# What's the point to editing WTC representations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 13, 2001, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466 "2001-09-13T22:15:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/1 "2001-09-13T22:15:39Z")
Really, I’m at a loss here. What’s the point to editing commercials or movies so they don’t show the WTC? Supposedly the _Spider-Man_ movie trailer has been yanked, since it prominently shows the Centers. I’ve heard rumors- though I haven’t seen any myself- that other commericals that have shown the NYC skyline have been either edited or digitally “corrected”. Why? There seem to be few people who think the Trade centers should _not_ be rebuilt, if for no other reason than to tell the World, in effect, “screw terrorists, we’re still here!” So why would showing the Centers, still there and still active, be somehow… I don’t know, disrespectful? Now I can understand holding off on the release of some upcoming movies that deal with terrorism or plane crashes, as that can be easily taken as “capitalizing on a tragedy”. (Wasn’t somebody making Tom Clancy’s _Debt of Honor_ into a movie? The book ends [SPOILER!] with a disgruntled pilot crashing an empty but fuel-laden passenger jet into the Capitol Building, killing nearly all of the House and Senate.) But why edit the Towers out of an investment company commerical? ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/2 "2001-09-13T22:18:26Z")
Oops. Sorry, I meant this for Great Debates. Mods, if you will? ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/3 "2001-09-13T22:22:50Z")
From what I remember, the Spider-Man ad had not only the trade towers, but an airplane crashing into a building (possibly the Towers themselves) after Spidey catches it with his web. See why now? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/4 "2001-09-13T22:31:35Z")
**Moderator’s Notes:** GD? Off it goes. ---
**Author:** ![PotLuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@PotLuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PotLuck)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/5 "2001-09-13T22:34:40Z")
According to [Mr. Showbiz.com](http://mrshowbiz.go.com/news/2001/9/moviestvpostponed091201.html), the _Spider-man_ scene in question is when “a helicopter full of bank robbers is caught in a web spun by Spider-Man between the World Trade Center towers”. ---
**Author:** ![Lockfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@Lockfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockfist)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/6 "2001-09-13T22:43:09Z")
> [@](#): > > According to Mr. [Showbiz.com](http://Showbiz.com), the Spider-man scene in question is when “a helicopter full of bank robbers is caught in a web spun by Spider-Man between the World Trade Center towers”. A rather striking and effective commercial I might add. I hope they don’t pull this scene because it shows the WTC in a positive light. ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/7 "2001-09-13T22:50:43Z")
Thanks **UB.** I agree with Lockfist: I haven’t seen the trailer, but that sounds fairly positive. I assume the chopper doesn’t crash into the building in a fireball though… But commericals? Something showing little more than just a sweeping shot of the Manhattan skyline? Why edit or alter it? I can’t really see that sort of thing as a “pouring salt on the wound” sort of thing, if that’s what’s behind the idea, since the entire planet knows what happened and how, right now. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/8 "2001-09-13T22:58:19Z")
I can see why they would pull stuff from movies like _Spider Man_\*… I mean, it would have to be fictional since we all know the WTC buildings are gone, right? :rolleyes: If there’s one thing I learned from my travels abroad it is that American media is permanently walking on eggshells. I hold them personally repsonsible for the entire PC movement. It is a shame, but I think they have little choice… they will lose a very small protion of viewers, a small portion of that portion will voice sorrow, a small protion of that small portion of that small portion will voice outrage, and that outrage will be aired by competitors as representative of some sweeping opinion, and then it will become opinion (though not anyone’s opinion that anyone personally knows, of course), and then all media networks work to censor all other media networks and we’ll be stuck watching Barney 24-7. Wait… err, ok, there wa some obvious exaggeration there (we don’t have Barney 24-7) but I can’t tell where. Ah, well… I think that’s close. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/9 "2001-09-13T23:00:05Z")
\*f\*\*king posting errors… I mean, fucking posting errors. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/10 "2001-09-13T23:06:34Z")
I believe the scene with the WTC in the Spider-Man trailer isn’t in the movie. It was made just for the preview. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Harvey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@Max\_Harvey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Harvey)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/11 "2001-09-13T23:11:29Z")
I’ve seen the trailer several times on the net. Most of it involves a bank robbery. Near the end the robbers escape in a helicopter, which suddenly stops. A shot of the copter reveals it’s stuck in webbing. The camera zooms out, very dramatically, to show an enormous web between the towers. Then there’s about 10 seconds of Spider-Man swinging through the city. Having seen it, I think the decision to pull the trailer is 100 percent justified. ---
**Author:** ![Mandelstam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Mandelstam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mandelstam)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2001, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/12 "2001-09-13T23:32:03Z")
Has it occured to you that the mere sight of the World Trade Center for at least the next few months if not longer is going to bring to mind heart-wrenching suffering and despair? Not exactly the kind of heavy emotional distraction one wants to inadvertently induce in the midst of a commercial, or an upbeat adventure flick like Spider Man. I don’t think this has got anything to do with “PC.” Ask anyone who knows anything about marketing or advertising: you don’t want to do _anything_ to bring on a downer. ---
**Author:** ![B.O](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f08c70/32.png) [@B.O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.O)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-to-editing-wtc-representations/81466/13 "2001-09-14T00:11:37Z")
First, it has something to do with simply exercising a modicum of taste. Also, as a corporate communication professional I can assure you that Mandelstam is right on the money: Showing the WTC will for a very long time trigger associations of outrage, disgust, fear etc. Unless that reaction is one’s intent, one would be best advised not to use the WTC in any footage.