Terrorism, Ethics and Creative Synthesis in the Post-Capitalist Thriller
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Post 9/11 Blues or: How the West Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Situational Morality - Terrorism, Ethics and Creative Synthesis in the Post-Capitalist Thriller Patrick John Lang BCA (Screen Production) (Honours) BA (Screen Studies) (Honours) Flinders University PhD Dissertation School of Humanities and Creative Arts (Screen and Media) Faculty of Education, Humanities & Law Date of Submission: April 2017 i Table of Contents Summary iii Declaration of Originality iv Acknowledgements v Chapter One: A Watershed Moment: Terror, subversion and Western ideologies in the first decade of the twenty-first century 1 Chapter Two: Post-9/11 entertainment culture, the spectre of terrorism and the problem of ‘tastefulness’ 18 A Return to Realism: Bourne, Bond and the reconfigured heroes of 21st century espionage cinema 18 Splinter cells, stealth action and “another one of those days”: Spies in the realm of the virtual 34 Spies, Lies and (digital) Videotape: 21st Century Espionage on the Small Screen 50 Chapter Three: Deconstructing the Grid: Bringing 24 and Spooks into focus 73 Jack at the Speed of Reality: 24, torture and the illusion of real time or: “Diplomacy: sometimes you just have to shoot someone in the kneecap” 73 MI5, not 9 to 5: Spooks, disorder, control and fighting terror on the streets of London or: “Oh, Foreign Office, get out the garlic...” 91 Chapter Four: “We can't say anymore, ‘this we do not do’”: Approaching creative synthesis through narrative and thematic considerations 108 Setting 108 Plot 110 Morality 111 Character 114 Cinematic aesthetics and the ‘culture of surveillance’ 116 The role of technology 119 Retrieving SIGINT Data - Documenting the Creative Artefact 122 ii The Section - Series Bible 125 The Section - Screenplays 175 Episode 1.1 - Pilot 175 Episode 1.2 - Blasphemous Rumours 239 Episode 1.9 - In a Silent Way 294 Bibliography 347 Filmography (including Television and Video Games) 361 iii Summary The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have come to signify a critical turning point in the geo-political realities of the Western world. The United States of America suddenly found itself directly under attack on that day, and quickly overcommitted to a multitude of interlocking global conflicts of near Orwellian pervasiveness. Cultural commentators have suggested that subsequent global events, bookended by 9/11 at one end and the Global Financial Crisis at the other, are indicative of a greater shift in traditional power structures. In short, many are arguing that we are witnessing the end of global capitalism. As the notion of intelligence work began to permeate Western cultural discourse on September 12, screen industries oversaw a massive increase in espionage narratives. The humble spy story, formerly a relic of the Cold War, was suddenly centre stage again. This dissertation examines the shifts that have occurred in the classical spy narrative, post-9/11. Most of the scholarship examining the genre in the post-9/11 world has focused on humanitarian approaches, as opposed to cultural and textural ones. I will first engage with theorists such as Slavoj Žižek and Jean Baudrillard and find the point where their respective theses on terror and globalism intersect with the work of economist Thomas Piketty to provide a broad overview of cultural shifts in the early part of the 21st century. The second part of this dissertation will take the form of an in depth examination of the contemporary manifestation of the genre. This examination will be constructed through the establishment of a series of stylistic and industrial precedents, which are then deployed through both textual and cultural analysis focusing upon a survey of various screen-based media. In examining these media, I will argue that television-based drama represents the strongest embodiment of the post-9/11 espionage thriller, especially in regards to the key concepts of the contemporary thriller; situational morality and ideology. I will then propose a series of key tropes and thematic elements which define spy TV as a original genre which stands apart from its more classical 20th century incarnation. The conclusions of this examination will then be synthesised into an original creative artefact to better demonstrate the aforementioned tropes. This will take the form of a series of screenplays for a contemporary espionage TV series, complemented by a ‘show bible’ – an industry document which provides an in depth overview of the ‘world’ of an original show. By establishing the multi-faceted interplay of all the aforementioned factors, it is possible to analyse the numerous roles that screen-based espionage texts play, not just as artefacts