1995 the attack on the federal building in Oklahoma city turned Hollywood's attention to internal threats rather than external threats. However, films such as Total Encirclement (1998) and Bombing of the Century (1997) have highlighted Islamic terrorism, which has aroused even greater protests from Muslim communities in the United States, protesting against the stereotype that action films have been overused since the 1960s. The last line of "The Bombing of the Century" is the reappearance of the failed attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, which was told by terrorists in a shocking and realistic way. When he turned to look at the Twin Towers, he said, "Next time, we will knock them down."
So at that time, Hollywood turned its attention to the typical conspiracy theory that "the bad guys come from the state machine itself", which was closely related to the Vietnam War in the 1960s, the Watergate scandal and Brezhnev-era movies, such as 72 Hours of the Condor Heroes (1975) and Parallax Strange (1974). On the other hand, villains such as Hidden Dragon Soaring into the Sky (1992), Braving dead island (1996) and Broken Arrow (1996) are movies of CIA agents, military intelligence personnel or rebellious senior officials, which can launch terrorist actions against civilians.
But it was followed by "9? 1 1 "brings" xenophobia "and" defense ". Peter. Stern pointed out that the fear of invasion and external threats is one of the common fears of Americans. After the passage of "200 1 Patriot Act", the American Civil Liberties Union publicly condemned the possible harm to foreign citizens: "This legislation includes allowing the abuse of immigrants, prohibiting criticism and investigation, and monitoring innocent citizens."
Social values among different ethnic groups have deteriorated, such as city hero (1993), Grand Canyon (199 1), neighborhood boy (199 1) and Forrest Gump. The two stories of Crash (2006) and Freelance Writer (2008) took place in the same city, and Los Angeles was regarded as a model of the destroyed American metropolis. Cultural conflict is not just integration.
Spielberg once again talked about Americans as "9? 1 1 "The fear caused by the reaction to the other:" The protagonist Victor? Navoski went to the United States to fulfill his last wish for his father, which coincided with a coup in the motherland and the overthrow of the government. The American authorities refused to issue visas, refused to enter the country, and could not return home. He was forced to stay at Kennedy International Airport. Customs officer Frank? Dixon is a staunch follower of international law. He insists that "America is closed."
Through this film, Spielberg condemned "9? 1 1 ",foreigners tried to enter the legal obstacles in North America, which in turn turned Navoski into an unsung hero, a guardian of human nature and social values that the United States no longer believed in. Tom? Hanks' performance of Navoski undoubtedly won the hearts of the audience.
If Minority Report enters dystopian pessimism, then the terminal will return to the New Deal period. Optimism in capa's films. Navoski tried to fill his judicial gap, learn English, and build relationships with other employees in the building and foreigners like him.
If frank. The protagonist of Kappa managed to paralyze the whole legal machine and taught us the true value of citizens with simple strategies; Then Navoski tried to mock the new spirit of the Patriot Act and teach citizens another value of "social existence". Famous film critic Roger? Albert described the protagonist in The Terminal as "the image of an intruder that is not shaped by the collective imagination and established by the Defense Act".
In fact, Navoski is not like anyone Dixon has ever met. He is not cunning, suspicious and has no unknown motives. He trusts. He dated a beautiful stewardess who didn't trust his feelings, which seemed to be a comfort to the country's fear. And this Kennedy International Airport, like the epitome or symbol of the American judicial system, can't handle Navoski. He drilled a perfect judicial loophole. The Terminal is also like a sunny version of Kafka's story: the unremitting struggle between citizens and bureaucrats.
m？ Nate. Shamalan's thriller Mysterious Village (2004) tells the theme of self-defense in the face of external threats. A small isolated village is surrounded by a forest, where savage creatures with superhuman nature live. Young Lucius walked out of the village to explore the unknown world regardless of taboos, but threatened the village with forest monsters.
The management committee maintains a culture of panic among residents, aiming at strengthening their authority and ensuring safety. "Terror" unites the community, although it is based on deception. As at the end of the film, the new committee is composed of householders from urban centers who have suffered violence and are determined to build an isolated community where they can live in peace. This perfect and safe social product is achieved by revealing that the culture of terror is unsustainable.
