Persoanlly I avoid them. Some of them look interesting, but I just don’t want to see them. I didn’t see United 93 or World Trade Center (Oliver Stone) and I have stopped watching the ones on Discovery/History Channel. I used to watch them, but not any more.
Do you?
Do you like any of them?
Or are you like me?
I tend to avoid them.
I pretty much know what happened. I don’t need to tear myself up over things.
I totally 100% avoid them, even when the subject comes up on the local news channel, Fox, CNN, etc. I get sick just looking at the WTC falling, but my wife on the other hand seems to enjoy watching the newest special/documentary that comes on to TV and will watch it with tears in her eyes.
I watch them. To me, it’s like watching Schindler’s List. It’s not something you pop in the DVD player because you’re bored on a rainy Saturday. It’s something that you have to watch, so you don’t ever forget.
I avoid them. Maybe a few decades down the road I’ll get interested.
Ahhh, “9/11 porn.” I get sucked into these damn things. This weekend I watched “Horrible Ways People Died!,” “Last Heart-Wrenching Phone Calls!”, “Eeeek!,” “Holy Crap!,” and “Osama’s Bedtime Stories.”
I sit there biting my nails and hoping the actress who plays me after I get blown up at least wears a decent outfit and has coordinating bag and shoes.
OH my god, that could be a series on the History Channel.
If they are going for moment by moment historical accuracy, you have nothing to worry about dear. Besides, you give off this Unsinkable Molly Brown vibe.
Avoid.
Just as I avoided most of the coverage at the time.
Avoid them. I may watch them in 40 years or so. I mean, I do like war movies, particularly WWII, and watch plenty of movies about serious tragedies that happened in my parents’ time.
I’ve watched some and avoided others. I did watch the Flight 93 movie on TV, and Monday I went to World Trade Center with my mom because she really, really wanted to see it and didn’t want to go alone. I tend to avoid the, “And this is why the WTC towers fell” specials and such.
I watch them. Do I LIKE them? Define “like them” - do I watch them for entertainment value? Hell, no. I watch them for the stories of the people - they aren’t “entertainment” at all for me. I watched one last night - it was on Spike, I think - about the Ironworkers at Ground Zero. It was a good show.
I avoid them. They make me ill.
Last night I caught the end of a show on PBS about a gay priest who was very popular and caring to AIDS patients during the beginning of the AIDS crisis in the 80’s. That part of the story in itself made me a little choked up.
Apparently, this priest was a chaplin for the NYFD and the show was a tribute to his work during the attacks. They showed some pics at the end of the program of his body being carried out of the wreckage on 9/11. At THAT time, the show became unbearable. shudder
I avoid them.
I find them upsetting and disturbing and I don’t feel like they serve a purpose, at least not for me.
Add to that the idea that the interested parties (producers, networks, sponsers, etc) in creating these pieces are profiting which I feel makes they somewhat disingenuous.
Avoid. Like the plague. I also skip or mute the commercials.
Having been to the buildings (with some wonderful pictures as a result), seeing the planes run into the building over and over and OVER again on/after 9/11, and seeing the big hole in the ground where the WTC once was, I don’t think I need to see a movie/documentary/docutrauma to remind me of the event.
And much thanks to Eve for calling it what it is (“9/11 porn”).
I generally avoid. The only one I watched was “Anatomy of September 11th” on A&E. It was a look at how and why the buildings fell. They stuck to that mission and didn’t get into the ‘story’ of 9/11 too much.
Avoid… for whatever reason they strike a nerve with me as pandering and money grubbing sensationalist crap that demeans those that died, and those that didn’t. It also tends to keep the ‘fear factor’ going longer than it deserves.
I watched that one, too. It was quite interesting. A different perspective that the usual one of firefighters and cops.
I will watch the 9/11 special on CBS being rebroadcast this Sunday. It was the documentary that was supposed to show the day in the life of a firefighter and became so much more. It’s not sensationalistic, it’s not graphic but it is disturbing. The filmmakers have followed up with some of the firefighters involved that day to see what has happened with them in the intervening years.
I hurt when I watch it but I refuse to turn my eyes away. I force myself to watch and remember. I remember watching the people jumping turn their deaths. I remember the heroism of the passengers on United 93. I also remember that although this kind of horror might not happen again, there are people out there who would be happy to do something just as vile and evil to innocent people, all in the name of their religion.
I’ll watch it with my 14 year old son. He still remembers how scared he was that day, sure that Chicago would be hit next. He refuses to turn his eyes away also. The hurt, the pain and the anger make us focus on those glorious buildings crumbling.
The one on Nova last night was quite interesting, as there is a new theory regarding the specific structural aspects of the buildings’ failure.
But in general I agree we’ve reached a saturation point with the general retrospectives and human-interest stories.
I just caught a teaser, but it looks like CNN may be replaying their coverage of the day in real time, uncut & unedited.
I might watch that, out of morbid fascination. And largely because (being on the west coast) I never saw it unfold in real-time; the towers had fallen by the time I woke up. I somehow feel deprived (like I said, morbid) – it would be like answering the question “where were you when JFK died” with “asleep, but I read the papers the next day.”