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Abstract
A number of popular Hollywood films have coalesced around images of terrorist devastation wrought upon London as an eminent, if highly fallible, global city. Films such as V for Vendetta (The Wachowskis, 2005), Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006), Closed Circuit (John Crowley, 2008), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Jon M. Chu, 2013), Survivor (James McTeigue 2015), London Has Fallen (Babak Najafi, 2016) and Unlocked (Michael Apted, 2017) all mine the visual spectacle of London's identity as a ‘fallen' city, refiguring the capital as collateral damage within terrorist narratives rooted in urban disintegration and chaos. This article examines how such films function within a contemporary Hollywood that has worked to re-stage London's skyline as a backdrop for brutal bombardment. The subjecting of London's monumental spaces to architectural trauma via terrorist activity is, as this article argues, part of a wider trend in U.S. cinema showing London's destruction that is predicated on the ability of digital imagery to persuasively simulate the ruination of the city in a post-7/7 climate. Updating what Ian Conrich (1999) has termed the 1950s “trashing London” monster movies that tapped into wartime imaginaries of London, this article discusses how the reactionary and politically-charged “London has fallen” cycle leans heavily on – and is informed by – the iconography of the July 2005 terror atrocities. By examining how footage from these mainstream ‘terrorsploitation’ films have since been repurposed in propagandist videos by pro-terrorist broadcasters, this article unpacks the complex contribution and ambivalent sensitivity of Hollywood in framing terrorism in London as a blockbuster spectacle.
Note on contributor
Christopher Holliday teaches Film Studies and Liberal Arts at King's College London specializing in Hollywood cinema, animation history, and contemporary digital media. He has published several book chapters and articles on digital technology and computer animation, including work in Animation Practice, Process & Production and animation: an interdisciplinary journal (where he is also Associate Editor). He is the author of The Computer-Animated Film: Industry, Style and Genre (Edinburgh University Press, 2018), and co-editor of Fantasy/Animation: Connections Between Media, Mediums and Genres (Routledge, 2018) that examines the historical, cultural and theoretical points of intersection between fantasy and animation. He is currently co-editing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: New Perspectives on Production, Reception, Legacy for Bloomsbury's ‘Animation: Key Films/Filmmakers’ series, and can also be found as the co-founder and curator of fantasy-animation.org.
Notes
1 S. Heritage, ‘Film-Makers, What Has London Ever Done to You?’ The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/apr/25/film-makers-what-london-done [accessed 25 Apr 2013].
2 I. Conrich, ‘Trashing London: The British Colossal Creature Film and Fantasies of Mass Destruction’, in I. Q. Hunter (ed.), British Science Fiction Cinema (London: Routledge, 1999), 92.
3 S. Keane, Disaster Movies: The Cinema of Catastrophe (London: Wallflower Press, 2006), 62.
4 B. Langford, ‘Seeing Only Corpses: Vision and/of Urban Disaster in Apocalyptic Cinema’, in C. Lindner (ed.), Urban Space and Cityscapes: Perspectives from Modern and Contemporary Culture (London: Routledge, 2006), 38–49 (38).
5 Ibid., 40.
6 Ibid., 41.
7 Keane, Disaster Movies, 82.
8 Ibid., 13. Claire Jenkins argues that ‘Although disaster was present in a number of films throughout Hollywood’s history […], the disaster film did not really come into being until the 1970s’ cued by the release of films such as Airport (George Seaton, 1970), The Poseiden Adventure (Ronald Neame, 1972), The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974), and Earthquake (Mark Robson, 1974). See Jenkins, Home Movies: The American Family in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2015), 102.
9 T. McCarthy, ‘“London Has Fallen”: Film Review’, The Hollywood Reporter https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/london-has-fallen-film-review-872090 [accessed 2 Feb 2016].
10 T. Nusser, ‘Beautiful Destructions: The Filmic Aesthetics of Spectacular Catastrophes’, in K. Gerstenberger and T. Nusser (eds.), Catastrophe and Catharsis: Perspectives on Disaster and Redemption in German Culture and Beyond (New York: Boydell & Brewer Inc., 2015), 132.
11 J. L. Peterson, Education in the School of Dreams: Travelogues and Early Nonfiction Film (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013), 146.
12 For a discussion of ‘symptomatic’ interpretation and film, see D. Bordwell, Making Meaning: The Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation of Cinema (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989), 71–104.
