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Terrorists in the Movies

 
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Kimchi Cowboy



Joined: 17 Sep 2006

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:33 am    Post subject: Terrorists in the Movies Reply with quote

Thru the 80's and 90's there were a host of movies which centered around fighting "terrorists" of one sort or another. "True Lies", the "Die Hard" franchise, just about anything with Chuck Norris, etc...

I'd like to know what was the FIRST major Hollywood film that used terrorists as the premise, and also how many terrorist-themed (good, mostly bad) movies we can come up with.
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RACETRAITOR



Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My guess? The Birth of a Nation.

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mnhnhyouh



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Location: The Middle Kingdom

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Most of those movies had as a subplot that the terrorists were not that interested in their own stated causes, but were after the money.....

Of course there are all those movies about the French resistance blowing up the railways ....

Does Fight Club qualify as a terrorist movie? It ends with the destruction of a whole bunch of buildings.
h
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VanIslander



Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:09 pm    Post subject: Re: Terrorists in the Movies Reply with quote

Kimchi Cowboy wrote:
"Die Hard"

no terrorists there

it was a ruse by a bunch of thieves
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rothkowitz



Joined: 27 Apr 2006

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There was a slew of terrorist hijacking films in the '70s about both the Red Army faction and the PLO.
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seoulsucker



Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Location: The Land of the Hesitant Cutoff

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mnhnhyouh wrote:
Does Fight Club qualify as a terrorist movie?


Absolutely. Remember, the whole purpose of Project Mayhem was to destroy the foundation of capitalist culture by wiping the debt record. At least, that's the way it was in the movie.

In the book, the real target was a museum next to the building that was holding a bunch of stuff on loan from various museums around the world...an attempt to erase a large chunk of history.

Either way, it's a terrorist movie through and through.
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Zoobot



Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Secret Agent - Alfred Hitchcock (1936). Based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Conrad.

I guess you could consider the Ku Klux Klan a terrorist organization. But didn't Birth of a Nation portray them sympathetically?
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RACETRAITOR



Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 11:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zoobot wrote:
Secret Agent - Alfred Hitchcock (1936). Based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Conrad.

I guess you could consider the Ku Klux Klan a terrorist organization. But didn't Birth of a Nation portray them sympathetically?


Hell, didn't "Living Daylights" portray Al Qaeda sympathetically?

The KKK used terror and violence against blacks. They fit the dictionary definition of a terrorist group, whether or not you support them.

"the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimindation or coercion or instilling fear"
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rothkowitz



Joined: 27 Apr 2006

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

RACETRAITOR wrote:
Zoobot wrote:
Secret Agent - Alfred Hitchcock (1936). Based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Conrad.

I guess you could consider the Ku Klux Klan a terrorist organization. But didn't Birth of a Nation portray them sympathetically?


Hell, didn't "Living Daylights" portray Al Qaeda sympathetically?

The KKK used terror and violence against blacks. They fit the dictionary definition of a terrorist group, whether or not you support them.

"the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimindation or coercion or instilling fear"


How would people differentiate whether a particular terrorist act is political or criminal in nature?
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Zoobot



Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, that's super confusing! Hitchcock made two films in 1936, one called Secret Agent, and one called Sabotage. It was Sabotage that was based on the Conrad novel "The Secret Agent."
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RACETRAITOR



Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 2:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

rothkowitz wrote:

How would people differentiate whether a particular terrorist act is political or criminal in nature?


Probably based on who wins.
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rothkowitz



Joined: 27 Apr 2006

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 2:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

RACETRAITOR wrote:
rothkowitz wrote:

How would people differentiate whether a particular terrorist act is political or criminal in nature?


Probably based on who wins.


I think terrorism usually has 2 general applications

1,As a deterent(eg killing some people as a warning or reprisal),or as a disruption(slowing down or stopping functions(eg making people lose confidence in transport)or in breaking peoples' will(eg V1 and V2 in WW2)

2,There can be deliberate acts which are intended to PROVOKE an unreasonable and out of hand reaction from the authorities,merely to show up the corruption and viciousness of the system.Such things can be seen as an attempt to prompt outrage by society and have the enemy broken from within.

I think the first,whilst ugly,is pretty conventional and direct

The second is where people lose the plot ever more.
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RACETRAITOR



Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So would you say that there are examples in which terrorism is a justified action?

I could find examples, and I could find examples of when the US used terrorism on another nation.
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rothkowitz



Joined: 27 Apr 2006

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Terrorism as a justifiable action?

That's a difficult proposition but it can come down to the perception of "killing the thing that is killing you"or preventing you from living.

Israel may well feel that they were justified in pushing out the British,Algerians in pushing out the French,Irish against the English,the list goes on.

In these instances terrorism was seen as a necessary thing towards self-determination.
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oskinny1



Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Location: Right behind you!

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

*Post deleted*

I was getting all off topic, my bad.
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