Monday, August 14, 2006

We Love Tragedy.. Admit It We Do

So I was reading Bone's blog the other day and he was talking about the WTC movie thats coming out with Nicholas Cage in it. It got me to thinking...

We as a society thrive on watching tragedy... it's quite sick when ya think about it.
Look at how many war movies we have based on real wars... The two World Wars, Desert Storm, Korean War, Vietnam War....and and and... Or major disaster movies such as Titanic... where real lives were lost.

Now some people are up in arms saying 'it's too soon' others want to see it because they want to know what happened. People like hearing about other peoples stories, sure why not, isn't that one of the reasons we read each others blogs. We read each others stories, we laugh or cry or sympathize with each other about our lives, we give everyone a small peep into what our lives are like. Thats why they're so popular, we like the feeling of being connected. Some say this movie is a way for everyone to connect to what happened. Some say they're exploiting the situation. Some feel that all profits from this movie should go back to the families of those who died, others think it should go back to the city of New York itself. Others think that it just should never have been made.

I gotta tell ya I'm a little all over the map with this one. I'm going to relate it to a story that I am familiar with that had the same affect just it was on a community not a whole country. It was a story that broke while I was in highschool. Two teenage girls had been kidnapped and murdered, the amount of press it got was huge because even those they were the only two girls (that we knew of at the time) it really hit home. Well because it was in our home. I live in a region where not a lot of crap like that happens so when it does it's huge.
When the story broke the news was filled with it, over and over and over again all we saw was school pictures of the two girls and a wedding photo of the couple that was charged with the crimes.
There's a publication ban in affect. Thats what caused the biggest upset. Let me say that again just so you can process it for a moment.
The biggest problem the community had was that there was a publication ban put into affect during the trial and is still in affect now.
Yes we were pissed that the crime happened, we were sickened by the whole thing. However, the biggest problem and the thing that caused the most controversy was the fact that we weren't allowed to know exactly what happened to those two girls (later during the trial it became three girls because they ended up starting the whole thing off with her sister). People believed that we had a right to know what happened to those girls. They demanded to know.
They didn't think of the families, didn't think of the pain they were going thru because they knew what happened, they got to hear all the gory details of what happened to their beautiful daughters. They were in fact the ones who applied to the publication ban on there. They didn't want the public to know, because it was so horrible. They were tortured and sodomized and shaved and raped and much more. The parents wanted to save the public from hearing that and wanted to protect the images of their daughters. Kudos to them.
It was 13 years ago that this happened, hollywood loved it. They picked up the story and ran with it. Made a movie about it named Karla. Every Canadian that I've spoken to about it will not go and see this movie. As a matter of fact Cineplex Odeon refused to show it. Why?
Because for us it's still too soon.
For the people that are affected by such tragedy and trauma of situations. It will always be too soon.
Will I ever watch the movie? Maybe some day, but even 13 years later it's still too soon.

Will New York ever be ready to watch WTC possibly not. However they may want to, not to relive it, but to celebrate the fact that they got kicked in the balls and stood back up with the help of their countrymen. Will D.C ever be ready to watch it, *shrug* maybe not.
I will tell you that I did watch the show that was made for tv about the plane that didn't make it to where it was going Flight *** (I don't remember) Mind you I bawled my way thru it, but it showed that when united people can do anything, include stop terrorists.

Will I go watch WTC, maybe I'm still split on the idea. Because even tho I'm not an American and I'm 8 hours away from where it all took place. I'm human and it affected me and shook me to the core of my being. I cried for the people that died and the ones that were left not knowing.

I cry at any tragedy against human life. People think I'm odd because when I watch movies like Saving Private Ryan or Full Metal Jacket or Black Hawk Down I cry. Yeah they are macho shoot 'em up war movies. But I cry because they are based an actual events and it hurts me to know that people have gone thru such horrendous ordeals.

Will I watch it, probably, someday. I will buy into the sick and twisted thing that is human nature and I will watch it. However, I won't go to the theatre to watch it ;) would hate to cry infront of a whole theatre of people.

I think that I'll watch it because when ya think about it. Everyone needs to come together again and just hug each other and look each other in the eye and say 'we made it thru another day'

It's events such as 9/11 that prove that you need to live life to the fullest everyday.
Now go check out Bone's blog so I can go wipe my eyes.

4 comments:

Amanda said...

Hey! I saw that chick on tv the other night. Most evil accomplices. I kid you not.

Anonymous said...

i just wanted to give my 2cents about the world trade center movie .i am canadian but was in las vegas last week and had a chance to go see the movie. the movie is the hero's its about the people who went out of there way to try and help others . it doesn't show the terrorists it doesn't show the jets hitting the buildings.yes it does show shadows of the jets and the bluildings on fire but the main story is of the people on the ground level and how it effected there life.i thought it was done very good and it will bring a tear to your eye but be proud and stand up .enuff said

Moon said...

I am sure we will see the movie, but only when we can rent it, so I am in my home while watching it. We will both cry for sure but we will be home doing it.
It brings home how ppl come together in the worst possible moments as was said above. To bad it takes such tragedy sometimes for humans to forget all the other bounderies surrounding them to works towards a common goal.

JustSue said...

I went to see the WTC movie this past weekend. I found it was very tastefully done. It didn't dwell on the actual terrorist aspect, but more on the people at Ground Zero. The emergency services personnel, everyone scrambling amid chaos and miscommunication - trying their utmost to bring home their fallen brothers. The heartbreaking wait for news of loved ones for the families sitting at home. Yes, I cried - and dammit I don't care who saw me.

Ironically I can't bring myself to watch the movie based on the murder of the two girls from St. Catharines. It's too soon, too close to home. I won't even bring myself to speak the names of those guilty. I wouldn't waste my breath on either of them.