Teatr terroru. Rekonesans
The Theatre of Terror. Reconnaissance

Author(s): Jacek Mikołajczyk
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: Terrorism is read as performance mainly from two perspectives. On the one hand, it is understood as a communication process in which the act of violence is not so much an ultimate aim of the terrorist’s activity as a statement, whose “spectacular frame” is to guarantee the effective appearance of the message in the media space. On the other hand, in terrorism one can emphasise the terror itself: the fear-that-cannot-be-overcome, described by some researchers as a proto-theatrical category in a wide cultural context. Both approaches meet in the moment of reflection on the spectacles of terror taking place in the media space. It can be clearly seen on the examples of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The author distinguishes five moments—performative aspects which constitute an increasing sequence— in these attacks: from mini-performances staged in the hijacked planes, through the live transmission of the media play connoting a disaster film, private gruesome “performances” of the dying victims of the attacks, and the towers (the symbols of New York) collapsing before the eyes of millions of spectators, to the political campaign: the global performance of power, which is to retain faith of the community members in the effectiveness of its representatives.

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