Tuesday, September 11, 2012

It's Amazing how much the World Changes in Eleven Years

     Well that day has come again. Eleven years ago a few moments shook our nation and dramatically altered the coarse of many American lives. For some generations this was the second major attack on home soil by a foreign enemy, others it was the first. For some it was all too confusing at the time to make anything of it and for some children, aged ten and under, it means they grew up their whole life while our country was at war.
     This tragic event has received a lot of coverage ever since that day. The news was the fastest way to spread the message of what happened that day as that was probably the most watched thing for the following days across America. The next thing I remembered seeing was the music industry, so many bands had been releasing songs or even albums dedicated to what happened that day. Bon Jovi came out with the song "Undivided" on his album Bounce in 2002, about how the nation came together that day. In 2003 Yellowcard's song "Believe" was dedicated to heroic acts that occurred that day. Also in 2003 Darryl Worley came out with the song "Have You Forgotten", whose imagery brings back vivid memories of what happened that day. Documentaries have since emerged. Inside the Twin Towers, 102 Minutes that Changed America, Ten Years On: Remembering 9/11 to name a few. The documentaries while not having the largest audience, definitely have the biggest impact because they tend to have true stories in them, not hypothetical or cliche stories in them. Recently Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close directed by Stephen Daldry came out. Eleven year old Oskar Schell, afflicted with Aspergers, tries to solve the last puzzle his father left him before his father, Tom Hanks, passed in the attack. It is a touching movie that has a few cliches and some disturbing videos from 2001. It created a powerful movie. The movie takes place over the span around one or two years.
     As mentioned above for some people they were too young to properly make sense of what happened that day. To this day they might not know what to make of it, I know I still don't know entirely what to think of it. Since a lot of people tend to look at the world through their own eyes, people in a different generation might not understand that. To them it might be seen as a horrible event with horrible outcomes that they understand and the though might not come across to them that its fuzzy to others.
     One of the amazing things that media can do is show new points of view on topics or even bringing topics to light. Things like the coverage of the Egyptian Revolution last year, or the Kony movement that briefly swept across the internet. While it's not the biggest thing in the world, I want to use my voice to show that story. The story of someone who to this date is affected by September 11th, 2001. With Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close it takes place soon after the attacks, but with what I want to do is make it more current. So the character could fit with someone within two years of my age. I feel like it will be a powerful piece and hope this will be one of my best pieces of work while in college.
     Never Forget 9/11/01. May all those effected find peace.

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