Oh well, so much for the smut idea. :)
People's seemingly unrelated remarks about serial killers and 9-11 made
me think of an essay that I recently read by a fellow grad student. It
might be interesting to apply theories of gender (and possibly race,
class, etc...) to your ideas about "crossing the line" in TV shows.
Maybe different categories of viewers would have different boundaries,
and different tolerance levels for the macabre?
Here's the link to the essay I mention above:
McGonigal, Jane. "Watching Horror: A Gendered Look at Terrorism, or,
Everything I Needed to Know, I Learned in PSYCHO." November 2001.
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/17/symposium/mcgonigal.html
While I can identify with McGonigal's testimony about how she learned
to watch horror movies about serial killers through the
calculated 'repetition' or 'serial' nature of the attacks being shown
(each attack was a little easier to view than the last), I don't think
I agree with her about the "parallel" between this type of viewing, and
viewing footage of 9-11.
I think perhaps the reason why I disagree with her is because I
witnessed the events of 9-11 "live" (and also mediated, of course).
The "horror" I experienced was not one of, "I can't bear to look." I
was, above all, mesmerized and captivated by the images I saw that
morning. Rather, the "horror" or "shock" of the experience came from
not being able to understand *what* I was seeing, and how it could be
happening to those familiar yet hitherto unthought-about buildings. The
WTC Towers had always been there, in the background of my jogging
route; but I never entered them or had any personal association with
them. The thought of someone attacking them was incomprehensible: why?
The only televisual footage to which I had a similar reaction as I
might to a movie about serial killers was the footage of people jumping
from the buildings. That was inhumane and horrific; I didn't know how
the reporters could bear to film those falling bodies, and nor could I
imagine what was going through people's minds as they jumped. I think
Barbara Coleman's comments about how we prefer non-human forms
of "horror" become very tangible with respect to 9-11: I can now watch
the planes hitting the buildings, and have become very desensitized to
images of the towers collapsing, and of the rumble that covered the
city. What I still can't bear to watch (or have a harder time not
getting emotional about) are the human stories of loss and grief.
----- Original Message -----
From: Lizzie Bishop <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, March 20, 2006 6:34 am
Subject: Re: Hello
> Hi Vic, interesting basis for a documentary, i have been looking
> into
> similar research for my dissertation. i have found that ther is
> noticeable
> query into the fact of what the distance is between the event that
> happened
> and the arrival of visitors to the site....take 9/11 for example,
> people
> still came to visit to show support or just curiosity. I have a
> friend who
> went the year after the tragedy and he said he felt some what of
> an outsider
> and rude because he felt he shouldnt be taking photos as people
> were still
> mourning and he hadnt experienced what they were going thru.
> also u may want to look at how long it will be before all types of
> suffering
> are jus generalised for tourist experiences and its just the norm
> whether
> its good or bad
>
> good luck
>
> elizabeth
>
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