Abstract

Studies of memory and film have touched upon the implication of watching productions from different time periods. However, little scholarship has investigated how memory can draw attention to certain powerful images rather than others. This thesis explores how audiences respond to films in light of the passage of time and the public’s changing memories. The thesis focuses on the Twin Towers of New York City’s World Trade Center (W.T.C.), images that have obtained new meanings when they appear intact in pre-9/11 films. The writing of Stuart Hall, John Fiske, and Roland Barthes assist with theories of the mutability of meaning. Maurice Halbwachs, George Lipsitz, Marita Sturken and José van Dijck provide understanding of popular memory. The impact of representations of major historical events, such as 9/11, is elucidated with the research of Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz, and Barbie Zelizer. A case study focuses on the W.T.C. in popular pre-9/11 films and examines how viewers encounter that image today. The results demonstrate that the appearance of the W.T.C. impacts the viewers’ historical understanding by situating them in time and place, and therefore, giving them a sense of present to compare to the past.