Notes & Queries by David Herkt

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Notes & Queries: In The Face of Global Terror: 9/11 Cakes, Costumes and Lego

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  • Jackie Clark,

    Oh mixed emotions on this one, David. And welcome! I had no idea this was A Thing, so thanks for drawing attention to it. The event itself, of course, I found terrible. The reaction to it, well I had mixed emotions on that. But I found myself looking at these depictions in different medium - cakes, costumes, lego - with some sadness. It seems, to me, a strange thing to want to capture in these ways. Do people try to do this with suicide bombings? Or other similarly terroristic events? I don't know. I find it distasteful, but the discussion of it interesting and edifying.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Except for Kai/Ngai Tahu
    nobody in the north remembers the massacres
    of Southern people by Northern people.

    Yes, we did what used to be the healing thing – intermarrying.
    We did it as Kati Mamoe. We did it with the group of Mamoe called Waitaha (until
    the name was taken over by a fuckwit pakeha nutter.)
    Annnnd- we did it as Pakeha (Scottish & English in my bloodlines-)-

    And, still, divisions remain-

    I am not sure the pain will ever go away-

    I am VERY sure that anyone, tribal or otherwise, starts making jokes or cartoons about Kaiapohia will be -deaded - next time they are on a Kai Tahu marae-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • "chris",

    In a world where that guy in the shirt had easy access to an actual washing machine and affordable dental care, he may be wearing a different shirt.

    location, location, locat… • Since Dec 2010 • 250 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    Ok. Hands up who hasn’t dressed up for a bad taste party. *

    These are all bad taste. Given the history of student pranks, old time capping parades, it IS something that seems to “inspire” those who haven’t (yet) been (usually personally) shocked in their lives to humour themselves in this way.

    I was in the US when the Challenger blew up in 1986. When the “Need Another Seven Astronauts” reached me from NZ THE DAY AFTER, there were two responses from the americans. One, utter horror that someone could have invented it and two, falling off the chair in full choking hysterics. There was no middle ground.

    Such jokes split the family.

    * Yes, me and six others dressed up with the letters “CHALLENGER” spread across our tea shirts and “Who the hell was Christie McAuliffe?" on the back. Bad, bad naughty bad taste.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    May be worth noting that New York gets destroyed all the time in Hollywood movies. ("California's revenge"!) If there's an imagined disaster, it's almost certain to be imagined there. It's almost a genre of its own.

    So for those of us not in or near NY at the time of the 2001 attacks, the TV footage was horrifying, but also had a surreal quality. We'd almost seen it before.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    The White House did get trashed in the movies pre-9/11 – but by aliens rather than terrorists.

    True - and one piece of really loaded (but successful) 9/11 related imagery was the final shot of season one of Fringe, where Olivia "crosses over" to an alternate Earth for the first time...

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    lets not forget that every November most NZ communities still make an effigy of a religious terrorist and burn him on a bonfire ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Attachment

    Towering Inference...
    Here's one from the Chchch catchment, it mostly survived the quake, but lost the chocolate fish embedded in its side - it was originally in a group show at the Silvan Gallery Cafe (now defunct), artist unknown at this point.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Schrapnel Cotton,

    oh wonderful...judging by some of the comments on here (which I find stolid) I guess I can finally bake my next cake with this likeness: http://crashcromwell.hubpages.com/hub/Remember-The-Holocaust#slide1321193

    NY • Since May 2013 • 1 posts Report Reply

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