Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Zizek are theorists that focus on the concept of “reality” through the lens of terrorism. Terrorism is a triggered term and many people are uncomfortable with this specific term or anything associated with it. I will admit that when I hear words such as terrorist or terrorism, I do become a little uneasy with certain thoughts and memories. In both of the readings, the World Trade Center, also known as WTC, was mentioned quite a few times. Yes it was a tragic event that occurred in our country, but before the NYC terrorism incident, many people thought they understood the notion of reality. It was when the second plane hit the WTC when people’s reality became a “fictional reality”.
“. . . the WTC towers was the ultimate work of art: we can perceive the collapse of the WTC towers as the climatic convulsion of twentieth-century art’s ‘passion for the Real’- the ‘terrorists’ themselves did not do it primarily to provoke real material damage, but for the spectacular effect of it ” (Zizek 2002, 231).
I first want to say that as I was reading through Zizek’s argument, I found his claim to be very offensive. The WTC terrorist attack was one that effected everyone in some way and changed the world’s perception of “reality.” Yet, I felt as if Zizek was desensitized to the entire incident. After reading through his argument, I decided to take a critical approach when discussing this topic and I found it to be quite beautiful. This past weekend my fellow classmates and myself saw an film called Under Fire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro directed by Max Lewkowicz. One of the challenges that Tony Vaccaro faced in the film was this essence of ethics in art.
Art is quite amazing because it can bring so much conflict in one image, but that is the beauty in art. In the film, successful photographers discussed how sometimes when taking photos one will
face a situation in which they feel unethical when taking the picture. Tony Vaccaro had also experienced this ethical dilemma in deciding to take a picture of a rape victim. Vaccaro did take the picture because he was an artist and wanted to show the ugliness of war. He was showing the true reality of war. Unfortunately, he was and still is scared from this picture. The artist inside of him emerged in that moment and decided to snap the shot even though it went against his beliefs. When I saw the photo, I felt very uncomfortable looking at it because it is a dead woman in the middle of a ditch. Yes, the picture was very difficult to look at but I did understand what Vaccaro was saying about how it is art. Even though he didn’t want to snap the photo, he now has a piece of art that shows the brutality and ugliness of war.
Zizek, like Vaccaro, also found art in a travesty and for Zizek that travsty was September 11th, 2001. Yes, many would disagree with Zizek and call him crazy, but in a sense the images of the WTC falling down on tv is a form of art. The images of the second plane going into the WTC brought out unexplainable reactions. The quote explains how the terrorists didn’t commit this incident to damage property. The terrorists did this in order to create a reaction, as Zizek would say “but for a spectacular effect” (231). On September 11th, everyone was drawn into their TV from the images that were being displayed over and over again. This incident has been imprinted into our brains because of the constant abundance of the imagery shown on that day. The constant imagery “entered and shattered our reality” (Zizek 2002, 234). Art brings out real emotion and thoughts, and that is exactly what happened on September 11th, 2001. As Zizek says, “ We can perceive the collapse of the WTC towers as the climactic conclusion of twentieth-century art’s ‘passion for the Real’ ” (231).
Under Fire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro :
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