Thursday, January 3, 2008

Cloverfield Backlash

They say all press is good press, so with that spirit in mind, here is some of the "backlash" from the Cloverfield advertising campaign.

Neil Cavuto interviewed Alice Hoagland, who's son died on 9/11. In the interview, she asserts that Cloverfield's Statue of Liberty poster is
...taking advantage of the awful images of 9/11 and is doing it for its own profit. Unless the message is profound, unless it's talking about al Qaeda or one of al Qaeda's evil cousins, then it really should not be showing us images of the Statue of Liberty decapitated, beheaded and the images of lower Manhattan in flames.
It appears from the interview that she doesn't actually know anything about the movie, other than what she's seen in the poster, which was inspired by Escape From New York. There was no mention of her feelings on the poster for I Am Legend.












Matt Reeves, the director of Cloverfield, had this to say about the connection to 9/11:
[It works] in the same way that Godzilla was really a metaphor for its time, and was a sort of movie about the A-bomb and Hiroshima and all of that," he says. "The idea of it dealing with the anxiety of that time and that's why it captured so much attention because it tapped right into people's anxieties… I think that what was really interesting here was knowing that we were going to be dealing with the metaphor of what this was and dealing with the anxieties of our time. We thought that there would be something really sort of powerful about the idea, like in the trailer, having this very naturalistic, realistic vibe, and having you start to say, 'What is going on? This seems like a horrifying event.' And then suddenly when you see the head, everything starts to tilt like a prism. And you're like, 'Wait a minute. That couldn't be terrorism because what did they do, take off the head of the Statue of Liberty and throw it at New York? What's with that?' It evokes these things and in a way enables us -- the fun of it, the idea of it -- it enables you to approach those feelings and deal with it in a safer way. So it ends up being a kind of thrill ride and it's also evocative of those feelings and hopefully has resonance as well. At the end of the day, the movie is this giant monster movie. But there is something in the idea of what monster movies do for us, and how they can deal with our anxieties and our fears, and we really hope that this works in that way.
Merideth Blake has written an open letter to JJ Abrams, complaining about New York yet again being used as a target of destruction:
I mean, New York isn't the [only] city in America that has instantly recognizable landmarks. Couldn't you have set the movie in LA? Philadelphia? Orlando? Buffalo? It seems like it's high time some other city got the (fictional) shaft.
I have to give Blake credit, at least she did a little research about the movie first:
Apparently, it's some kind of monster movie. But I had to go to the movie's website to find this out
I guess this means the marketing is working...?

James Sanders, the author of "Celluloid Skyline", knows why New York is popular with filmmakers:
What would be the point of showing a demolished suburban street? You’d get the point but it just wouldn’t have the punch. You take the most familiar, iconic symbol of civic society in the world — a big city, and for Americans, that’s New York — and that’s where disaster is going to be the most powerful.
Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch has a different theory:
They want to see our skyscrapers destroyed because they are envious of them.
Here is another story about monster movies in NY:
* Thank to Brian, Treefrog19, and dalphx for these stories!

62 comments:

  1. PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT the place for political debate!

    If you feel the need to make snarky attacks, please take your propaganda elsewhere!

    Thank you.

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  2. People have no sense of pathos. These films are metaphorical on so many planes, the same way the Godzilla films represented the cold fears and nuclear angst of their time. Of course this film is set in New York. Of course its foundation lies in 9/11. That's the nature of the human spirit. Part of what draws us to these films is the catharsis they offer, after living through so much fear and national anguish.

    Someone send that woman some screening tix.

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  3. Ok People, you've heard the lady! No more monsters attack in NY! :P

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  4. Well, that Merideth Blake just doesn't know what she's talking about. I'm sorry, ms. Blake, but New York IS the only recognizable US city for an average foreign viewer and that film is distributed worldwide.

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  5. Last time I checked, the SoL wasn't attacked on 9/11. Her argument is stupid.

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  6. Astonishing. But, sadly, predictable.

    I like how Ms. Hoagland has decided that Cloverfield should not have been about anything other than al Qaeda. That's hysterical.

    I guess Independence Day should have been about Moamar Qaddaffi. And while we're at it, maybe Kim Jong Il burning down Las Vegas in Mars Attacks would have made more sense to her as well.

    Someone's always going to be offended. But like we used to say in high school, it's not a truly good party unless the cops show up.

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  7. blurboy said... Part of what draws us to these films is the catharsis they offer, after living through so much fear and national anguish.

