This blog post is highlighting my research area of my MAJOR PROJECT. For this blog post, I will be looking into and reflecting on how terrorism is presented within my practice. Starting off, I will reflect upon my MAJOR PROJECT and why I have chosen this genre and how I plan to thoroughly do research into the genre to make sure I portray it authentically in my screenplay. Next, I will be looking into the types of terrorism. Then I will be looking towards my practice of film and television and look at what has been done and what I want to do differently with my MAJOR PROJECT. Instead of ending with a case study, I will be ending with reflecting upon why I want to break stereotypes of the genre and how I want to create solutions to the overdone elements and breaking out of the pattern that is already in my practice.
My Major Project:
My Major Project for my Master’s degree is a Feature-Length Screenplay. I have chosen one of the key themes – along with crime and science fiction (Genres discussed in previous blog posts: ‘Once Upon a Crime…’ and ‘Read my Blog, You Must’) – is Terrorism.
I personally find war, crime and terrorism interesting subjects. I wrote my BA Film and Television Production Dissertation on World War II, specifically: Putin-Era WWII Russian-language based on true story films, as WWII is one of my favourite subjects and I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone by doing something niche choosing Russian-language films instead of stereotypical westernised films from the UK or US. For my Major Project, I wanted to venture into an area where I know some but not all, which is terrorism.
My father is a Police Detective and he has got me in contact with people who deal with Terrorism as an everyday job. Having contacts within the Counter-Terrorism branch within the UK Police has enabled me to have an understanding of what types of terrorism they deal with, how they deal with it, and what is next in terms of the terror level in the UK. When speaking to a Detective Superintendent in the Police, he pushed me into thinking about the Fifth Wave of Terrorism (The Waves of Terrorism will be discussed below). He said to not go to the stereotypical Post 9/11 Islamic Terrorism route (The Fourth Wave of Terrorism) but to instead look towards the ever-emerging and ever-present Far-Right Terrorism. It is predicted that the Far-Right domestic terrorism, in both the UK and the US could be the next wave of Terrorism – The Fifth Wave. For my Major Project, I will specifically looking at Neo-Nazi’s as this hasn’t been something seen in a lot of film or television. This contact advised me to start with academic scholar David Rapoport and learn the ins and outs of the different forms to get a true understanding of everything.
For this blog post, I am first going to look into the different forms of Terrorism – specifically David Rapoport’s Waves of Terrorism – and then look how it looked at in my practice, film and television.
David Rapoport and Waves of Terrorism:
David Rapoport is a key theorist of Terrorism.
The theory of the Waves of Terrorism as described by it’s theorist, David Rapoport, is made up of four waves. Below I will name the four waves and their key components to the Wave:
- The Anarchist Wave – 1878-1919
- The Anarchist Wave – 1878-1919
- Nationalist elements and Assassinations
- ‘Spurred by democratic and egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution’ (Auger, 2020:88)
- The Anti-Colonial Wave – 1920’s-Early 1960’s
- Seeking ‘self-determination’ (Rapoport, 2015: 219)
- ‘Embraced the post-World War I ideal of national self-determination’ (Auger, 2020:88)
- The New Left Wave – Mid-1960’s-1990’s
- ‘A cold war product’ (Rapoport, 2015:220)
- Hostage taking and Plane jacking
- ‘Inspired by Marxist-Leninist ideology and reaction against the Vietnam War’ (Auger, 2020:88)
- The Religious Wave – 1990’s- Present
- Suicide bombing
- ‘Self-martyrdom’ (Rapoport, 2015:221)
- ‘Initiated by several developments in the Muslim world, especially the Iranian Revolution and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Interestingly, this article is a response to someone ‘critique of the Wave Theory’ (Rapoport, 2015:217) and Rapoport sharply rebuke’s the comments on his theory describing the critique as ‘wholly inadequate’ (Rapoport, 2015:217) and on the second page of Rapoport’s journal article he comments: ‘Since “Four Horseman” [The Article that critiqued Rapoport’s theory] avoids describing my view of “modern terrorism”, I will explain it now’ (Rapoport, 2015:218) and goes on to explore his theory of the Waves of Terrorism. He then ends his journal article with a critique of his own theory admitting the Theory ‘needs more work’ (Rapoport, 2015:223).
For my MAJOR PROJECT, the most important point of this article is that Far-Right Terrorist groups ‘have been present in every wave’ (Rapoport, 2015:222).
Terrorism in Cinema:
After gaining a brief understanding of the different forms of Terrorism, I made the move to reflect upon what the genre of Terrorism has been portrayed like in my practice of Film and Television.
When researching academic papers on Terrorism in Cinema, two journal articles really stood out to me out of the many I read. The first was Ali Serdouk’s journal article: Hollywood, American Politics, and Terrorism: When Art Turns into a Political Tool, which specifically looked at the argument of both Hollywood and the US government unjustly stereotyping Arabs and Muslims within cinema and therefore pushing a biased agenda onto their audiences. The main reason this journal article stood out to me was due the way Serdouk was making a really important point about the negative stereotypes that films depicting Islamic terrorism and this resonated with my argument for not choosing to go with Islamic Terrorism as my antagonists but rather Far-Right Terrorism as this is becoming more and more present in society and hasn’t been over done like Islamic Terrorism films – I also like to always push the boat and go against the grain and do something different so I think by doing Far Right Terrorism Groups as my antagonists for my screenplay I won’t be further adding to the intensely long list of films that depict the only type of terrorism Post 9/11 as Islamic Terrorism (which is actually factually incorrect as Islamic Terrorism isn’t the only form of Terrorism that has taken place in the last twenty years).
