(These are notes, quotes and emotes regarding my
"War of the Worlds" critique. Go
there first if you
haven't already.
Further Analysis
The story
behind the update. At first I thought Spielberg might have fashioned the
Tim Robbins character to represent protesters, say, those against the war in
Iraq. But that allegory doesn't work because Robbins never wants to avoid
fighting the enemy, he never suggests diplomacy; if anything he's a little too gung
ho.
Of course
there are moments when it's perfectly acceptable to compliment a Black on his or
her ball playing ability--like during a game. However, if all one does is
mention ball-playing abilities in reference to a certain race, yes, that one
just might be a racist. And to be racist is to voluntarily limit and/or
shortchange oneself.
I used the
word "cannibalism" for a very specific reason. On our planet
there's a group of people who are not being hypocritical if/when they behave in
a "dog eat dog" manner toward a fellow member of their group.
These people are called cannibals. Many of us have the commandment "Thou
shalt not kill" to thank for being alive. We can email our thanks
that this directive came about to those who
wrote the Torah and/or the Old Testament and/or those of the Judeo-Christian
persuasion. It is rumored, however, that this law
itself has been updated (speaking of updates), and that though it was originally
made by and for Jews and covered everyone (i.e. thou shalt not kill anyone), it
later became understood that Jews were allowed to kill Gentiles
(non-Jews)
during times of war. My question:
is Spielberg attempting to update this law still again, a la "it's even ok
for Jews to
kill fellow Jews if they are being noisy"?
Yes, in the
business world "dog eat dog" is old hat. Taking the moral high
ground is a joke if your business partner recently stabbed you in the back, and
now he's lighting cigars with $100 bills and you're eating Top Ramen with
wieners.
I doubt that
very many Jews who were wrongfully put to death during the 1930s and 1940s in or
near Germany have fellow Jews to blame for their being forced onto cattle cars.
Not hardly.
What I find
questionable about Spielberg's thesis, though, is that at first he says--in the
mob/van-stealing scene--to "get out of there, run, save your skin, save
your family, don't just start wildly shooting"... but then in the cellar
scene he advocates killing someone in cold blood who may or may not be making
too much noise, and this noise may or may not be attracting the attention of the
aliens, aliens who seem to be killing any and every human they can get their
slimy feelers on or aim their ray guns at.
In other words, in the cellar scene, Spielberg says it's ok to murder. Murder is not the same as killing in self-defense. Tom Cruise didn't have to murder Tim Robbins; he had the option to round up his daughter and escape.
A few years
ago another man advocated pre-emptively striking out, imploring the citizenry to
"kill them before they kill us." Eventually, he riled up enough
otherwise well-meaning patriots to start a war. "We need more elbow
room!" he yelled.
His name?
Adolf Hitler.
Well, I for
one think Steven Spielberg can do better than that. Mr. Spielberg does not
need to be riling us up.
And when I
say "us" I'm referring to people who feel in their hearts
that the home of the Twin Towers is their home.
As differs
from people who say that this land is their land, yes, they say
it, but their hearts aren't in it.
I'll
conclude this line in a minute, but first I need to buttress the idea that
Spielberg was unarguably referencing the razing of the Twin Towers in this
movie. Consider:
"So were
those the terrorists!?"
This
question is screamed by Dakota Fanning at Cruise immediately after an intense
bombing/deathray sequence, and is clearly a nod to 9/11.
In his
authoritatively-deep baritone, Morgan Freeman mused in the intro that the
attackers "viewed us with envious eyes."
Though not universally popular, the notion that envy was a or the "motive" behind 9/11 has received quite a bit of currency, certainly enough
currency for this again to be considered Spielberg referencing 9/11.
Covered in
grayish white dust reminiscent of the dust-covered survivors of the Twin Towers
attacks, the living victims of the tripods' first wave of violence shuffled
past cluttered kiosks that have a familiar look. These impromptu messageboards displayed a mosaic of scribbled
notes: physical descriptions of the missing, what they were
wearing, perhaps which tower they worked in before the little green men wobbled
in for a visit.
Clearly, in
this remake, Spielberg is at least in part commenting on the events of September
11th. Which is no biggie, and really, when you think about it, can't be
helped. We might remember that the
aliens in the original movie attacked during our "Red Scare" period.
And that WW2 was less than a year away when the audio version of this epic
played on the radio.
Yes, perhaps
it's unavoidable to update H.G. Wells' novel in a non-political,
non-contemporaneous context.
Spielberg
alluding to 9/11 is not what I'm having a problem with, however.
Rather,
I'm merely wondering about his motives.
Not questioning his motives, evaluating them.
It's an inquiry, not an accusation.
Again,
consider: there's a reason why
the spiderwort trailing plant known as Tradescantia is more commonly
known as the Wandering Jew. And
this reason is because its growth patterns resemble the travel patterns of our
Jewish neighbors: north, south,
east, west: this plant goes
everywhere!
Whether or
not those of the Jewish persuasion are to be praised or blamed for their
wandering, that they have exhibited this behavior for hundreds and hundreds of
years is not up for debate. Enough
Jews have wandered enough over the centuries that they named a plant after this
proclivity.
And their
wandering has been a survival mechanism. A
very successful survival mechanism. Which
is a good thing. Our Jewish friends
and neighbors have been forced to appear loyal to one nation one era, then
forced to appear loyal to a different nation during a different era.
This flip-flop of alliance often occurred during the course of a single boat ride. And you can't blame
them for this shift in allegiance. At
least I don't blame them.
Others--anti-Semites, for instance--might blame them, but I don't.
That's right: I'm not an
anti-Semite, and I don't blame Jewish folks for doing what it takes to survive.
I don't
blame them, but.
And this is
an important "but."
Case in
point, I don't blame Spielberg for crafting 9/11 symbolism into this movie.
And I don't blame him for outlining his opinion regarding how we
Americans who have our hearts in this country should respond to our being
terrorized.
I don't
blame Spielberg for outlining our battleplan for us, but I wonder if his
battleplan doesn't more closely resemble a deathwishlist his people have
harbored for centuries against Muslims than it resembles an intelligent response
to our being terrorized by 19 Saudi Arabian and Egyptian hijackers.
(Note that the words "Iraq" and "Afghanistan" are not found in
the phrase "19 Saudi Arabian and Egyptian hijackers.")
What I'm saying is it's pretty safe to take risks with other people's homes. Sit down, Steve. Take your coat off. Put your feet up on the ottoman. Convince us that you're not a lily-pad-jumping toad and that this place--America--isn't just another one of your temporary crash pads.
Put in some roots. Get established here. You think we're supposed to go off half-cocked and just thrash about because we get attacked, eh? You guys are loyal to each other, you're not loyal to any one nation. Not for very long anyway. Suppose we do heed your advice and take on the entire Muslim world--and lose. Then whatcha gonna do, Steve, wander off to a "better" country? If that's your attitude, you can start wandering now.
Yeah, you can direct an entertaining movie, Steve, and a whole bunch of
us'll go watch it.
But we're also watching you.
BACK to part one of "War Of The Worlds"
FASTFORWARD to a wacky incident that happened at Wal~Mart
OVER to HerbNation HOMEPAGE
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