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Enduring Freedom: The Movie

09:31 / 10.10.01

I don't have a link for this, but I'm typing it verbatim from yesterday's issue of Melbourne tabloid, MX:

>>...As American warplanes pummel Afghanistan for the second day, it was revealed that US intelligence agencies had asked leading action filmmakers to come up with attack scenarios that might be used by terrorists.
[...]
The unique soldiers in the war on terrorism include Die Hard screenwriter Steven De Souza, MacGyver writer David Engelbach and Joseph Zito, who directed Delta Force One, Missing in Action and The Abduction.
Fight Club's David Fincher, Spike Jonze of Being John Malkovich and Randal Kleiser of Grease have also joined the anti-terror conference, which has video link to the Pentagon.
The group has focused on "short-term threats to the country", according to entertainment newspaper Daily Variety.<<

Make you feel better to know the makers of MacGyver, Grease and Being John Malkovich are helping defend the world's only superpower?

(Media-related question which went begging in the other thread: Somebody told me a few weeks ago the US would start dropping bombs just in time for the prime-time Sunday night news, which is apparently what they did for the Gulf War. The timing seems about right but I'd like to hear from someone in the US...)

09:31 / 10.10.01

...hey, if the US needs suggestions, it show's that they're trying to consider options that they may not be aware of...kind of a blessing in disguise...now if they'd just look around here a little bit...

Also it seems a creative edge is what is needed to understand people who have to be untraditional when coming up with concepts to cause disorder...any opportunity to understand things better is a step in the right direction...

Graeme McMillan

09:31 / 10.10.01

quote:Originally posted by Crunchy Mr Bananapants:
Make you feel better to know the makers of MacGyver, Grease and Being John Malkovich are helping defend the world's only superpower?

Oddly enough, it does.

Look, it's not as if the US government are giving film directors the keys to the entire Us military and saying "knock yourselves out" or anything, but there IS something strangely pleasing in them being invited into "the dialogue" in the first place. The Sept 11th attacks were obviously ideological, so what's wrong with approaching the solution in a way other than the traditional "simply blow the fuck out've them and that's that"?

Of course, I'd be happier if they'd picked a more diverse range of creative people, and if this really affected what the US is going to do next, but still. It's almost a step in the right direction.

Of course, I could be wrong.

09:31 / 10.10.01

quote:Originally posted by Crunchy Mr Bananapants:
Make you feel better to know the makers of MacGyver, Grease and Being John Malkovich are helping defend the world's only superpower?

actually, it does. That they are talking to creative people to imagine possible terrorist scenarios is a great fucking idea. They should have been taking David Fincher's Fight Club seriously BEFORE the attacks, no? I mean, hell, I sit around all day unable to stop from thinking up devious possible terrorist attacks, and I wish the defense dept would address every single one of them.

it's amazing to see the american gov't going to writers and director to ask for advice.
who here wouldnt want Grant Morrison advising the president, hm? Fincher and Jonze is a start. At least they're openning it up, understanding that they need new kinds of thinking, right?

here's a link to the story

quote:
The timing seems about right but I'd like to hear from someone in the US...)

no i don't think so. i heard about it when i woke up in the morning and got in my car to start the day... unless i got in on it late, i think that's when it was reported.

[ 10-10-2001: Message edited by: Mystery Gypt ]

09:31 / 10.10.01

I became aware of the bombing late-ish Sunday morning, and I believe it had been going on for a few hours. Regardless, Sunday morning or afternoon on the east coast.

09:31 / 10.10.01

(damn, post got eaten...)

Anyway Variety covers the story, but you need to sign up for a 30-day trial to read it. It's down near the bottom. In the middle, a story headlined "CNN will share access to Afghan news stories." Apparently, since we own the cables...

The "dialogue" is being sponsored by the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies (est. 1999.) FOXNEWS reported "the terrorists clearly intended not only destruction but drama,' so it was only natural to involve Hollywood.

It doesn't make me feel any better. But those involved generally support, visciously, Amerikkkan values like sexism, racism, and militarism; so I'm not surprised. It's troubling that they're asking for short-term advice that'll probably influence policy for some time to come, and won't mean squat against long-term planning.

Btw, I wokke up to the news on Sunday, Crunchy. I'd bet it coincided with the start of the workday on the east coast, so developments could dominate the day's news.

09:31 / 10.10.01

I think it's most interesting in terms of what Peter Lamborn essay says in his essay on 9/11:

quote: Last week, it seems, we were willing to admit that our highest social values could be expressed in price codes ( the "mark of the Beast" as the cranks say, the "prophets of doom"). This week, we feel shame. In a Times interview a fashion designer expressed doubt that her work had any significance and wondered if she could go on with it. The fashion industry is also ashamed; Hollywood is ashamed; even the news media expressed some fleeting longing for decorum & dignity & decency.

09:31 / 10.10.01

Is there a link for that?

There seemed to be some minor soul searching from cultural producers, but I can't imagine it lasting. We've seen some movies pulled, and some comics pulled or edited. There's certainly some reshuffling with clearer reasons than normal, but nothing that'll last...

CNN also reports (nice little MP video of it) about Fisher Price toys modeled after firefighters and police (in response to parents' requests for realistic models.) Nothing but a small shift in focus.

Nothing about tolerance previewed this week, in other words. I'd say congratulations to anyone who went through an existential crisis, though.

09:31 / 10.10.01

Why arent they talking to the writers of The Lone Gunmen? Anyone remember that first episode where they stop an airliner from hitting the Twin Towers? Eh? I've been developing a system of divination based on the few Lone Gunmen episodes that exist...