WTC in the Movies

9/11 was unlike any other day ever. No one could watch Pearl Harbor or a presidential assassination on live TV. We watched the Challenger explode as it happened, but that was an accident. John Hinckley's attack was caught by cameras, but all the shooting victims survived. There have been many more people killed in a single day, many times in fact. 230,000 people died because of the 2004 tsunami. 316,000 people died because of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. But that was Mother Nature doing her random thing. 9/11 changed everything for many reasons, not least of which is the altered NYC skyline.There have been hundreds of movies which showed the iconic Towers, often featuring them. Every time one of those old movies shows up on cable, an immediate reminder of the horrors that occurred 10 years ago comes to mind. Even the crappiest of 70s, 80s, and 90s NYC movies suddenly has gravitas. 12/7/41 isn't on the forefront of your mind unless you're watching From Here to Eternity. 11/22/63 doesn't come to mind unless you're watching In the Line of Fire or JFK. You rarely see Dealey Plaza or the USS Arizona memorial in a movie, if ever.

No doubt, future generations will definitely not be as affected by watching Wall Street or Working Girl. My oldest son (born well after 9/11) just asked about the Towers last week which stunned me. The day (the day) is slowly entering into history. Yet it feels like it was just yesterday. And it does, every time I watch Fight Club or Being John Malkovich or Dressed to Kill or Ghostbusters or Taxi Driver or Mean Streets . . .