We are not afraid (.com)
I seem to have spent a lot of time since Thursday thinking about both what actually happened in London and people's diverse reactions to the situation. On Saturday I went with a friend to the Living Museum on the Mall - a huge make-shift display in tents devoted to marking the 60th anniversary of the end of WW II. This trip was partly research for a forthcoming project Karen & I are doing about re-enactment, but last weeks events gave the whole day a rather surreal, and I have to say sad and at times rather disturbing edge.
The first thing we saw coming down onto the Mall were a series of WW II trucks, fire engines etc. Many with slogans on "1945 - 2005 London can take it". I found these pretty disturbing on lots of different levels and I think it rather tainted the whole visit for us. It's quite hard to articulate why I think these comparisons seem offensive but I suppose the bottom line is they seem so unconstructive and to infact distract from the specifics of two very different, if both tragic situations.
Once inside the exhibition the strange atmosphere continued, recorded airraid warning sirens served to put people on edge and I found the museum style 'browsing' of the exhibits and people casual and confusing. At one moment you'd be engaging with a cheery young re-enactor telling heart-warming stories about London buses during the blitz, and the next straining to understand what a frail elderly man dripping in medals was doing in a hot tent surrounded by barging crowds ... and how this was helping to 'commemorate' the end of the war.
It didn't do much to move me towards an understanding of the motivations of WW II re-enactors.
On Sunday I dipped into the press for the first time since the bombings, amongst the deluge of mobile phone images the news of a new website www.werenotafraid.com jumped out at me. Apparently started actually on Thursday it contains 'plucky' images from around the world showing just how unafraid of terrorists people claim to be. As the site more or less shares the name of our most recent film "Bata-ville: We are not afraid of the future", I found it hard to stop thinking about it.
If I'm perfectly honest on Thursday I didn't really feel afraid, and it was only when I actually started to think through the fact that friends & relatives would only 'know' who the victims were when they failed to make contact that it really even started to sink in. The significance of a lack of contact in a day overloaded by communication. The site (I guess as I can't get onto it!) probably again emphasises that 'plucky' Londoners will carry-on regardless of terrorist activity and pull together in some spirit-of-the-blitz way ... but what does this really mean ... surely not messages of defiance chalked onto WW II trucks parked along the Mall?
I certainly think that people outside of the city (bar those unfortunate enough to be affected by the bombs) were more afraid than those of us who live in London. In fact one of the things that typifies many non-city dwellers (for me) is in fact this type of un-specific fear - fear of crime, of change, of anyone different to them. The question is are 'Londoners' not afraid through choice, due to their natural 'grit' or just because they have to get on with it ... and today many of them have to get back on the tube?
The first thing we saw coming down onto the Mall were a series of WW II trucks, fire engines etc. Many with slogans on "1945 - 2005 London can take it". I found these pretty disturbing on lots of different levels and I think it rather tainted the whole visit for us. It's quite hard to articulate why I think these comparisons seem offensive but I suppose the bottom line is they seem so unconstructive and to infact distract from the specifics of two very different, if both tragic situations.
Once inside the exhibition the strange atmosphere continued, recorded airraid warning sirens served to put people on edge and I found the museum style 'browsing' of the exhibits and people casual and confusing. At one moment you'd be engaging with a cheery young re-enactor telling heart-warming stories about London buses during the blitz, and the next straining to understand what a frail elderly man dripping in medals was doing in a hot tent surrounded by barging crowds ... and how this was helping to 'commemorate' the end of the war.
It didn't do much to move me towards an understanding of the motivations of WW II re-enactors.
On Sunday I dipped into the press for the first time since the bombings, amongst the deluge of mobile phone images the news of a new website www.werenotafraid.com jumped out at me. Apparently started actually on Thursday it contains 'plucky' images from around the world showing just how unafraid of terrorists people claim to be. As the site more or less shares the name of our most recent film "Bata-ville: We are not afraid of the future", I found it hard to stop thinking about it.
If I'm perfectly honest on Thursday I didn't really feel afraid, and it was only when I actually started to think through the fact that friends & relatives would only 'know' who the victims were when they failed to make contact that it really even started to sink in. The significance of a lack of contact in a day overloaded by communication. The site (I guess as I can't get onto it!) probably again emphasises that 'plucky' Londoners will carry-on regardless of terrorist activity and pull together in some spirit-of-the-blitz way ... but what does this really mean ... surely not messages of defiance chalked onto WW II trucks parked along the Mall?
I certainly think that people outside of the city (bar those unfortunate enough to be affected by the bombs) were more afraid than those of us who live in London. In fact one of the things that typifies many non-city dwellers (for me) is in fact this type of un-specific fear - fear of crime, of change, of anyone different to them. The question is are 'Londoners' not afraid through choice, due to their natural 'grit' or just because they have to get on with it ... and today many of them have to get back on the tube?
posted by Nina at 1:21 PM
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