NYT: “Snakes on a Plane” a metaphor for Flight 93
posted at 4:05 pm on August 18, 2006 by Allahpundit
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I’m tired of these mother****ing terrorists on these mother****ing planes:
“Snakes on a Plane” is less about surviving on airplanes than wresting control of them. In other words it’s “United 93″ without the tears. The filmmakers don’t overplay the political angle, though they do squeeze in a Middle Eastern snake and a scene of an F.B.I. agent sneering about the A.C.L.U.. Mostly, though, what they give us is the chance to win, not with righteous morality, but with an old-fashioned swagger that says, much like the film itself, Hey, we may be stupid, but we rock.
The movie ends with Sam Jackson bringing his boot down on an asp that’s trying to kill him, leading it to accuse him of ophidiophobia and pose next to a teddy bear while a sympathetic Reuters photographer documents the wound.
Animal metaphors can work surprisingly well to communicate the enormity of atrocities. The problem is, with few exceptions — “United 93″ most prominent among them — metaphor is as close as Hollywood gets to the war. Writing a few days ago in Time, Richard Corliss offered four reasons why. I can think of at least two he forgot, although one of them does show up further on in the essay:
Moviemakers want to profit from our fears as well as our desires; that’s their business. But they stick to fears of a smaller, more intimate kind: the serial killer with a knife, the snakes on a plane. They’re reluctant to think about the Big Fear, because that fear is too close to the headlines, and about the current Big Villains, because that means Islamic extremists. In Hollywood today, greed is the handmaiden of timidity. I envision a studio V.P. for marketing standing before a wall map, putting his hand over the wide swatch of Arab countries and saying, You want to lose all these markets?
As for the other, maybe things are about to change. Full-page ads make for nice PR; now let’s see them put their money where their mouths are.
“Mother****ing”? Why don’t you just say it? You know why. Send her an e-mail. Tell her you want AP to be able to drop the big one. In fact, make it the subject line of your message.
You want it that bad? Here you go, straight from the horse’s mouth.
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“Snakes on a Plane” = Excellent name for a band.
GPE on August 18, 2006 at 4:10 PM
Snakes on a Plane, “Mother****ing” as lame as GOLF CLUBS ON WOOT!
shooter on August 18, 2006 at 4:36 PM
I bet Snakes makes more than Stone’s ‘WTC’.
Number 2 on August 18, 2006 at 4:39 PM
Make sure to turn up the volume at work. Don’t ask why. You’ll thank me.
After your a** gets fired.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on August 18, 2006 at 4:40 PM
Wow… can’t this movie just be about… oh… you know…
Snakes on a plane??
Its like looking for Social dialogue in a Zorro movie… sometimes a Zorro movie is just that… a Zorro movie..
Sigh… but I’m just a dumb consumer American I guess, cause I don’t like Modern Art either…
Romeo13 on August 18, 2006 at 4:52 PM
Better listen to “her” and keep on using ****ing * button.
d1carter on August 18, 2006 at 4:54 PM
Al-Times equivocating flight 93 references aside, how could we leave out the cleverest sentence in the whole piece? Or are porn takes as verboten as m-f bombs?
Kid from Brooklyn on August 18, 2006 at 4:59 PM
This is a family mother****ing blog, man.
Allahpundit on August 18, 2006 at 5:00 PM
Is it any surprise that Stallone is making a sequel to Rocky and not Rambo? The truth be told, neither franchise should be updated.
The upside is that we don’t have to avoid the remake of Red Dawn set in Lebanon.
Jello Biafra still has the definitive list of good band names - MONDALE!
rw on August 18, 2006 at 5:06 PM
In stead of mother****ing use melon-farming. It’s what Bruce Willis says on the edited-for-TV versions of Die Hard.
Number 2 on August 18, 2006 at 5:17 PM
Boys when you arent panting over cutie commie leaning talking heads you are panting over snake movies that remind you of porn and pretending to swear. Good grief..Big Momma IS away this week isnt she? *lol* You just wait till MM gets back and she washes your brains out with soap!
labwrs on August 18, 2006 at 5:38 PM
I’ll take that as a mother****ing no.
How would “motherflower” go over though?
Kid from Brooklyn on August 18, 2006 at 5:54 PM
Not me. Clearly, you have me confused with some other “motherflower”.
Kid from Brooklyn on August 18, 2006 at 6:01 PM
Kid, how are your French lessons? One thing, and that’s it, the French have going for them (a few anyway) they have a flair for chic.
Also, even though labwrs was trying to be a ‘mommy’ she really, really loves you :)
You crack me up daily, oftentimes.
labwrs, you are our board angel :)
Entelechy on August 18, 2006 at 6:22 PM
I give up you guys (or is that youse guys KID?)..have at it! It’s Friday and time to go have some real fun and dinner. Great weekend all!
Entelechy..I know all the French dirty words so watch out! *lol* Y’all play nice now!
labwrs on August 18, 2006 at 6:26 PM
labwrs, this is a family blog in any language - watch out, or else Allah will have to wash your mouth out with soap.
Have fun and don’t change,
Entelechy on August 18, 2006 at 6:31 PM
Naaaah, nothing like that; I’m just an admirer of Allah’s fine tastes; lest Mrs. Kid kick my mother****in’ ayss.
BTW, I never heard “youse” until I encountered Southern folk. Y’all are funny like that. ;)
Kid from Brooklyn on August 18, 2006 at 6:36 PM
KID: “youse” was in a movie so it MUST be right! *chuckle*
Entelechy: I meant for YOU not to use the French nono words or I would know! :)
labwrs on August 19, 2006 at 11:38 AM
Instead of “SNAKES on a Plane,” how about SHEIKH’S on a plane. What could be scarier than a bunch of young radical muslim males on a commercial flight?
Mojave Mark on August 19, 2006 at 5:35 PM
Apparently SOAP opened below expectations. Saw it with my kids–my advice: have a few drinks beforehand, it will seem funnier.
honora on August 21, 2006 at 10:40 AM