    Here's a quote from Matt Reeves, the director:

    "[It works] in the same way that Godzilla was really a metaphor for its time, and was a sort of movie about the A-bomb and Hiroshima and all of that," he says. "The idea of it dealing with the anxiety of that time and that's why it captured so much attention because it tapped right into people's anxieties… I think that what was really interesting here was knowing that we were going to be dealing with the metaphor of what this was and dealing with the anxieties of our time. We thought that there would be something really sort of powerful about the idea, like in the trailer, having this very naturalistic, realistic vibe, and having you start to say, 'What is going on? This seems like a horrifying event.' And then suddenly when you see the head, everything starts to tilt like a prism. And you're like, 'Wait a minute. That couldn't be terrorism because what did they do, take off the head of the Statue of Liberty and throw it at New York? What's with that?' It evokes these things and in a way enables us -- the fun of it, the idea of it -- it enables you to approach those feelings and deal with it in a safer way. So it ends up being a kind of thrill ride and it's also evocative of those feelings and hopefully has resonance as well. At the end of the day, the movie is this giant monster movie. But there is something in the idea of what monster movies do for us, and how they can deal with our anxieties and our fears, and we really hope that this works in that way."

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  8. Oh good grief, it's just a movie. I'm a stones throw from NYC, and it doesn't bother me in the least. She should just go see Enchanted or something.

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  9. I know.
    What if Al Qaeda invaded the Chuai station and created a monster physically similar to Bin Laden (but you know... BIGGER) to show New York (and especially that poor gal Statue of Liberty) who the boss is.
    Would Ms. Hoagland be enjoying SUCH kind of deeply touching movie?

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  10. it seems so unfair that catastrophic/apocalyptic movies made after 9/11 must always have some relation to 9/11, even unintentionally. there's always some viewer with a keen eye just dying to make some sort of barely evident connection, usually not even implied. maybe i'm just extremely unobservant, and there really is an underlying secret message connecting cloverfield to 9/11. :/

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  11. I love New York. After having spent many excursions in New York City both working and playing, and hours in traffic there, I feel it will be refreshing, fun and therapeutic to see the island plundered and torn to shred's. After all, it's the Big Apple-take a bite!

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  12. ...taking advantage of the awful images of 9/11 and is doing it for its own profit. Unless the message is profound, unless it's talking about al Qaeda or one of al Qaeda's evil cousins, then it really should not be showing us images of the Statue of Liberty decapitated, beheaded and the images of lower Manhattan in flames.

    I dunno, I think the 9/11 movie kinda did that already. Your idea had it's turn. This is an original story. Seriously, though, doesn't anyone get tired of hearing about 9/11?

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  13. Wow, I never even thought of this! Perhaps Bin Laden took refuge in the sea, ate some sea nectar, and on January 18th is coming back to finish the job. Heck, it sounds better than some of the other theories out there!

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  14. Good God! Why do people feel that because they have suffered a tragedy in their lives they are entitled to censor any thing that doesn't shine a glorious light on the victims. I won't continue for fear of becoming to political but can i just say, we live in a free country and the offended do not make the rules.

    And i really hope Kock was joking cause thats kind of a horrible thing to say

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  15. ItsALion said... Wow, I never even thought of this! Perhaps Bin Laden took refuge in the sea, ate some sea nectar, and on January 18th is coming back to finish the job. Heck, it sounds better than some of the other theories out there!

    Mister Grumpy Turban?

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  16. A 300 foot bin Laden would be pretty funny.

    RRAAAWWWRRRRRR

    stomp stomp stomp

    The of course we would have to create our own monster to fight it. Maybe animate the statue of Abraham Lincoln like they did on South Park, when it teamed up with Robert Smith of The Cure to battle Mecha-Streisand.

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  17. unless it's talking about al Qaeda or one of al Qaeda's evil cousins

    As if "al Qaeda" is a person...

    The only exploitation here is publicizing these people's lousy and unintelligent opinions.

    Mister Grumpy Turban?
    { ):-[

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  18. has anyone noticed the new york skyline reflected into the ocean at the very end of the new lost promo? i just saw it on espn and then looked it up on the abc website. it's weird.

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  19. I think, making more and more movies about 9/11 or some other horrible event in some way depreciates (is there such a word?) the loss. Makes it more common, more McDonalds... Respect is not only about shouting out loud "We remember! We remember! We want everyone to remember so let's shoot another 9/11 movie every 3 months!" Silent respect seems to be a more delicate way to remember.

    By being so annoying these shouting 'victim'-people have left us at the strangest point: every next movie intentionally concerning 9/11 will automatically be considered as pretentious and pathos. Unfortunately.