"9? The metaphor of "1 1" obviously exists in this story. With the help of horror genre, director Shamalan absorbed the deep-rooted fables of American society and was dominated by "panic culture". The director also warned that this untimely method would bring the United States back to the17th century: at that time, European colonists such as Mayflower's immigrant father settled on the east coast of the United States in order to escape persecution, which was a heroic move to lay the foundation for a new world and build a perfect civilized new world, even though the fear of Indian aborigines or slaves meant that it would eventually be a failed pastoral poem.
Shamalan's other film "Lady in the Water" (2006) tells a fairy tale. The legend of "Water Demon" is a household name in the West. In this movie, Philadelphia gave the water fairy a shelter. This fantasy character was sent to a writer to convey information about human well-being; The whole community symbolizes the American society itself, and is composed of people of different races and cultures (Latin Americans, British Americans? Saxon, African-American, Eastern European, Asian), everyone will participate in this fairy's mission.
Cleveland, the janitor of the apartment, rescued Storley, the water demon chased by monsters, during a night patrol. In order to help Story return to her original world, Cleveland turned to many building residents for help. The longer Storey stays in this world, the more monsters will attack her, even threatening people's lives in this world. The ending is an allegorical tone, indicating that a United community can build a promising future. Both the janitor in The Lady in the Water and the committee members in The Mysterious Village were attacked by violence, but Shamalan went one step further in his myth, linking the healing of trauma with the strengthening of social ties.
Spielberg directly dealt with the theme of social panic with the help of sci-fi thrillers in World War. The plot is taken from 1898 herbert george wells's novel of the same name, which tells the story of the British panic when Martians invaded. 1953, Byron? Brad Voss directed Hollywood's first film version, set in Los Angeles; Spielberg's remake put the invasion in New Jersey across the Hudson River, with "9? 1 1 "and the most symbolic" 9? This 1 1 "picture, the new york skyline and the burning of the Petronas Twin Towers, was taken from New Jersey across the Hudson River. To some extent, "9? 1 1 "is the experience of American refugees, because they fled their lives after being attacked for no reason and didn't understand why they were attacked and by whom.
In Spielberg's version, Ray is a stevedore in a New Jersey dock who tries to save the lives of two children in an alien invasion. The panic of citizens is presented in various dramatic pictures: terrible storms, aliens in the city square, falling spacecraft fragments, bodies drifting along the river, hysterical crowds, burning trains whizzing by, desperate pursuit of aliens and so on. The crashed spaceship crashed just like a plane flying over Pennsylvania. The photos of the missing persons and candles commemorating the victims were like "9? The citizen killed in the 1 1 "terrorist attack, young Robin decided to join the army to repel the invaders, which is similar to the gesture of thousands of teenagers signing up to defend their country in 200 1.
"9? The revival of Invasion and Disaster after 1 1 reproduces the traditional drama system forged in the 1950s. These movies are very important to 9? The allusion, simile or metaphor of the tragedy "1 1" is inevitable, because half a century has passed and the imaginary threat has become a real disaster.
Spielberg's War of the Worlds sets a good example for this sub-type of works that have appeared one after another in the new stage: it has both historical and political influence and artistic influence of the plot, among which the critical position on the Iraq war is particularly prominent. Spigel not only reflected the social panic, but also thought deeply about the US military strike: "You can interpret my films from many angles. Can you directly' 9? 1 1' paranoia. Or the military intervention of the United States abroad is destined to be rebelled, which is the way of alien invasion. "
The United States stationed troops in Iraq, and the war on Iraqi soil continued, which turned into a massacre of terrorist attacks and guerrilla conflicts. Spielberg included the Iraq war in the film through a narrative fable, which subtly but surely criticized the patriotic enthusiasm of the United States in recent years.
The victim mentality of American society can be compared with that of Iraqi society which suffered a real invasion. This disaster also highlights the hidden side of American social reality, such as the ability to cope with the collapse of the system and the direct consequences of the disaster on families. In War of the World, the mapping of institutional society is full of pessimism, which warns hysterical citizens facing alien attacks. Panic is the keynote of the plot, and many scenes reveal that members of society murder others for their own survival desire from Hobbes' point of view.