Victims, Villains, and Heroes

            In Elisabeth R. Anker’s excerpt “The Venomous Eye: Melodrama, Media, and National Identity After 9/11,” the part that stood out the most for me was when 9/11 was compared to a movie. The news media turned the terrifying events of 9/11 into a spectacle, something that their viewers would want to watch repeatedly despite the disturbing images. Anker emphasized the definition of victims, villains, and heroes and how the events of 9/11 illustrated a narrative for the American people. Villains are always attempting to destroy the innocent helpless victim just to be thwarted by the hero.

The American people are the victims in this instance. The “clear blue sky” narrative makes it seem that the attack on the Twin Towers came out of nowhere and that the people… The media remind their viewers of how innocent the victims are and how the victims are just like them, fellow Americans. Repeated images bring the viewers into the narrative as well which makes them part of the narrative. The repetition of innocence and a surprise attack negate all of the United States actions dealing with Iraq and Afghanistan and make the post-9/11 world a “new era.” Even naming the post-9/11 world a “new era” negates the prior actions which exemplifies how the United States government would not take any blame for influencing the rise of Al Qaeda.

Because Al Qaeda caused these attacks, they are the villains in this case. However, once a specific group is named a villain, their other characteristics are villainized, so now after 9/11, all Middle Easterners are villainized. This association often occurs in children’s films. After watching Disney movies, children’s stances on certain groups are shifted because they associate the one animated villain with real-life people that look like them. Captain Hook’s feminine behavior causes children to see feminine men as villains, and Ursula’s larger body causes children to see larger people as villainous and outcasts. This same thing happened with the coverage of 9/11 by the news media. People see Osama bin Laden on the television and they associate him with any Arabic person, so therefore to them any Arabic person could be as bad as Osama bin Laden.

            The narrative of a victim and a villain further sets up the need for a hero, and this is when the American government and military step in. President Bush comes out and says that he will do anything in his power to track down Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda even if that means he needs to invade all of Afghanistan and spend an overwhelming amount of money to get the tribal leaders on his side. The government has come to rescue their helpless innocent people from the trap of Middle Eastern terrorists. The hero mentality further sets up President Bush’s invasion of Iraq. The United States is the hero and will save everyone from anyone who will try to take away our freedom. Victims, villains, and heroes do sound a lot like a movie, except 9/11 was a real occurrence in which real people, sons and daughters, were attacked, but the news media treated the events like a movie.