2006 Terrorstorm (Special Edition)
18 years
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In Terrorstorm: A History of Government Sponsored Terrorism, Jones makes the provocative argument that the US government not only knew about 9/11 before it happened, but that they planned it every step of the way. It was, as Jones frequently reiterates, an “inside jobâ€.
The blend of conspiracy theory with the documentary in recent years is an interesting one. Both, as modes of critique, set themselves up as means by which to unveil a hidden truth. The documentary film maker, conventional wisdom holds, captures the ‘reality’ that mainstream cinematic and media images distort. The conspiracy theorist, in comparison, seeks the objective truth lost in media coverage and government deflection. The fact that the September 11th attacks have proven to be an image driven media event prepared for by (or even surpassing) our collective cinematic imagination, coupled with the suspicious activities and dubious reliability of government officials, makes such efforts to find the essential truth seem implausible.
Jones’ documentary tries to fill this void of meaning with the “truth†of his conspiracy theory, a fact he signals with his introduction of a well-worn George Orwell quote into the body of his documentary: “In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.†However, while the documentary and the conspiracy theory contrast with the deceit of what Jones calls the “dark spectacle†of government sponsored terrorism, in which media and the state collude to manipulate the public, they still do not unveil the hidden truth, but instead provide new narrations; these narrations are the genuine shape of the “revolutionary act†to which Orwell alludes and Jones aspires. (The documentary’s constant insistence on stamping the emphatic script of “FACT†[his capitalization] on the screen certainly suggests an anxiety over the reception of his claims, or perhaps an uneasy relationship with their fictional appearance.)
The blend of conspiracy theory with the documentary in recent years is an interesting one. Both, as modes of critique, set themselves up as means by which to unveil a hidden truth. The documentary film maker, conventional wisdom holds, captures the ‘reality’ that mainstream cinematic and media images distort. The conspiracy theorist, in comparison, seeks the objective truth lost in media coverage and government deflection. The fact that the September 11th attacks have proven to be an image driven media event prepared for by (or even surpassing) our collective cinematic imagination, coupled with the suspicious activities and dubious reliability of government officials, makes such efforts to find the essential truth seem implausible.
Jones’ documentary tries to fill this void of meaning with the “truth†of his conspiracy theory, a fact he signals with his introduction of a well-worn George Orwell quote into the body of his documentary: “In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.†However, while the documentary and the conspiracy theory contrast with the deceit of what Jones calls the “dark spectacle†of government sponsored terrorism, in which media and the state collude to manipulate the public, they still do not unveil the hidden truth, but instead provide new narrations; these narrations are the genuine shape of the “revolutionary act†to which Orwell alludes and Jones aspires. (The documentary’s constant insistence on stamping the emphatic script of “FACT†[his capitalization] on the screen certainly suggests an anxiety over the reception of his claims, or perhaps an uneasy relationship with their fictional appearance.)