JRHS Writing BLOG

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Cloverfield’s 9/11 Imagery Upsets Media

The following article is based on the article “Cloverfield: Horror Film Not Sensitive About 9/11” by Roger Friedman of Fox news.

Recently, Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams, the latter being a respected movie director and producer and creator of the show “Lost”, released a new movie directed by Reeves and produced by Abrams. “Cloverfield” is a wreck-happy monster romp flick set in New York City. Abrams claimed America needed a monster of its own, as Godzilla stemmed from Japanese roots. Where Cloverfield differs from Godzilla, however, is its realistic portrayal of chaos. The entire movie is shot on a camcorder, and we are made to believe that it is raw footage found from a tape, months, perhaps years after the monster attacked, in an area ‘formerly’ known as Central Park. The technique results in shaky footage, the camera being dropped a few times, and other clever gimmicks that encorperate its cinematography style. It’s not far off from the technique used in “The Blair Witch Project”, a smash-hit low-budget horror film which claimed its footage was real footage found from a camera whose owners were hunted and killed by a witch.

Recently, however, Cloverfield’s scenes of destruction have caused some to think its disrespecting and outright “dissing” those affected by the tragedy of September 11th. One scene in particular, a building collapsing downwards and setting off a huge cloud of dust and smoke on the streets below, has people exceptionally outraged. Later on in the movie, we are shown two paralell buildings, one slightly collapsed, leaning on the other. The characters ascend the upright building and cross onto the roof of the diagonal one to save a loved one.

Let’s be completely honest – the idea that these images were created by J.J. Abrams in order to offend 9/11 families is absurd, paranoid, myopic and tunnel-visioned. Cloverfield is simply a thrilling action movie that involves the destruction of New York City by a giant monster, much like King Kong or the American Godzilla movies. In the film, when the building collapses, what did you really expect? It’s a giant monster, of course hollywood is going to have it knock over a few buildings, and anyone who has seen a building fall knows that there is only one way for it to collapse. People seem to be convinced that the collapse of the World Trade Centers were the first buildings that ever fell and therefore every reference to a following building from thenon must be disrespectful.

In fact, a 17-year-old whose father was killed in 9/11 recently posted a blog on the subject, and he insisted that Cloverfield was in no way offensive. He even went as far as to say the following:

“Have you people ever thought that us 9/11 families just want to see an action movie without having everyone remind of us of 9/11 because they claim the movie is trying to offend us? The thought would have never crossed my mind when I watched Cloverfield if all these attention-craving lunatics didn’t point their fingers and blindly scream, 9/11! 9/11! Take offense!”

Furthermore, New York City’s destruction is far from a new subject in movie making. The Day After Tomorrow, Godzilla, Aliens, Independence Day, King Kong, I Am Legend, Ghostbusters, Artificial Intellegence, The Siege, Armageddon, Deep Impact, Doomsday, Planet of the Apes, When Worlds Collide, War of the Worlds, Soylent Green, Escape from New York, 2019, Endgame, Time Machine, The Core, Children of Men, and countless other films employ the destruction of New York City, and not a single one of them has been criticised for offending 9/11 families. I have not a doubt in my mind the creators of Cloverfield had not a single intention on offending victims of 9/11. How would this benefit the moviemakers whatsoever?

The author of the article that this blog was based on, Roger Friedman of Fox News, even goes on to say that Cloverfield is “a big-budget take on The Blair Witch Project”, exposing his lack of knowledge for cinema. The Blair Witch Project is the exact opposite of clovefield, confining its characters in insecurity and a enviornment too small for them, and scaring its audience by showing them nothing. Cloverfield, however, places its characters in confusion in a situation much too large for them, and scaring the audience by showing them everything. They’re complete opposites, sharing only their “found-footage” fake-tape style. It’s like saying “Some Like it Hot” is the predescesor to “Schindler’s List” because they both feature black and white – its nothing more than a cinematography style and should not be overread.

Overall, Cloverfield is a movie that’s been accused of being many things that it simply isn’t and wasn’t ever meant to be. It’s not an insult to 9/11 families, it’s not a Blair Witch ripoff, it’s not Godzilla 2. Everyone needs to relax and take Cloverfield for what it is – a well-made monster movie done in found-footage style.