American Culture Transformed This page intentionally left blank American Culture Transformed Dialing 9/11 Bruce Tucker University of Windsor, Canada and Priscilla L. Walton Carleton University, Canada © Bruce Tucker and Priscilla L. Walton 2012 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-137-03349-9 ISBN 978-1-137-00234-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137002341 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 For Michael Dorland and Christina Simmons, and Matthew and Daniel Tucker-Simmons This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface x Acknowledgments xvi 1 Heroes, Hype, and History 1 The times they are a’changin’ 1 The star system 5 Millennial politics 9 The facts: September 11, 2001 11 Poetry after Auschwitz? 21 Vonnegut is dead! Long live Vonnegut! 22 Portraying trauma 25 2 Spinning and Counter-Spinning Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England 26 Other stories 28 Unofficial stories 29 From Hollywood to home 30 Women in the military: Hollywood’s army 31 Women and the military: feminist and anti-feminist arguments 33 An Appalachian story 34 Stories within stories 37 War stories 39 An imperial captivity narrative 40 Abu Ghraib: narratives of corruption and empire 41 A few rotten apples 44 Anomalies? 45 Outrage! 47 The good, the bad and the ugly? 49 Violence 51 Other interpretations 51 Frames 53 Damage control 54 vii viii Contents 3 Corporate Complications 58 Martha: the media and the mogul 59 Women and 9/11 60 The media and the mogul 61 Cookbooks and catering 62 The “Stewies” 67 Trial and error 69 Interval: from blahniks to burkas 70 From burkas to bags 73 “Anti-diva spite”? Or self-recognition? 74 Release and redemption? 76 Apprenticing for Martha Stewart 77 Postmodern finances and bankruptcies of meaning 80 The postmodernity of Enron 84 The jewel in the crown? 85 Virtual energy 87 Special party entities or superb personal earnings? 89 “Liquidization” 91 The spin 92 4 Sometimes Paranoia Is Just Common Sense: Leaving Behind Da Vinci 95 Wardrobe malfunctions 96 Everything & nothing 98 Cracking “the code” 99 “The greatest story ever told is the greatest story ever sold” (267) 100 “The greatest cover-up in human history” (249) 102 “[I’ve been] serious enough to have spent a year researching it” (163) 104 “Everyone loves a conspiracy” (169) 107 “The Christian church was to be carried on by a woman?” (248) 108 She for God in him 110 Rewriting the code 111 Fact or fiction? 112 The law and the code 114 Filming the code 115 Left Behind 117 Contents ix The Rapture 120 The End Times continue 122 Patriarchal paradoxes? 124 The series’ revelations 125 Fixity and Faludi 126 May the force be with you 127 5 A Movie and a Funeral: Michael Moore and Ronald Reagan circa 2004 130 The funeral 130 The new Reaganism 133 The legacy 135 The movie 138 The political terrain 139 Counter-discourse 141 Truth or consequences? 143 Globalization? 146 The temperature at which freedom burns 150 Conclusion: Fast Forward 153 Notes 157 List of Works Cited 160 Index 172