Thursday, January 31, 2008

Trailer Of The Movie : World Trade Center

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

By Peck's definition, I think the movie depicts 9/11 as a tragedy because it 'facilitates mourning and generates memory' and 'stages moments when the systems people live by fall apart and fail them.' I think it focuses more on remembering the victims and heroes of 9/11 than the perpetrators and thus avoids pitting the two against each other in terms of hero and villain

Anonymous said...

I think the trailer is very melodramatic. Melodrama and tragedy inherently share certain elements but i feel this trailer is clearly melodramatic. By emphasizing the classical music, the slow motion shots, the love note written while in the debris, and the tagline stating America Saw Evil, the trailer is clearly attempting to appeal to a broad audience and try to play to our emotions. However, there is no sign of "advancing" the idea of 9/11. This is a melodramatic re-telling and does not reveal America's hubris nor does it reveal an awful truth about America. These are two things that must be done, according to Peck, in order for something to be tragic. There is no interrogation of America in this film, only a memorial to the dead.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the majority of the posters that this clip is more tragic than melodramatic. The tone is sorrowful and poignant, and is “a genre of suffering and witness.” This movie will not be about good fighting evil and exaggerated emotions. The plotline following two brave men is very sincere, and the anguish is almost tangible. James Peck emphasizes the “us” vs. “them” mentality of melodrama, but this story is of brave individuals risking their lives. Peck mentions “the ripples” of a tragic event, and the clips of the fire fighters’ families clearly show that the movie will focus on this suffering. I am glad that this movie is not in the melodramatic tone, because I think that would be in poor taste.

Anonymous said...

I think that the movie World Trade Center depicts 9/11 in a melodramatic manner. According to Peck, "The defining feature of tragedy is that peripety leads to recognition... which results in the 'tragic characters [seeing] themselves in a new light." The trailer of World Trade Center focuses more on the devastating effects of the 9/11 attacks and does not hint at the characters seeing "themselves in a new light." It does however portray America as the innocent hero attacked by the evil villain.

Unknown said...

The trailer for the movie World Trade Center is depicted as melodramatic from the images right down to the music. The trailer does not concentrate on the actual attacks of 9/11 but the lives of the policemen. The part closest to the end of the trailer shows images of the men inside the building as it crumbles down around them. In the background violins are playing heartfelt music as we see memories of their lives flash before them. The trailer indicated that the movie will be a story about the lives of the policemen rather then the tragic events of 9/11.

Anonymous said...

To me, this trailer is both melodramatic and tragic. The music and lighting are both very melodramatic, yet at the same time it is the classic good vs evil as these policemen risking their lives are trapped under the debris. The trailer does generate memories as Peck mentioned in his definition of tragedy. So, as much as I hate to stay on the fence, I really do believe that it is both melodramatic and tragic.

Anonymous said...

I think that the trailer shows both genres: Tragedy and Melodrama.
It is a tragedy because the fall of the two towers is a very bad incident, and the death of thousands of people who lost their love ones is a bad result from the incident.
It is melodramatic because the fall of the two towers involves a Villain, for anything to be melodramatic, Heros and Villains must be involved.

Unknown said...

The clip portrays o)11 as melodramatic. The combination of music, voice, lighting, video, and text, exxagerate certain aspects of the event. Like Peck said, "melodrama is pleasing like a Twinkie, but like a Twinkie it´s a lie." I do not believe in Twinkies, and I do not believe that 9/11 was like that. The clip does not question whether America did something that could have catalyzed this, or whether the evil is not the completely the terrorists fault.

Anonymous said...

While the trailer contains melodramatic elements, as a whole, the clip is presented more as a tragedy. The trailer doesn't present the movie that will contain an us vs. them mentality, but focuses rather on the bonds and courageousness of the firefighters on that day. And while we know who the heroes and villains are, based solely on the clip, the film will focus on the heroes rather than villains. The clip presents the audience with a story about human strength, friendship, loss, and suffering in a tasteful way.

Anonymous said...

What struck me as most interesting about this trailer was the lack of the "bad guys." The trailer only depicts the victims and the heroes of 9/11 - never the terrorists. It's possible that this was for political correctness, but I think it's a choice that's supported by Peck's idea that tragedy should promote self-reflection. It's hard to depict good and evil as black and white when the evil isn't depicted at all; thus by Peck's definition, this trailer isn't melodrama at all. That said, I wouldn't exactly say the trailer is self-reflective - it doesn't seem to be very critical of America's reaction to 9/11 - and it certainly has some typically melodramatic elements. But overall, I think its emphasis is on America rather than the "bad guys," which means the film's effect on an American audience should indeed be self-reflection.