Hollywood and the Rhetoric of Panic: The Popular Genres of Action and Fantasy in the Wake of the 9/11 Attacks

Abstract

Modern terrorism and disaster film share a common emotional strategy: the dramatic impact on audiences through formulas of panic, phobos in classical tragedy. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Hollywood has experienced a new refurbishment of popular genres, especially of the traditional master plots of invasion and catastrophe in action, science fiction, and fantasy. This phenomenon has allowed directors and screenwriters to develop themes on latent social fear between 2001 and 2008 and its connections with issues such as the conflict between national security and civil liberties, the risk of xenophobia and entrenchment, or the consequences of preventive war.