Thank you very much for this serious platform regarding Oliver Stone’s movie “World Trade Center”, which I saw two days ago. I am a female, white, catholic (at least it says so on my documents) student, doing American Studies at a University in Germany, and would like to participate or – if even luckier – give this discussion about the film a little change. Having read certain messages, I hope that neither my sex, nationality, creed nor skin-color will influence your opinions about my contribution to this blog. I do apologize for possible mistakes regarding spelling and grammar – but I AM STILL LEARNING your language.
Though far away, I feel myself to be in a way connected to the fate of Minoru Yamasaki’s Twin Towers, since my father happened to be there, when the WTC bombings in 1993 took place and was successfully rescued (he was picked up from the roof by a helicopter). I was only once able to afford going there myself in 1997 and have felt the Towers’ loss in New York’s skyline ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
As I said before, I happened to watch the Oliver Stone movie. —– At first I did not know what to think about this film, which keeps me quite pensive. I do not want to re-enter a discussion about faux pas (though I really do hope that the “whitening” of Marine Sgt. Thomas will not turn out to be another “Crispus Attucks” episode) or about omissions by Hollywood’s producers (And here my first question comes up: Why are you so keen on a Hollywood blockbuster offering all the facts and details? This is what I personally expect a documentary to do but not a movie.). I would like to ask you some (more) questions; perhaps your answers will be able to help me understand this film and give me practical information for my theoretical studies of the American culture.
To be sincere, I expected the first film about 9/11 to be a typical American blockbuster. I will just name some key words to provide you with an idea: celebrating the American hero; a lot of Stars and Stripes (perhaps an overwhelming “Iwo Jima scene”); patriotism; courage; firefighters setting to work in the rubbles in an “Armageddon” kind of way (entering the scene in slow- motion with a poignant background music, shoulder-to-shoulder searching the field like inexorable machines); confirmation of the American mission (of the kind “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” Or “Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help….” Just to name Winthrop and Kennedy.); and a lot more civil religious language (as there is only Marine Sgt. Karnes shown in church and talking about “a mission” : then he seems even not to be taken seriously in this by the rescued Jimeno – here I refer to the film not to reality!!!). And here come the questions:
Why this lack of patriotism? Why is this film so “not American” (as you already said: it could have been anywhere, there is nearly nothing hinting at terrorists and an attack)? Is this film “only” about Port Authority Police officers John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno – or is it about Americans – or was it even made for all mankind? Does no American on this blog feel as I do? That this film has in all its “triviality” (and here I refer to the dialogues as a suitable example) tried to save us all – every single one of us – from the debris? Perhaps my feelings are due to my place in the cinema (first rows and not able to visually detach myself from the screen) but when the Towers came crushing down I got scared, bent myself in the first reaction time. I had the feeling to be buried alive with McLoughlin and Jimeno to be saved and re-taken to the light with them. Weren’t we saved all? Didn’t this film give you hope in human (and therefore perhaps not exclusively American) values? Can’t this film be seen and interpreted on a more universal level?
Please react to this. Correct me, if needed (but please do not insult me by doing so, as I tried to handle this subject with due respect).

Before folks start hoopin’ and hollerin’, please note that I am black (and a Marine officer). Yes, I am clearly of African descent (but according to the anthropologists, we all are!). However, I am also at least a 5th generation American and lots of folks went through hell (in the 1960s alone) so that I could accrue all the benefits due me by virtue of birth.

It was President Roosevelt who said something to the extent that there is no room in our nation for hypenated Americanism. Oohrah!!

The only thing relevant (don’t even try to bring up another, competing issue…) is race-relations.

Underpinning everything — from which prize you got in your Wheaties box, to who got eliminated on “American Idol” — is a discussion about race, and who’s being disrespected, disenfranchised, and held-down by “the man”.

Whatever else happens, resist any suggestion to take responsibility for yourself, and be sure to label anybody with the temerity to make such a suggestion a “racist!”

This movie made me realize that I will never take my family and their lives for granted. When we depart one another each day, or whenever,
we never know if we will be together again here on earth. But if we know
our Lord, we know we will live in eternity once again.

Like the woman who hugged John’s wife’s neck in the hospital, upset because her son was late for a meal she had made for him, we cannot
“let the sun go down on our wrath” as the Bible says. I must carefully think about this for my own self more than anyone.

Thanks for the website!

Make yourself happy, bro’; it’s all — everything — about race.

It’s all about “Whitey” holding the black man down.

There’s simply no other reasonable explanation. Hollywood, the epicenter of all disrespect for black accomplishment, must be punished.

