In the eight and a half years that have passed since September 11, 2001, a small amount of art has emerged. Hollywood, for example, has produced very few movies that are directly focused on the events of that day, and none of those films received any major awards or grand critical reception.
For part one of this blog, consider why there has been so little art (film, music, television, painting...) produced that addresses 9/11. A special hint to help you with you considerations: it is often said that history belongs to the victors or that history is written by the winners or something similar. What the victors and the winners all have is ownership. It would be pretty fair to say that there weren't any winners on 9/11, but there were a lot of owners. Not buying it? Ask anyone who was older than you where they were when the planes hit the towers. How many people can you find that actually saw the buildings collapse? This was not a D-Day or a Kennedy assassination that a handful of people witnessed. This played out on national television. Think of what that does to the ownership of the event. Think of how that affects its memory.
One of the best pieces of at that has come out of 9/11 is Bruce Springsteen's album The Rising. Though he is from New Jersey, he is often thought of as a voice of New York. Many funerals of 9/11 victims, for example, had requests for his songs like "Born in the USA" and "Thunder Road". Peruse the album here (you can visit YouTube for a full version of any song). For part two, pick one song and post your explanation of why you think it's a good anthem for 9/11.