    ---

    If it's a huge Bin Laden destroying NY, then Marlena must be exploding of anger and pure hatred to Al Qaeda. All these righteous patriotic feelings, you know, fill her up and she goes BOOM!

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  20. Oh man, Youtube community! That's a challenge! Someone make a hysterical slightly tasteless anonymous parody! Please???

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  21. I dont understand how this movie has images of 9/11. War of the worlds had a more of a 9/11 feeling, Dakoto Fannings character even said, "is it the terrorist". Then you have the 9/11 movie that actually depicted 9/11. Like someone said before the SOL was never attacked so I dont know where she is getting that is an image of 9/11. And the streets being on fire, weve seen some trailers but i dont think the streets were on fire.

    Im not trying to say that she doesnt have the right to be sad and everything but coming after this movie is stupid, especially when she doenst even know more about the movie.

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  22. I'm sorry guys, but I have to agree with Ms. Blake here. Honestly, am I supposed to believe that a real sea monster would rather go to NYC than Orlando(especially in January)? Everybody knows that winter is the season for Disney World. -tubby

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  24. I know the woman must be upset about her loss...but if the movie was set in Philadelphia and shown in Europe, most people wouldn't be able to identify the city from its landmarks. New York is instantly recognizable...only maybe Washington DC or San Fran could compare, but nowhere near the same level.

    New York is the most famous city in the world, of course that's where a lot of movies will be set.

    And it's a monster...not a terrorist. How stupid is she???

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  25. And wtf does this lady want to see, the monster saluting to a American Flag?

    And is that a quote al Qaeda's evil cousins?

    And she must understand New York being a attack target isnt a "fictional shaft"

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  26. Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch has a different theory:

    They want to see our skyscrapers destroyed because they are envious of them.


    Sorry but that quote is awesome! I know I am envious of NY! :)


    Some people are more sensitive than others. I think there's been enough time passed for a movie like this to be in the theaters with little backlash.

    NY in a sense is the heart of the US in a sense you have so much entertainment and economic importances there. I mean why would terrorist attack NY if it wasnt.

    There were many movies before that had Washington DC destroyed (most of those movies I can think of inolved Aliens though...) so I dont necessarily think NY is the only targeted city.

    Love your blog BTW, so much easier to read updates here then to check forum spam.

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  28. Be nice people! Please, no personal attacks.

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  29. How many times on that terrible day in 2001 did we say something along the lines of "This is something out of a movie"?
    Since King Kong in 1938 (?), NYC has been a target of filmmakers because it represents American ingenuity and the American way of doing things bigger and better. The fact that when people come to our country to visit they want to see NYC says something about how powerful this city is.Every grand scale disaster movie involves a scene of NYC in one way or another.
    NYC is something that you could only find in America, so it is kind of "America's City". Everyone knows it and loves it. Forget the fact that it looks great on film, people care about NYC. would anyone care if Charleston, SC was stomped on(apart from those who live there?)?
    Living 10 minutes from the city, I vividly remember everything from that day. Seeing the smoke, hearing the sirens all day, helping out and smelling smoke for a week. One has nothing to do with the other. People need to separate reality from fiction. Remembering is important, but it shouldn't keep us from moving forward.

    That is why terrorists chose New York as their target. It represents everything about America.

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  30. This has been argued almost to silliness on unfiction. I'm sorry for her loss, but MGP is not a metaphor for terrorist attack. People will pick at anything to keep from picking at their own scabs covering still semi-fresh wounds. She probably saw the commercial after or during Dick Clark and it poked at her hurt spot, so she poked back.

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  31. I GOT IT---cloverfield is the monster that always was.... except he's pissed cuz he's all jacked up on slusho... so technically its a monster, on drugs, and drugs are bad, mmmkay??

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  33. something i think is missing from this analysis though is that while, yeah, nyc is iconographic, and that is certainly the bulk of the reasoning behind destroying it in fiction, that and the population here is so concentrated that smaller destructions have larger human death tolls. that while that is true, a lot of folks who do not live here don't mind seeing nyc destroyed because they consider it the sodom and gomorrah of the US today.

    maybe i'm a little wrong, but considering the country's reactions to the -actual- attack on the city, viewed vis a vis general attitudes towards new yorkers, i think it factors in as well.

    ps. while i have no problem with cloverfield's destruction of ny or the poster, nothing is 'just a movie'. all things have cultural impact and implications, socio-political ramifications and meaning.

