09.04.18 Response to In the Shadow of No Towers
April 17, 2009
The initial impact of Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers hinges, for me, entirely on the newspaper front page from September 11, 1901 which is included just inside the front cover. The book is prefaced with a flash back to another tragedy in the nation’s history, an attempt on the life of a President. However, there is a marked difference in the aftereffects of tragedy between the two events, and I believe that Spiegelman’s intent was to emphasize just this. The tragedy of 1901 was responded to with speed but also with restraint. It was an incident which could be traced to one group and handled with respect and dignity. The article portion which discusses Emma Goldman’s potential involvement in the incident offers a relatively balanced perspective, offering both the accusations and alibis. Articles published following the events of 2001 were nothing like this. Spiegelman heavily emphasizes that difference. The strange distance of the American people from the incident and the way the government handled it showed nothing of the dignity we had in 1901. The strongest impression Spiegelman conveys in the first reading is a sense of utter helplessness. What we (Spiegelman and I) wouldn’t give for a society more like the one we had! In our past, America knew how to treat tragedy; the headlines focus on the state of the President and his wife, and inquire delicately into the possible perpetrators of such an act.
Now, we have an amusement park culture. At most amusement parks, there is at least one ride named after someone or something that has absolutely nothing to do with coasters. There are nine different Batman rides, a couple of coasters that are tributes to the children’s cartoon “The Fairly Oddparents,” and even Hard Rock Park has “Led Zeppelin: The Ride.” None of these figures has anything to do with rollercoasters, yet the names are slapped on as a way to draw in riders for two minutes of disorienting speeds, drops, and directional changes. Welcome to the American government’s handling of 9/11. The next few years were marked by governmental decisions labeled “Patriotism” and “Security” but which were, in fact, fancy rides that flipped Americans upside down and dropped them out of the sky until they became so disoriented that they forgot to examine what the government was actually doing. But it’s shiny and has an appealing name and long lines, so we forget to pay attention to the fact that the supports are rusting at the bottom.
Aside from a metaphor that went a bit longer than intended, I’m impressed by Spiegelman’s ability to convey his emotions and recollections of the time. I had anticipated that without a great deal of text, he wouldn’t be able to convey emotions quite as well as novelists. I was wrong. His visual choices are genius; I love that we read the book sideways and that pictures are laid one over the other with a clear narrative but no specific order in which you must read them. Perfectly executed.
Interesting note: in searching for a roller coaster name to use as an example, I came across this: http://sethkahn.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/even-lefties-like-roller-coasters-but-this-is-ridiculous/ . Read the comment at the very top. I almost cried.