Additionally, Far-Right Terrorism – especially Neo-Nazis – isn’t particularly shown in cinema or in the media but is something that is ever-present and actually on the rise. And – this is what leads me onto the second Academic Journal Article that stuck with me due to its topic of Far-Right Terrorism. Paul B. Rich’s journal article: Hollywood and Cinematic Representations of Far-Right Domestic Terrorism in the US, stood out to me due to how Rich’s argument about the lack of correct portrayal of US Domestic Terrorism in cinema and how the societies lack of knowledge of ‘Far-Right Terrorism is an issue of growing significance’ (2018:180). This article looks at US Far-Right Domestic Terrorism which is still a useful insight even though my screenplay is directly looking at UK Far-Right Domestic Terrorism. The journal article looks at how pre-1990’s films concentrate on the KKK (Klu Klux Klan) and post 1990’s looks more to Neo-Nazis and newer types of Far-Right Domestic Terrorism. This article in particular highlights how these films that are depicting Far-Right Terrorism could be ‘accused of seriously misleading general audiences on the complexity of the Far-Right Terror Threat’ (Rich, 2018:179)
Let’s break those stereotypes!:
For my MAJOR PROJECT, I wanted to make sure I wrote something that wasn’t like anything else. The Detective Superintendent I spoke to along with my research around the subject have pushed me towards the idea of have antagonists that come from the Far-Right Terrorism Groups.
My plan is to break stereotypes of what is usually presented in cinema of Terrorism and the way I can do this is by looking at the potential ‘fifth’ wave of terrorism. Vincent Auger in his journal article looks at Rapoport’s theory speculating on the possible fifth wave. Auger looks towards the idea of the Fifth Wave being connected the Right-Wing Terrorism. Auger indicates that the murder of MP Jo Cox was ‘by a white supremacist who considered Cox a “collaborator” bringing non-whites to Britain’ (Auger, 2020:90).
Auger presents the different academic’s ideas of what the fifth wave may concern:
- ‘D. K. Gupta suggests that if a fifth wave arrives, it “should exhibit a collective consciousness based on ethno-nationalism, religious identity, or economic class. In all probability it wouldcontain elements of all three.”’ (Auger, 2020:88)
- ‘Jeffrey Kaplan suggested that the fifth wave would be composed of ethnic utopians trying to remake their societies, following the example of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge.’ (Auger, 2020:88)
- ‘Jeffrey Simon asserts that no single ideology will dominate a fifth wave, but instead a “Technological Wave” will emerge, characterized by “lone operators” using the internet, cyber tools, and weapons of mass destruction to wreak havoc.’ (Auger, 2020:88)
- ‘Honig and Yahel argue that “terrorist semi-states” that control territory but continue to launch terrorist attacks internationally (such as the Islamic State) may be the next wave.’ (Auger, 2020:88)
Out of the articles on Terrorism in Cinema, three Quotes in particular stood out to me – whcih have helped me to choose my antagonists for my MAJOR PROJECT:
Ali Serdouk in the journal article: Hollywood, American Politics, and Terrorism: When Art Turns into a Political Tool, indicates that ‘American cinema often links the concept of terrorism to Arabs and Muslims, especially after the 9/11 attacks’ (2021:26).
Paul Rich, in his journal article: Hollywood and Cinematic Representations of Far-Right Domestic Terrorism in the US, debates that ‘there has been a relatively poor framing by Hollywood on far-right domestic terrorist movements and organisations compared to those that are externally based’ (2018:163).
Within Rich’s journal article, he discusses how film analyst Thomas Riegler ‘accused Hollywood of failing to present any balanced or accurate assessment of terrorism’s impact on American society’ (2018:164).
Bibliography:
AUGER, V.A. (2020). ‘Right-Wing Terror: A Fifth Global Wave?’. Perspectives on Terrorism. [Online]. 14(3) pp87-97. Available from: https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/stable/pdf/26918302.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Acf24ae9e7c217c257874018c732de742 [Accessed 8th August 2021]
RAPOPORT, D.C. (2015). ‘It Is Waves, Not Strains’. Terrorism and Political Violence. [Online]. 28(2). Pp. 217-224. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1080/09546553.2015.1112278 [Accessed 8th August 2021]
RICH, P.B. (2018). ‘Hollywood and Cinematic Representations of Far-Right Domestic Terrorism in the US’. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. [Online]. 43(2). Pp 161-182. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1080/1057610X.2018.1446295 [Accessed 9th August 2021]
SERDOUK, A. (2021). ‘Hollywood, American Politics, and Terrorism: When Art Turns into a Political Tool’. Arab Studies Quarterly. [Online]. 43(1). Pp. 26-37. Available from: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2489775465?accountid=14660&pq-origsite=summon [Accessed 4th September 2021]
Illustrations:
Figure 1: Strike Back
Figure 2: Rapoport’s Four Waves
Figure 3: Homeland
Rebecca Jane Gill 