MC - 9/5

Despite the vacant buildings, the construction and the trashy clubs (Club Paris anyone?) that are scattered throughout Downtown Orlando, I managed to enjoy our architectural tour of Bank of America and the courthouse. Who knew that these buildings would supply so much food for thought in the warm and pleasant afternoon sunset? It made me regret forgetting my camera at home.

There's still so much about the reading and our latest class lecture that I find myself struggling to associate with examples that I can understand. Interestingly enough, I found a great example of a strange combination of historicism and historiographical metafiction after reading an article on Salon.com. The article was in reference to ABC's docudrama "The Path to 9/11", a made-for-TV movie that insists on recreating a different sequence of events leading up to the tragedy of the Twin Towers.

According to the article, the movie makes subtle attempts at creating the illusion that the Clinton administration is ultimately responsible for the results of 9/11 (as opposed to say, a collective shared responsibility for both Bush and Clinton administrations). In addition, the TV movie goes so far as to fabricate conversations or events that never occurred. At this point, "The Path to 9/11" which sounds like it should accurately describe the...path to 9/11, doesn't. It's a clear case of historicism. A movie based on actual events. Essentially, ABC's docudrama is more of a mockudrama; the movie replaces all its depth (you know, reasonable things like facts) with surface, shallow fear tactics.

In the article, writer Joe Conason points out - rather pessimistically, I might add - that the majority of "The Path to 9/11" viewers are those who probably haven't read the 9/11 commission reports and know very little about the facts that led up to the terrorist attacks. While I hate to acknowledge that strong possibility, it really demonstrates the idea of postmodernism at its worst: Look what happens when we allow the commentary of a clearly bias scriptwriter to supplant the authority of a government document. Before this course, I wouldn't have been able to overcome my immense disbelief at the idea that a crappy TV film could be capable of dictating reality to a mass audience. Now, through the readings and lecture, I'm beginning to piece together the concepts behind this phenomenon that explains how people can think the way they do. Although, to be honest, I'm still having a hard time figuring out why.