FIRESTORM ii AP PHOTO / mark lennihan iii STEPHEN PRINCE FIRESTORM AMERICAN FILM IN THE AGE OF TERRORISM COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS New York COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS Publishers Since 1893 New York    Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 2009 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Prince, Stephen, 1955– (cid:16)(cid:16)Firestorm : American fi lm in the age of terrorism / Stephen Prince. (cid:16)(cid:16)(cid:16)(cid:16)(cid:16)p. cm. (cid:16)(cid:16)Includes bibliographical references and index. (cid:16)(cid:16)ISBN 978-0-231-14870-2 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-231-14871-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-231-52008-9 (ebook) (cid:16)1. Motion pictures —United States —History—21st century.(cid:16)2. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001—Infl uence.(cid:16)3. Motion pictures—Political aspects— United States.(cid:16)4. Terrorism in motion pictures.(cid:16)5. Psychic trauma in motion pictures.(cid:16)6. War in motion pictures.(cid:16)I. Title. PN1993.5.U6P745 2009 791.43'6552—dc22 2009013483 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid- free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America C(cid:2) 10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1 P(cid:2)10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. COVER & INTERIOR DESIGN BY MARTIN N . HINZE For my parents CONTENTS Ac know ledg ments ix Introduction 1 1. Theater of Mass Destruction 17 2. Shadows Once Removed 71 3. Ground Zero in Focus 124 4. Battleground Iraq 173 5. Terrorism on the Small Screen 234 6. No End in Sight 281 Appendix 1: Historical Timeline 311 Appendix 2: Filmography 325 Notes 347 Bibliography 363 Index 373 AC KNOW LEDG MENTS On a delightful evening in Lund, Erik Hedling spoke enthusiastically to me about Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy and about how the fi lm was not sim- ply an epic about the ancient world but was a symbolic drama about cur- rent events. Erik’s insight planted the seed that grew into this project. I thank him for that and for his gra- cious hospitality. I worked out some of the ideas in the book by fi rst presenting them in a Virginia Tech colloquium on fi lm and terrorism sponsored by the Humani- ties Department. Neal King kindly invited me to participate in that event. I’d also like to thank the panelists and lively audience members at a session on terrorism and fi lm at the 2008 SCMS conference in Philadelphia. The session showed how salient the events of 2001 yet remain. It was a pleasure working with Columbia University Press. Special thanks go to Jennifer Crewe, Associ- ate Director and Editorial Director, for her keen interest in the project, for green-lighting my various requests,