybe some of them have gave already, I just would have a hard time profiting off of such recent pain.
Their home made lasagnas and on screen scroll dedications won't bring these people back, but a check made out in the form of compassion just might.
When I first heard rumors that they were going to make a movie about the World Trade Center disaster I, along with others, was filled with mixed emotions. Part of me understood Hollywood wanting to attempt to capture the human interest aspect, while another part of me felt sick to my stomach.
After all, 9/11 is not the first event of its kind to be immortalized on the big screen. In the past ten years alone we've had Titanic and then Pearl Harbor attempt to do the exact same thing.
I enjoyed Titanic, if only because it told the beautiful love story of Jack and Rose, two star crossed lovers whose devotion was doomed, with or without the damn boat. But then when you think about it, Jack and Rose, no matter how moving, have nothing to do now, or ever with the true story of the Titanic. Oh sure there were probably many moving, real life stories behind the people who were on the Titanic, some of them even possibly involving a "Jack" or a"Rose", but the true story of the Titanic is really about a boat capsizing. On some level this seemed to me like a sick way to capitalize on human emotion. Overplaying that Celine Dion tune was another.
But the inconsistencies in the stories of Titanic paled in comparison to the "storyline" of Pearl Harbor. I'm not gonna mince words here. That movie was just a bloated mess. At a running time of 183 minutes, it took half the film just to get to the actual event. Call me crazy but I don't know how you forget that. It's the name of the freakin' movie!
So now with World Trade Center just being released I can't help but worry that this disaster movie will ironically, end up a disaster on a different scale, no matter how potentially great a film it is. For one thing, no matter how moving, the bruises are still fresh on this particular event. Hollywood didn't wait 40, 20 or even five years before deciding to bring this to the big screen. And further prove the paint has yet to dry is the most recent event of thwarted airline terror. Adding insult to inury World Trade Center Oliver Stone is at the helm, a man who has never exactly been known for his sane work ethic.
I know it sounds sadistic, but part of me thinks that Hollywood actually gets semi-excited after the shock of these types of things wears off. Just watching the news sensationalize such events is evidence of that. Everytime there is a major disaster, every news station from CBS, to FOX to CNN has to have colorful "breaking news" graphics and along with it, titles that attempt to catch phrase particular events for years to come. Names like "Tower of Terror" are etched in my memory forever, not so much because it captured the feeling of the event, but because they repeated it over and over, sufficiently creeping the hell out of me.
It's almost as if I'm living out the reading of a will. There's always the one greedy relative who is there under the guise of caring about the deceased, but is really wondering what is in it for him. I really don't like to think of Hollywood as the sleazy uncle but hey, if the relative fits, wear it.
The way I see it, the only way Hollywood can really make good on a movie like World Trade Center and show their hearts are in the right places would be to give all the proceeds to the people effected by the disaster. That couldn't be done with movies like Titanic or Pearl Harbor, but that money could do a world of good in the lives of many World Trade Center victim's families.
If I was Nic Cage I don't think I could sleep at night knowing I pocketed a few cool million to relive an event some people aren't even sure they want to be reliving in the first place. Most of us say we are sorry in the face of a disaster, but remain powerless to do anything about it. But these people have some power and more importantly, lots of money. Maybe some of them have gave already, I just would have a hard time profiting off of such recent pain.
Their home made lasagnas and on screen scroll dedications won't bring these people back, but a check made out in the form of compassion just might.
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