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  35. Stuve said... LA got smashed up in Dragon Wars, and DC has been blown up countless times. Merideth Blake needs to see the other movies. Look at this survey: Monster movie settings: Cloverfield: NYC Look! They're all in NYC! She hasn't checked anything else. Of course Cloverfield is a metaphor for 9/11, it's not a bad thing. If you want a bad thing, look at the ending for I Am Legend: Spoilers to I Am Legend: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx End spoilers What kind of message is that sending?

    Stuve, thanks for ruining the ending of I Am Legend!


    Kyle aka TheBookPolice said... Decapitated and beheaded, huh? Jeez that sounds bad. Down with all bad things! Bad is bad! Bad is bad! Bad is BAD!

    PS 9/11 was a Tuesday


    Please read the first post :)

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  36. This is funny this lady doesnt really know how much good shes doing for the movie i know people that will see the movie just because if was on the news.

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  37. All I have to ask is... Does anyone else have their tickets to Cloverfield yet? I got mine yesterday midnight showing on 01-17... HELL YEAH!!! just wondering...

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  38. I will say something about this, even if i thinks is not neccesary.

    I beleive that there is Fiction and there is Reality, Fiction is to take people to places they can´t be sometimes, to entertain only.

    I don´t beleive mentioning AlQaeda or anything about that is matter for a Fiction Movie. We remember all the 9/11 movies and i never saw anyone complaning about it, live goes on, Remember Hotel Rwanda (need to say more?)

    Please, do not take this further, is not even worth the effort to compare one thing with another, Pepsi and Coke are alike but not the same.

    There are Thousands of movies where every icon on it is destroyed...so?

    Whoever wrotte that... This is MOVIE BUSSINES, Fantasy, Fiction, Entertainment and in the end BUSSINESS

    And the world does not Stop!!.

    Hugs all.

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  39. I saw the golden compass for the religous implications.
    BAM!
    and Sabbit, I would love to make a tasteless video anonymously. Unfortunatly, i would have to sign up all over again, because i have a production "Company" under my current name.
    Im to recognizable im afraid.
    And on of our fans got offended at a video with a person named ahkmed in it. Not like I gave a crap, but still.
    And she ratted me out to my school for one of my friends videos, long story, involved a bb gun, columbine and whatnot, very bad things.

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  42. Opps, should have read "son".

    Also, what the heck does MGP stand for???

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  43. Hope i'm not overstepping the political debate mark. But I bet she wasn't annoyed when cities in the middle east were getting blown to shreds. That probably caused alot of tragedy with families over there. And there's no need to censor everyone else's fun. I feel like a dick saying it because she's felt tragedy, but it's slightly selfish.

    (sorry if i offended anyone) =/

    Anyone care to debate on the fate of Mr Monster? Killed, captured, nests, buggers off?

    what do you think?

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  44. decypher44 said... Sorry that her sun died, but she needs to STFU. Here is a video of her protesting the movie of Flight 93: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkWUSs7lNzY Also, do a google search on her name. She just wants to be in front of the cameras.

    Lets please keep things polite! Thank you!

    MGP = Mister Grumpy Pants

    It's a stupid name for the monster used by some people at Unfiction.

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  45. Im a bigger fan of Mr. GoanF*ckyouUpsucka

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  46. 1984 was a good year for Ms. Blake.

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  47. I find it insulting that she says they can only make this movie if it's about Al Queda...that's one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. Of course she has the right to say that, but that same right must be given to the film makers to let them say what they want and believe. It's a two way street lady.

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  48. The same love for America that this lady thinks will protect her rights is the same rights that Paramount and any other bisunessand persons get.

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  49. Hey, Jones
    http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii102/fireemtsgirl/silenceIkillyou.jpg I wonder if they like Jeff Dunhum's standup ventriliquism? :D One of his puppets is Achmed, the Dead Terrorist. I love standup comedy.

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  50. Mrs. Blake's nutso reaction is part of the terrorist's aim. They want it to be all about them. So she's just playing to them.

    Sorry to say that, but it's true.

    Fortunately, most of us aren't going to kowtow to that sort of nonsense.

    NY is not all about 9/11. 9/11 is an event, period. It's one we should never forget, but it does NOT define NYC. NYC is New York City, where sometimes very bad things happen.

    Cool movies happen there too :-)

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  51. Exactly what I was thinking looney. 9/11 is a horrible evnt but that's all that it is. NY is not just 9/11. I don't think it's right, or rather it's annoying that all things to do with NY would HAVE to have something to do with terrorism. What, now does King Kong have to resemble al Qaeda and it's ability to spread all through NY? NO! It's a friggin movie about a giant friggin gorilla. Cloverfield is a movie about a giant friggin...whatever... attacking NY. It's doesn't have to be about terrorism and frankly, I'm glad it's not about terrorism. I'll terrorismed out from the news. I just want to see an entertaining movie.

