Discuss how the events in New York on September 11th 2001 have been adapted into the opening of the movie World Trade Centre.

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Evan Araia

GCSE English: Media Assignment

Discuss how the events in New York on September 11th 2001 have been adapted into the opening of the movie World Trade Centre.

For this media assignment we looked at the first 25 minutes of the film World Trade Centre (WTC). WTC was a 2006 American disaster film directed by Oliver stone and was based on the September 11 attacks on the WTC towers of New York City. Oliver Stone in this film mainly focused on the heroism and bravery involved in the rescue men and two Port Authority officers; Jon McGlocklin played by Nicholas Cage and Will Jimeno played by Michael Peña.

I believe the reason Oliver stone chose this story from over thousands of stories to choose from because at those times bravery and heroism was what was the biggest matter to the Americans. Every American citizen wanted to see the pictures of rescuers and helpers not the picture of the towers collapsing or anything that reminds them about the event in a decadent way. Hence it was a positive way to look at the attacks; to know that America fought back not just plummet into destruction. The public want to hear and see the never-give-up spirit showed by them in that ghastly day that everyone hates to remember.

The September 11 attacks especially the ones on the WTC had massive effects and impacts on the future of the world. In that day of the WTC attacks 2,605 people died; 200 of these jumped off the buildings to their deaths and many more were injured. The economy moreover took a huge downfall in NYC therefore affecting almost all the world. Some American stock exchanges were also closed for the rest of the week which cost U.S. stocks $1.4 trillion in value for the week. The attacks also gave other countries a kick to make their Airport securities water tight and very strict so that they don’t face the same misfortune as USA. The event also triggered numerous hate crimes against Middle-Eastern and “Middle-Eastern looking” people in the days that followed. Some where even shot just because of who they were. Additionally it left over 3000 children without one or more parents. On top of this hundreds of planes had to be grounded and more than 500 flights to USA were to be turned back or re-directed.

Oliver Stones had this huge task to compile all the emotions of these effects in to the film. However Stone chose to make the rescue operations and the emotions of the ones buried in the rubbles and their families. This makes the audience appreciate the efforts that has gone to rescue the only 20 people to be rescued from the rubbles and also makes you sympathize for their families. Although that was the main theme in the film, my emphasis will be on the first 25 minutes and break it down to understand how Stone introduces the spectator to the terribly opening of the event.

The film starts with a dark and silent 5 seconds followed by a camera shot of an alarm clock at the time 3:29. This illustrates to the viewer the time at the start of the film. It was also a connotation used to show the importance of time as all the audience would probably know that time was of the essence. The lack of lighting in the starts I believe was used as a comparison when bright sunshine flashes through the screen when the day gets brighter. We see McGlocklin getting out of his bed, getting a shower: you all the things you do in the morning before you go to school or work. But one thing that stood out was that he went to each of his children’s bedrooms to check on them. As soon as he opens that first door a non-diagetic thoughtful music starts to play. This part connotates the vulnerability and fragility of us humans especially the ones in the film.

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Generally the first ten minutes of film were showing the ordinary things that people got up to in a typical September day in NYC. There shots of people going to work by buses, ferries, trains and cars. We also see some focus on the main characters i.e. the five officers that go in to the building to try and rescue some people. This shots show us that no one had any idea that a plane was going to fly into the WTC or that some people were going to be dead in a couple of hours. They were just ...

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