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Mediating Terror: Filmic Responses to September 11th, 2001, and the "War on Terror"

Barnes, Christopher
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1341932373

Abstract Details

2012, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, English/Literature.
This thesis applies both postcolonial and trauma theory to explore filmic responses to September 11th and the “War on Terror.” I examine the Hollywood films United 93 and World Trade Center and compare them to the omnibus film 11”09’01 and the Bollywood release My Name is Khan in order to understand the different ways in which each work portrays the trauma of September 11th as well as each film’s unique attempt to memorialize the attacks. Both trauma theory and postcolonial theory, I argue, help illuminate the different ideological responses to September 11th. I contend that the two Hollywood films both evacuate the surrounding context from the attacks and instead use the trauma of September to celebrate American heroism, ultimately reinforcing conservative notions of what motivated the attacks, as well as who can claim U.S. citizenship, and by extension, who can claim victimhood. This is contrasted with 11”09’01 and My Name is Khan, both of which return context to September 11th and also attempt to use the trauma as a means of potentially forging new alliances with disparate communities both within the United States and across the globe. It is by examining how the trauma of September 11th continues to inform discourses on terrorism that there exists the potential to contest mainstream discourses on terror and also form more potentially liberatory alliances with different groups of people across the globe.
Khani Begum (Committee Chair)
Stephannie Gearhart (Committee Member)
108 p.
Film Studies
POSTCOLONIALISM; 9/11; SEPTEMBER 11TH; TERRORISM AND CINEMA; TRAUMA STUDIES; FILM STUDIES

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Barnes, C. (2012). Mediating Terror: Filmic Responses to September 11th, 2001, and the "War on Terror" [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1341932373

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Barnes, Christopher. Mediating Terror: Filmic Responses to September 11th, 2001, and the "War on Terror". 2012. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1341932373.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Barnes, Christopher. "Mediating Terror: Filmic Responses to September 11th, 2001, and the "War on Terror"." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1341932373

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1341932373
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© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.