13 For a definition of a ‘terrorsploitation’ cinema that conventionally frames the War on Terror as a ‘racist […] fantasy designed to spread fear’, see A. Sherwin, ‘London Has Fallen Movie Condemned as Racist “Terrorsploitation” for Donald Trump Era’, The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/london-has-fallen-movie-condemned-as-racist-terrorsploitation-for-donald-trump-era-a6909596.html [accessed 3 Mar 2016]
14 C. Boggs and T. Pollard, ‘Hollywood and the Spectacle of Terrorism’, New Political Science 38:3 (Sept 2006), 336.
15 Ibid., 335.
16 This is despite filmmakers waiting five years after the attacks to directly restage the narrative of one of the most catastrophic attacks ever experienced in the United States, as in films United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006) and World Trade Center (Oliver Stone, 2006).
17 Keane, Disaster Movies, 89. Jean-Michel Valentin further argues that ‘The destruction of the twin towers in New York, before being seen live on television, had been filmed a certain number of times by the cinema.’ J.-M. Valentin, Hollywood, the Pentagon and Washington (London: Anthem Press, 2005), 88.
18 E. Martin, ‘Terrorism in Film Media: An International View of Theatrical Films’, Journal of War & Culture Studies, 4:2 (2011), 209.
19 S. Jefferies, ‘London Has Fallen: Can City Siege Movies Survive the Age of Terror’, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/13/london-has-fallen-can-city-siege-movies-survive-the-age-of-terror [accessed 13 Apr 2016].
20 See R. Booth, ‘Movie’s London Bus Explosion Strikes Fear of Terror Attack Into Public’, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/07/london-bus-explodes-during-filming-for-action-thriller [accessed 7 Feb 2016].
21 Jefferies, ‘London Has Fallen’.
22 H. Woodhead, ‘Real-life terror: Is It Exploitative to Use Human Suffering for Cinematic Thrills?’, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/03/real-life-terror-is-it-exploitative-to-use-human-suffering-for-cinematic-thrills [accessed 3 Sep 2018].
23 T. Shaw, Cinematic Terror: A Global History of Terrorism on Film (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), 2–3.
24 Prince, Firestorm, 3.
25 Boggs and Pollard, ‘Hollywood and the Spectacle of Terrorism’, 344.
26 A notable corrective to this assumption around ‘safe zones’ is the largely London-set IRA terrorism narrative of The Long Good Friday (John Mackenzie, 1980), which charts the political and cultural tensions surrounding the redevelopment of the London Docklands through a series of coordinated bomb attacks across the capital.
27 M. C. Frank, The Cultural Imaginary of Terrorism in Public Discourse, Literature, and Film (London and New York: Routledge, 2017), 1.
28 Ibid., 4.
29 J. Coaffee, ‘Rings of Steel, Rings of Concrete and Rings of Confidence: Designing Out Terrorism in Central London Pre and Post September 11th’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 28:1 (2004), 202.
30 Martin, ‘Terrorism in Film Media’, 208. The science-fiction disaster film 2012 (Roland Emmerich, 2009) includes a sequence in which the 2012 games in London are revealed to have been cancelled due to a global catastrophe (an overheating of the Earth’s core).
31 A. Kirby, ‘The London Bombers as “Self-Starters”: A Case Study in Indigenous Radicalization and the Emergence of Autonomous Cliques’, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 30:5 (2007), 416. The British spy thriller Cleanskins (Hadi Hajaig, 2012) takes its name from the specific repurposing of the term ‘cleanskin’ in the post-7/7 period. Within the vernacular of counter-terrorism and the figure of the ‘self-starter’, a ‘cleanskin’ means an extremist unknown to the national security service on account of having no previous convictions.
32 Kirby, ‘The London Bombers as “Self-Starters”’, 415.
33 A. Parmar, ‘Stop and Search in London: Counter-Terrorist or Counter-Productive?’,Policing and Society, 21:4 (2011), 371.
34 These include an attempted tube bombing at North Greenwich (October 2016) and Parsons Green tube stations (September 2017); a vehicle mounting pedestrian walkways on Westminster Bridge and near the Houses of Parliament (March 2017), London Bridge and Finsbury Park Mosque (June 2017), as well as the grounds outside Buckingham Palace (August 2017) and Parliament Square (August 2018).
35 Prince, Firestorm, 3.
36 Recent action thriller Final Score (Scott Mann, 2018) follows a similar premise in its narrative of a bombing at a football stadium in East London.
37 T. Modood, ‘Multiculturalism After 7/7’, The RUSI Journal, 153:2 (2008), 14.
38 Ibid., 14.
39 G. Bhaskaran, ‘Shoot On Sight’, The Hollywood Reporter https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/shoot-sight-126492 [accessed 8 Mar 2008].
