Screening Terror

Abstract

Chapter One analyzes how television not only responded to 9/11 immediately after the tragedy, but also how it responded (and continues to respond) to it years later through fictionalized dramas. By studying the presence of post-9/11 motifs (e.g. salvation, justice, fear, conspiracy) in 21st century fictional television narratives -- through quantitative data on programming trends and a close reading of one particular program -- this essay argues that such programs are important sites where the terrorist attack (and the cultural climate it sparked) is emotionally worked through. However, this chapter also suggests that television's reluctance to revise its post-9/11 narrative in order to reflect contemporary geopolitical realities may also contribute to the perpetual fear cycle shaping national discourse in the United States.