Harry Potter and the 9/11 Generation How 9/11 and the Global War on Terror Influenced Adolescent Franchise Cinema

Abstract

A new wave of adolescent fantasy cinema arrived in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001, terrorist attacks and the Global War on Terror. Directed with themes of social fear, and dependent on digital technology, these films feature protagonists facing “issues such as the conflict between national security and civil liberties, the risk of xenophobia and entrenchment, or the consequences of preventive war.” Anchored to the Harry Potter series, this project analyses changes that occurred in the aesthetic and narrative of coming of age fantasy films produced after 9/11, and investigates whether these films incorporate a post-9/11 rhetoric within the socio-political worlds they portray. This study also examines the visual environments of these films, and how a post-9/11 lens envisions and captures landscapes for the screen. The methodology includes a qualitative analysis that assesses the Harry Potter franchise against research about the post-9/11 landscape. This investigation relies on studies that compare Harry Potter imagery with the visual landscape of post-9/11 disaster and military footage found in films, documentaries and image archives featuring the Global War on Terror. The research will use the creative method to develop a short film set amidst a visual world characterised by the post-9/11 milieu. However, this story does not conclude with an epic battle. Instead, it will engage with the post-9/11 concept of quaking zones or locations that encourage transformative experiences in culture and nature. The film includes natural spectacles resembling the neo-baroque digital aesthetic prevalent in coming of age fantasies today to draw attention to problems facing our natural world in a way that would relate to a post-9/11 audience raised on franchises like Harry Potter.