Boycott Hollywood.

But I thank God I can still hear the screams, see the black smoke (not pale white-grey Mr. Stone!) spewing from the towers. I remember one woman crying “He just got that job on the 85th floor. He just got it last week!” I walked away with a father who had just picked up his daughter at the day care. His anger was palpable not being able to expalin a thing to his little girl. The dialogue I heard on the street as we walked away from the towers still holds the darkness of that day. And what about the little boy who wanted to go to NYC to get his Dad? Nowhere was it mentioned the frustration of the island being closed:no one on and no one off! Remember, they had to cross the Geo Washington bridge to get to Manhatten. And what about the sirenes? The sounds were ubiquitous with ambulances, fire engines, police cars unmarked vehicles going north, south east, west covered with ash, racing back and forth for the remainder of the entire day. If these men didn’t here them then let those who fontunatley wernt there hear them if for nothing else but a tribute to all the victims and all who tried to save them.

The confusion on no knowing what happened was devastaing. After the tower Two fell, all communications went dead. No one downtown could call anywhere , either on cell phone or land line.
Theses are detais that I believe would have made a more solid backdrop for Stone. Seeing those faces posted by loved ones on the hospital wall was another lost oppotunity. Couldn’t he show one person actually putting one of the notices up saying “do you know my sister? she worked on the 92nd floor? ” If Mr. Stone tried to avoid melodrama, he actually made one. If he tried to avoid the tragic cliche by focusing on two individuals, he made a worse cliche, the cliche of avoiding the unversal.

If Sgt. Thomas had committed a crime again them, would those rescued souls have reported that he was Black?

Addison: It’s well documented that the film’s producers had no clue that Mr Thomas was a black man, and they’ve groveled and Mea Culpaed themselves, cork-screw fashion, half-way to China in their efforts to erase this unforgivable error. If only they could re-shoot the film — yes, that’s the ticket!!

It is well documented that the Shamberg said he had no idea Sgt. Thomas was Black. Did Sgt. David Karnes know that Sgt. Jason Thomas was Black? Does it seem too farfetched to believe that Karnes was asked to describe the rescue partner he worked with for hours? Let me see how would i have described Sgt. Thomas.

“Sgt. Karnes, describe your rescue partner. Ah, he is tall, well muscled, dark, with short hair. Sgt. Karnes did you say dark? Are you saying he is Greek? No sir, he is a Black man.”

Somewhat hard for Shamberg not to have discovered he is Black unless he had that inkling and avoided the direct questions that would have revealed it.

Addision: When will we get a clue, folks? Not everything is some enormous plot to “disrespect” the black man. Anyone who’s followed Oliver Stone’s works (See: “Platoon”) knows of his penchant for examining the Black Man’s Plight in America.

Is the issue here the Black man’s plight or portrayal of Black heroism? Oh, we get plenty of ‘poor poor pitiful Black folks’ imagery, but how much Black heroism do you see in the movies?

Addison: Let’s boycott the New York Port Authority, while we’re at it, ’cause they unfairly disrespected one of the firemen who raised the flag at Ground Zero, when they commissioned a bronze that featured an African American in the mix. See, there was no black firemen in the group that reprised that Iwo Jima pictorial, but those of us who are heavily invested in “racial fairness” thought there should be one pictured anyway.
And — get this — nobody showed up to boycott the artist when the ribbons were cut and the sheet was lifted.

Actually, there was quite a bit of protest and at least one petition to remove the Black image from the statue. Are you saying that the wrong form of complaint is being suggested? Instead of a boycott, you evidently prefer that those upset by the ‘whiteout’ protest and sign petitions.

Excellent strategy, Georgina.

We must punish these Hollywood bigots and send a message.

Boycott Oliver Stone! VOTE REPUBLICAN!!

HOWEVER, I WAS APPALLED WHEN I RECENTLY LEARNED THAT THE REAL HEROS WERE AFRICAN AMERICAN, LIKE MYSELF, AND THAT THEIR RACIAL IDENTITIES HAD BEEN PURPOSELY UNDISCLOSED.

NEEDLESS TO SAY, I AM SICKENED AS I THINK OF, ONLY GOD KNOWS, HOW MANY TIMES EVERYTHING GOOD THAT BLACK PEOPLE DO, IS, MORE TIMES THAN NOT, EFFACED OR STOLEN BY WHITE PEOPLE.