of ‘entertainment’, but as complex works operating in a broader and more deeply resonant cultural context. iv Declaration of Originality I certify that this thesis does not incorporate without acknowledgment any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university; and that to the best of my knowledge and belief it does not contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text. Signed: …Patrick Lang. Date: 01/09/2016 v Acknowledgements First and foremost I wish to thank my primary supervisor Dr. Nick Prescott, for agreeing to supervise a particularly idiosyncratic creative/theoretical hybrid of a dissertation and never doubting the results. His beautifully balanced combination of encouragement, academic insight and general paranoia have formed a distinctive and eccentric method of motivation. I also wish to thank my secondary supervisor John McConchie, for his unerring ability to point out flaws in my argument, and for his general enthusiasm for my topic. I would likely have not survived this process without Associate Professor Robert Phiddian’s ‘Group Therapy’ postdoctoral research support group - my eternal gratitude goes out to every one of you for the endless cups of tea, plates of biscuits and sympathy (with occasional wailing). Creating the world of ‘The Section’ has been a delightful intellectual exercise, but recognition has to go to my producer Bettina Hamilton for her continued attempts to help bring it into real world existence. While uncontrollable factors have prevented progress at this stage, I am still hopeful that we can make John Bishop the fourth ‘JB’ of the modern age. As with all of my pursuits in life, my parents have been an unending source of encouragement. My greatest of thanks to both Julie and Tony Lang for a lifetime of patience, kindness, love and support. My mother has watched a lot of spy television in the pursuit of understanding my dissertation, while my father has, like clockwork, asked the terrifying question “how is the writing going?” There are two people who are no longer in my life who I nonetheless wish to acknowledge for their roles in this long and often difficult process. Firstly, my thanks go out to Natalie Beeson for watching so many terrible action movies with me in the early days, as I tried to put my finger on exactly what it was that made spies such an enticing proposition. Nat, I'm sorry I could never convince you of the brilliance of 24. Secondly, I must express the greatest gratitude to Ellen Ferguson for handing me the final piece of the theoretical puzzle some two years ago, that allowed me to tie together the exegetical portion of my dissertation. Ellen, if fate ever throws us together again, I promise I'll return your copy of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Perhaps by then we will both be older, wiser, and maybe one of us will understand what the graphs mean. My thanks must also go to my partner Jess Miller, who understands the unique pressures of the postgraduate headspace. She has kept me sane and on track, whether through her encouragement of my creative material, long nights spent talking about the spectre of terrorism, or our mutual obsession with all things related to espionage and the Cold War. Thank you Jess - next time I'll buy you an umbrella. For the music that has helped form this thesis and kept me sane (and possibly had the opposite effect on my neighbours), kudos to David Arnold, Lorne Balfe, John Barry, Sean Callery, Ramin Djawadi, Elliot Goldenthal, Harry Gregson- Williams, David Holmes, Alberto Iglesias, Michael McCann, Ennio Morricone, Jennie Muskett, Michael Nielsen & Kaveh Cohen, John Powell, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Amon Tobin and Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard. For the ever-visceral thrills of 24 and Spooks I will always be indebted to Joel Surnow & Robert Cochran and David Wolstencroft, respectively. Gentlemen, you have done more to my heart rate over the years than any of you could ever know. Chapter One: A Watershed Moment: Terror, subversion and Western ideologies in the first decade of the twenty-first century The Age of Terror began abruptly at 8:46AM on the 11th of September 2001, when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in New York City. At 9:03AM, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower, while at 9:38AM, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Finally, United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked, but forced down by the actions of passengers and crew on board, eventually landing in a Pennsylvania field at the cost of all lives aboard. These incidents were not catastrophic accidents, but deliberate terrorist actions against the United States, purportedly carried out by religious extremists. The ramifications of September 11, 2001 have