United93

Although the film was about United Airlines Flight 93 and its hijacking, this film gave a very interesting perspective into what happened in the control towers of airports on September 11^th, 2001. It illustrates how the people who worked in these control towers just showed up to their jobs like any other day. They sat in a meeting like any other day, communicated with each flight, and went about their normal mornings. The normalcy of their mornings further reflects the theme of a blue-sky day that the attacks of September 11^th, 2001 came out of nowhere and they were unwarranted.

                Another theme that I saw in the film was the feeling of helplessness. When the first occurrence of Flight 11 almost crashes into the Delta flight and the control tower man watches as the dots get closer and closer together, his face shows how helpless he feels. He could only sit there and watch like most Americans did that same morning. They sat there and watched their televisions replay the same footage of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center, but they could not do anything but wait and see what authorities had to say. The same situation happened when the military commander in Rome, New York wanted to send his fighter jets to the hijacked planes and shoot them down, but he could not get a response about the rules of engagement (ROE). He kept repeating on the phone and questioning what the ROE was. He needed a response from a higher up and that higher up needed a response from someone more important until the question became one for the president, and the president was nowhere to be found. The commander wanted to do something to help, but he did not have the authority to authorize the call to strike.

                Again, I saw the theme of calling their circumstance a war. The commander tells the people in the office that whoever did this has committed an act of war. Just like in all of President Bush’s rhetoric about how the events of September 11^th, 2001 were an act of war, the film further strengthens that notion. The film also defines the victims and the villains very well. The victims are the American people, the people on the United Flight 93, the people in the control tower, and anyone else who witnessed the terrorist attacks whether it be firsthand or on the television. The cultural representation of the attacks through the film support President Bush’s actions of invading Afghanistan. It also brings back the conversation about the events to the year 2006 when it came out. It reinforces the culture of fear that encouraged the American people to support the invasion of Afghanistan, and during 2006, the United States had already invaded Iraq and they were struggling in an endless war. The film encourages people to remember the events of 9/11 and connect them to the invasion of Iraq just like President Bush would want. The film encourages the American public to support the invasion of Iraq.