MR. STONE, SHAME ON YOU. YOU ARE A RACIST OF THE WORSE KIND. IT IS APPARENT THAT YOU DON’T VIEW AFRICAN-AMERICANS AS YOUR EQUAL, BUT THE SAD PART IS THAT MOST NON-AFRICAN AMERICANS DON’T VIEW US AS EQUAL.

MR. STONE, I DON’T KNOW IF YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN OR NOT, BUT ONE DAY YOU WILL HAVE TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF HOW YOU TREAT YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO GOD. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT FROM ONE FLESH GOD HAS CREATED ALL MEN — AND THAT INCLUDES THE REAL BRAVE, BLACK HEROES WHO SELFISHLY ENTERED THE WORLD TRADE CENTER ON 9/11.

I THINK I YOUR MOVIE SHOULD BE BOYCOTTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am a native New Yorker.. this movie was made for people in the outskirts of boomtown that are obsessed with the greatest tragedy that hit America that day. You don’t need to make this movie… plain and simple-that’s it. Is this movie too soon?? You bet your ass .. 5 years later -hey lets depict the Port Authority policemen that were trapped under the rubble and call it mmmmmm..I don’t know… WORLD TRADE CENTER! They could have been trapped coal miners for all we know watching this movie. And the dialouge with the chessey New York accents ( “hey Sarge?… Yeah ?.. Don’t go to sleep…….. OK…. Did you ever see GI Jane?…. NO… Pain is your friend … ?!?!) ….-it was hard to watch because it was just soo fake. Karnes – the ex-marine…. are you kidding me! ( should I laugh at this character or feel warm and fuzzy inside) … Nicolas Cage??.. and the whole cast for that matter… what the fuck are you thinking. Wrong depiction and feeling of what happened that day, (Maybe in your mind). Hey Oliver- you really do not know what the fuck happened here. If you tried to shed some light to what happened that day with the 2 Port Authority police officers… I give you a “C-” for trying. Otherwise you should not have tried to capture a 911 tragedy by focusing on 2 survivors that made it out. Go back to California – rewrite Alexander and all of your odd goofball movies and retire in the Hollywood sunset.

Actually, the coming across as a redneck with no depth seemed quite intentional to me. I got Stone’s point. Maybe I was the only one.

For some people, it will always be too soon. But we have forgotten. Maybe not those who were there, but the rest of us who were soundly sleeping or on our way to another day of work have found it easy to slip back into complacency.

What angers me most is how we can’t seem to extricate the lessons we should have learned from that day with the unending debate about the war in Iraq. It is disgraceful, how we rob the sanctity of that day by diluting it down to not much more than additional fuel for our political pundits.

I didn’t love everything about the movie. I’m not a fan of Oliver Stone. But if it gets people back to focusing on the sheer magnitude of that day and rekindles at least the smallest inkling of the universal pull to support one another that was felt afterwards, then by all means, Hollywood, have a go at it.

I know, by the end, I loved every person in that theater.

America is a free country – those who do not want to see the movie are under no obligation to see it, for whatever reason. However, I think, as a New Yorker who was very near the collapse of the towers and felt the impact of it in my life, and knew people who lost their lives as well as people whose lives were spared miraculously, this is a movie that many people should see, just to remember where they were that morning and what they were doing, and what they first thought upon hearing the news. Just remembering what I myself was doing at the time and how I felt and reacted was enough to remind me of the heroism and bravery that should be celebrated and the tragedy and loss that should be remembered.

I agree with Mr. Jarvis that Americans must face the evil and confront it, rather than shy away from it in our so-called politically correct ways. We need to make ourselves remember the pain and fear and anger we felt that day, and we need to take action, and we need to ensure that nothing like it ever happens again.

Let people boycott the movie for whatever reasons. I am no fan of Oliver Stone, and I certainly disagree with his beliefs in many respects, but this time, in World Trade Center, Oliver Stone did a fine job.

I supposed it was inevitable that the perpetually-slighted, under-represented, race-nannies would show up with their boycott party hats askew and their fingers wagging, but what a colossal bore…

Jason Thomas — covered in gray/white ash, head to foot like everybody else — performed a selfless, heroic deed, and departed in a cloud of dusty anonymity. News accounts recount his testimony: He left the scene like the Lone Ranger, masked and unidentified: A Marine who helped out, reflexively, and didn’t hawk his home run ball on Ebay, or chat with Katy on the Today Show.

Shame on those rescued souls for not pausing to reflect (twixt crashing buildings), and record Mr. Thomas’s racial profile for film-making posterity.

It’s well documented that the film’s producers had no clue that Mr Thomas was a black man, and they’ve groveled and Mea Culpaed themselves, cork-screw fashion, half-way to China in their efforts to erase this unforgivable error. If only they could re-shoot the film — yes, that’s the ticket!!