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  52. What was the last good Sci-fi or giant monster movie you saw where the back drop was Toledo or DesMoines. If we change the way we live, the terrorists have won.

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  53. If Godzilla was a metaphor to the nation-wide fear of Hirosima, i wonder, what will be the metaphor of Cloverfield? I know, we can not know that now we haven't seen the movie yet but still.

    We know that Abrams is not just about entertainment. His works all have very strong and obvious metaphors.

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  54. Dennis: What?? I can't make a parallel between kneejerk reaction to Cloverfield's imagery (the topic you started) and the kneejerk reaction to Steven Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondent's dinner?

    If the implication is that I'm engaging in the "propaganda" you forbade, then screw you. I'm tired of "talking about things" equalling "political snark and propaganda".

    Looks like about a gajillion other people mentioned 9/11 in their comments. I await their deletion.

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  55. Kyle...

    I don't have a problem with you making "a parallel between kneejerk reaction to Cloverfield's imagery and the kneejerk reaction to Steven Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondent's dinner?"

    No offense, but that's not exactly what you did. Dennis Miller makes less arcane references.

    I'm tired of "talking about things" equalling "political snark and propaganda".

    The whole point is... I don't really want any political debate here...that's not what this website is about. I was loathe to even report this "news" because I knew exactly how this comments section would turn out.

    Looks like about a gajillion other people mentioned 9/11 in their comments.

    That's because the post was about 9/11, not about the Steven Colbert's speech.

    I await their deletion.

    Although I deleted your comment, I reposted everything except for the link (admittedly, the Tuesday comment doesn't make any sense without the link).

    Feel free to email me and we can discuss it further.

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  56. It's not worth it. It was funny because it was a silly and arcane way to take offense at something non-controversial. Colbert makes a joke, some blowhard manages to turn it into a comment on 9/11 and terrorism and the result is so nonsensical and absurd that one has to laugh. That seemed to be the same point you were making about these early critics of Cloverfield.

    Ultimately, I made one small comment and it got deleted. This is about as much as I feel like debating the merits of that decision. It's your site.

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  57. Hmm. Given the context of monster movies, I find it interesting that someone is willing to take offense at NYC being the target of fictional destruction. After all, it's nearly a given that any Japanese monster movie will culminate in widespread destruction of Tokyo and (always!) the levelling of the Tokyo Tower. It's not because of crass commercialism or "skyscraper envy". It's because they are iconic images. They speak to a common standard of urban living and architectural achievement, and therefore destroying them is all the more significant. That it has happened so many times just makes it a tradition... and therefore even more iconic.

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  58. Since when is downtown LA 'suburban'?

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  59. May I just ask... does anyone else notice the new line "You'll never forget"? does anyone else think it's similar to all the "9/11 We'll never forget" rhetoric we heard after September 11?

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  60. What Alice is missing in her comments is the fact that history influences our fiction, even subconsciously. I agree completely with Matt Reeves, the original Godzilla films were born of the horror of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.

    She says this movie parodies those images, but with all due respect to her loss, she apparently doesn’t understand what the word parody refers to. There’s no making fun of 9-11 here, but what the movie does tap into is the deep-seated dread of the idea that things on a huge scale can come and tear our lives apart, and many people (both in New York and elsewhere) feel helpless to stop it.

    But what she cannot seem to grasp is that is what fiction DOES. That’s what it’s for. It gives us an outlet to express our fears and our pain in a way that is “safe” to examine. That’s always what horror films were about, being able to look at death and the fear of death in a safe way, a pretend way.

    One of the girls in the trailer (as they are running outside the building) says “Is it another terrorist attack?” (So I don’t think the movie makers can say that that image wasn’t part of the creation of the Cloverfield Myth). But that doesn’t point to the idea of them cashing in 9-11 as this women seems to think. I believe this kind of fiction is just as valid an examination of our own fears as any of the “based on a true story” 9-11 movies.

    I feel bad that these posters make her uncomfortable, but I also think she doesn’t really have the ability to subjectively understand what the real connection to 9-11 this film has: Not parody or exploitation, but a real understanding of how much this moment in history is still affecting us, and will for our whole lives. It’s our pearl harbor. Its our moment the “monster” came up out of the nowhere and struck at us.

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  61. No offense or anything, but hasn't been a little over 6 years since 9/11?

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