Thoughts on Anker's Introduction

I was intrigued initially because 9/11 is such a heavy topic for a lot of Americans. 9/11 affected me somewhat because my mom works just a few blocks away from where the event took place. She told me the day it happened she could see the smoke and everyone screaming and panicking. I was surprised that Anker was able to convince me that this historical event was indeed the perfect melodrama. "The story was told as an epoch-shaping yet aberrant event in the otherwise continual spread of global freedom." Anker is stating that although this event was a real turning point for the United States for what would define freedom. As we discussed in class the government was able to justify our actions because Americans all felt the same pain that day. Citizens would support any decision that the government made because we all experienced the same event. "The depiction of the attacks adheres to the conventions of a genre form that portrays dramatic events through moral polarities of good and evil, overwhelmed victims, heightened affects of pain and suffering, grand gestures, astonishing feats of heroism, and the redemption of virtue." Anker statement expresses that the events that occured on 9/11 is exactly what a great melodrama is. The more I think about it, it is kind of strange how Anker makes you really question how melodramatic 9/11 really was.