This article examines a number of cinematic, literary and journalistic texts in the context of what filmmaker Tom Tykwer calls the ‘aesthetic memory’ of September 11. In particular, it explores the way these narratives relate to deeply embedded Western cultural myths of the apocalyptic. The apocalyptic language of American Christian fundamentalism and the heroic narratives of Hollywood film are explored as twin influences on a powerful civil religion dubbed ‘The Captain America complex’ by Jewett and Lawrence (2003a).
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FinemanHoward2003, ‘Bush and God’, Newsweek, 10 March.
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FredaIsabelle2003, ‘Survivors in the West Wing: 9/11 and the United States of Emergency’, in Wheeler W. Dixon, Film and Television After 9/11, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.
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LamyPhilip1997, ‘Secularizing the Millennium: Survivalists, Militias and the New World Order’, in RobbinsThomasPalmerSusan J. (eds), Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem: Contemporary Apocalyptic Movements, Routledge, New York.
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