When will we get a clue, folks? Not everything is some enormous plot to “disrespect” the black man. Anyone who’s followed Oliver Stone’s works (See: “Platoon”) knows of his penchant for examining the Black Man’s Plight in America (cue misc scores from “Showboat”), and knows, too, that nobody (save, perhaps, Spike Lee) has afforded black actors more cinematic opportunity.

Let’s boycott the New York Port Authority, while we’re at it, ’cause they unfairly disrespected one of the firemen who raised the flag at Ground Zero, when they commissioned a bronze that featured an African American in the mix. See, there was no black firemen in the group that reprised that Iwo Jima pictorial, but those of us who are heavily invested in “racial fairness” thought there should be one pictured anyway.

And — get this — nobody showed up to boycott the artist when the ribbons were cut and the sheet was lifted.

As for Stone, propaganda is propaganda; even when it reflects your own point of view it sucks.

‘WTC’ casting error draws flak from African-Americans
Wednesday, August 16, 2006

By L.A. Johnson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06228/713723-254.stm

A hero of another color in Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center” has some people again balking at the whitewashing of a black character in a Hollywood film.

This time it’s the character of Marine Sgt. Thomas, one of two former Marines who help rescue New York Port Authority Officers Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin from beneath 20 feet of twisted metal, broken concrete and sparking debris in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the film, white actor William Mapother — who’s Tom Cruise’s cousin and who played Ethan Rom in the first season of “Lost” and Quecreek miner John “Flathead” Phillippi in ABC’s “The Pennsylvania Miners’ Story” — plays Sgt. Thomas.

Last week, the real Sgt. Thomas — a black, former Marine named Jason Thomas of Columbus, Ohio — came forward and told his story.

“Someone needed help. It didn’t matter who,” Thomas told the Associated Press. “I didn’t even have a plan. But I have all this training as a Marine, and all I could think was, ‘My city is in need.’ ”

So, instead of heading to class at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York that fateful morning, he headed toward the devastation. At ground zero, he ran into another ex-Marine and Connecticut accountant, Staff Sgt. David Karnes, and the two decided to search for survivors. Eventually they found Jimeno and McLoughlin.

Karnes, who couldn’t reach Manhattan’s 911 from his cell phone at ground zero, called his sister in Munhall, Joy Karnes. She helped relay information to New York emergency services that helped them pinpoint the trapped men’s location.

Film producer Michael Shamberg apologized to Thomas for the racial inaccuracy in the film, saying they realized the mistake only after production had already begun, the Associated Press reported.

That apology comes a bit late for Paradise Gray, 42, of Wilkinsburg who sent out e-mails to hundreds of thousands via African-American list serves and Internet groups, such as the Luv4Self Network yesterday calling for a boycott of the film.

“You want to apologize to me?” Mr. Gray says. “Stop it.”

Black men so rarely are portrayed or presented as heroes in popular culture and the media that when the opportunity to do so arises, they should be, he says.

“It’s so natural for Hollywood to assume that every hero is a white man,” Mr. Gray wrote in his e-mail. “Hollywood has always changed facts and edited history. From Charlton Heston as Moses and Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. They are only continuing their tradition of whitewashing our history.”

He also criticized the black community for not speaking out more. The Jewish community’s mantra is “never forget” while the black community’s mantra is “forgive and forget,” he said. The black community should speak up every time this happens.

Six years ago, there was a similar controversy surrounding color-blind casting in the film “Pay It Forward.” Kevin Spacey’s white burn victim in the movie actually was a black Vietnam veteran in the book.

Though disappointed his character in the “World Trade Center” movie wasn’t black, Thomas, who lived on Long Island during the attacks and now works as an officer in Ohio’s Supreme Court, told the Associated Press he’s not upset.

“I don’t want to shed any negativity on what they were trying to show,” he said.

The movie is much bigger than him, Thomas told the New Pittsburgh Courier, and it’s the people who lost their lives who need to remembered.

——————————————————————————–

(L.A. Johnson can be reached at ljohnson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3903. )

You are completly missing the point about this movie. It is not about the cinematic details but rather recounting the most horrific day in American history. I think every American should see this movie because too many people have already forgotten. We should never forget, nor should we ever let our guard down. These terrorist will not just go away….they will keep trying until they wipe us off the face of the earth…and if you don’t believe that, just watch the news…24 terrorist arrested in Britain planning to blow up 10 planes in American cities….just days away from being carried out…..