On Media Response

I found this essay pretty interesting.  One thing I would like to discuss more is Hovagimyan's assertion that because photography is able to capture the reality of war, people no longer feel a need to turn to representation of war, such as paintings.  It was just not as impressive because it was not as close to "reality."  I'm not sure if what I'm about to say is entirely related, but it's really interesting, so I'm going to say it anyway.  Last year, in my film class, we discussed 9/11 and how media dealt with it.  Two things were brought up in the conversation that feel relevant.  First, we talked about how many critics suggest that the postponement of certain movies, such as The Terminator, which depict the destruction of NYC, had less to do with respecting the victims of 9/11 (as the producers claimed), and more to do with that fact that they were afraid that audiences would be less impressed with the Hollywood version of NYC falling apart, simply because the whole world had just seen it truly happen. They didn't think the film could stand up to the real thing, just as Hovagimyan claims that paintings of war do not compare to the photographs.  Secondly, we talked about the how desensitized viewers became to the repetitive images on the news of the planes hitting the towers.  We saw it over and over and over again.  Even documentaries began to bore people.  How then, can the events of 9/11 ever be depicted in a new way; a way that can recapture the true its true horror?

Mexican filmmaker, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, came up with a way to allow viewers to experience 9/11 differently than they ever have before.  He used sound...just sound.  His use of sound is extremely successful and I thought it might help some of us with our projects.  The film is only 10 minutes long, but I should warn you, it is hard to watch.  And I'm sorry that this happens to be on 9/11.  I think he succeeded in creating a different kind of reality concerning 9/11 by making his film more than a simple representation of what happened that day.