ABSTRACT
The enthusiastic reception of the blockbusters signaled a renewed appetite for patriotic "Good War" films. Within months of the arrival of Bay's film, however, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon traumatized Hollywood as they did American society in general. Critic David Sterritt reported that Hollywood's immediate reaction to the terrorist attacks consisted of "scrambling to regain its balance." After 9/11 most moviegoers avoided films directly depicting current events involving the terrorist attacks of 9/11. While most post-9/11 combat films depict remote wars, far from Iraq and Afghanistan, others returned to World War II, though without the patriotism and glory evident in pre-9/11 films like Pearl Harbor and U-571. After 9/11, pop culture became even more fixated on violent combat than before the attacks, but those cinematic wars most often appear in non-combat genres like science fiction, horror, and action/adventure movies.