40 J. Caldwell, Televisuality: Style, Crisis, and Authority in American television (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995), 111.
41 For an analysis of Incendiary’s inadvertent connection with the events of 7/7, see Frank, The Cultural Imaginary of Terrorism in Public Discourse, Literature, and Film, 221–30.
42 S. D. Brown and A. Hoskins, ‘Terrorism in the New Memory Ecology: Mediating and Remembering the 2005 London Bombings’,Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 2:2 (2010), 89.
43 Ibid., 91.
44 S. Matthews, ‘Hollywood Movie to Echo London Underground Bomb Scenes’,Campaign https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/hollywood-movie-echo-london-underground-bomb-scenes/487805 [accessed 25 July 2005].
45 J. R. Keller, V for Vendetta as Cultural Pastiche: A Critical Study of the Graphic Novel and Film (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2008), 26.
46 Y. Hussain and P. Bagguley, ‘Securitized Citizens: Islamophobia, Racism and the 7/7 London Bombings’, The Sociological Review, 60 (2012).
47 I. Conrich, ‘Trashing London: The British Colossal Creature Film and Fantasies of Mass Destruction’,in I. Q. Hunter (ed.), British Science Fiction Cinema (London and New York: Routledge, 2001), 88.
48 Ibid., 88.
49 Ibid., 97.
50 Brown and Hoskins, ‘Terrorism in the New Memory Ecology’, 99.
51 P. Fussey, ‘Observing Potentiality in the Global City: Surveillance and Counterterrorism in London’, International Criminal Justice Review 17:3 (September 2007), 371.
52 C. Brunsdon, London in Cinema: The Cinematic City Since 1945 (London: British Film Institute Publishing, 2007), 21–4.
53 K. Shonfield, Walls Have Feelings: Architecture, Film and the City (London: Routledge, 2000), 135.
54 Conrich, ‘Trashing London’, 95.
55 B. Child, ‘London Has Fallen Attacked for “Insensitivity” by 7/7 Victims’ Trust’,The Guardian (Thursday 2 July 2015).
56 J. Ruby, ‘Independence Day: Resurgence: London is Destroyed in Explosive New Trailer’,Evening Standard http://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/independence-day-resurgence-london-is-destroyed-in-explosive-new-trailer-a3231571.html [accessed Friday 22 Apr 2016].
57 B. Lee, ‘London has Fallen, Again: Capital Destroyed in Independence Day 2 Trailer’, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/22/independence-day-resurgence-trailer-london-under-attack [accessed Friday 22 Apr 2016].
58 J. Russell, ‘Hollywood Blockbusters and UK Production Today’, in I. Hunter, L. Porter and J. Smith (eds.), The Routledge Companion to British Cinema History (New York: Routledge, 2017), 377.
59 Ibid., 381. Russell further explains ‘UK’s favourable tax regime clearly offers a chance to mitigate against the fiscal impact of dramatic flops.’ See also A. Dangerfield, ‘London lures Hollywood Film-Makers’, BBC News (1 November 2013), from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24675154.
60 Shonfield, Walls Have Feelings, 134.
61 See C. Gee, ‘Thor: The Dark World: “They’re Very Sensitive about Blowing up St Paul’s”’, The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10381657/Thor-the-Dark-World-Theyre-very-sensitive-about-blowing-up-St-Pauls.html [accessed 30 Oct 2013].
62 B. Dillon, ‘Ruin Lust: Our Love Affair with Decaying Buildings’, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/feb/17/ruins-love-affair-decayed-buildings [accessed 17 Feb 2012]
63 Ibid.
64 A. Bazin quoted in Panic and Mourning: The Cultural Work of Trauma, D. Agostinho, E. Antz and Cátia Ferreira (eds.) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2012), 226.
65 A. Bazin, Bazin at Work: Major Essays and Reviews From the Forties and Fifties (London and New York: Routledge, 1997), 188.
66 Lisa Purse, Digital Imaging in Popular Cinema (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013), 2.
67 S. Prince, Digital Visual Effects in Cinema: The Seduction of Reality (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2012), 183, 34.
68 J. Leach, ‘“The World has Changed”: Bond in the 1990s — and Beyond?’, in C. Lindner (ed.), The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2003), 248.
69 M. Lister, J. Dovey, S. Giddings, I. Grant and K. Kelly, New Media: A Critical Introduction (London: Routledge, 2003), 151.
70 Prince, Firestorm, 18.
71 K. Hewitt, Regions of Risk: A Geographical Introduction to Disaster (London and New York: Routledge, 2014), 134.