Media Representations Of September 11th

The first group I am going to look at is action illustrations. The picture to the left shows the two twin towers on fire beyond the Brooklyn Bridge. It could be an image from a movie, a set up photograph in which the star spangled banner represents the American Dream, in contrast the burning buildings, the American Nightmare. The media has obviously chosen to publish this image as a way of showing the shock of the disaster. A normal day in America, the normal flag flying on the Brooklyn Bridge, the normal view of the famous twin towers, except they are on fire. It intends to really hammer home the fateful and unexpected events of the 11th of September 2001.

This picture once again could be taken straight from a movie. The towering symbols of capitalism plummeting to the ground. The media has chosen this image because it shows how the towers fell and the obvious fast rate at which they did. It seems unreal which is another reason to publish this photograph, in fact it is reality. I think this image would make many Americans feel angry at what had happened and how dangerous and instant death would have been had you been in the tower when they were struck or fell.

The nest set of images I am going to look at are the personal images of people. The media had to censor a lot of illustrations and could not publish all of them because many would have been too horrific or disturbing to the general public of dead bodies or severely injured people.

This image shows the terror faced by people in the midst of the attack. As the building collapses they run for their lives. It shows and makes you feel frightened and scared for the people running from the dust. Many of the people running appear to be normal office workers dressed in shirts and ties. The main message trying to be conveyed in this illustration is how unexpected the attack was and when the building feel how many people were still in the vicinity, normal, innocent, civilians.

There were images of people jumping from the towers splashed across all the newspapers. It was intended to show how desperate people were for their lives and thought jumping would be there only form of escape although it meant certain death. The images were shown of people jumping, none were published of people hitting the ground or lying dead. We can only assume that because no images were shown of survivors everyone who jumped died. Some of the images showed people holding hands as they jumped, these images were meant to stir emotions in the readers and make you feel distressed and angered at their desperation because of the terrorist attacks on financial icons of power.

The third group of images are symbolic. These images are mainly patriotic and show Americas rise against the terrorist attacks.

I feel this image includes several emotions and sums up the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. The banner hung from a building reads, " We will never forget" This shows Americas hurt and anger at the way they were attacked and their feelings immediately after the attack. The American flag symbolises America's still reigning independence and patriotism after the attack, it hangs from a ruined building. Rescue workers are shown in the middle of the illustration, searching for survivors. The rubble at the forefront of the image shows the devastation caused by the attack. This image is intended to show that America will fight back against terrorism and remains optimistic in their search for survivors amidst the damage caused by the hijackers.

To me this image symbolises America's determination to rise from these attacks and still to remain an independent capitalist country. It is a gesture of defiance against the attacks. The fire fighters struggle to raise the flag, America will struggle to recover but eventually they will. This image is an emotive one full of patriotism, it is intended to inspire the public to not give in to these terrorist attacks and hate their country because of America's political situation.

The images from the media have shown Americas plight during and after the terrorist hijackings. The medias response has been one of total support for America. They have shown a biased representation of the attacks, but as westernised newspapers read by many Americans and supporters of America this is to be expected. Although, the media have shown contrasting images of the aftermath of the attack, Palestinians celebrating in the streets alongside pictures of Yasa Arafat giving blood, this is a good representation by the media of one countries completely different reactions to the attacks. All of the images of the World Trade Centre Attacks and also the limited pictures of the Pentagon and Pennsylvania attack show Americans grief of the victims, but their determination to rise against terrorism and to remain the most powerful nation in the world.