Will "Into Darkness" be a 911 parable?

[Romulan_spy]

Listening to Cumberbatch describe his character as a terrorist but who is very 3 dimensional, with a very grey morality. He says that the methods are abhorent but the audience will likely sympathize with the motives. He also says that Harrison seems himself as the underdog and likely justifies his extreme actions because he is fighting such a powerful force like Starfleet. And we know from the trailer that Harrison attacks Starfleet in a big 911 style attack. This got me thinking. Will "Into Darkness" be a parable on 911 and terrorism with a message that basically says "terrorist are not really pure evil because while their methods are abhorent, their motives might be sympathetic and they only do what they do because they see themselves as the underdog?

 

[Mage]

No.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yes.

 

[SalvorHardin]

I doubt it will try to portray terrorists in general as sympathetic figures. Harrison in particular, yes.
It will be more about the impact of terrorism on our society, the changes it causes and how we should cope and overcome its effects.



A relevant quote from Damon Lindelof in a recent interview

…we understood when we did it in the first movie that it was going to have a 9-11 level impact on that universe. In the same way that 9-11 happened over ten years ago, but we’re still talking about it and it still influences everything about our daily lives…Anything that happens in our new timeline has to walk in lockstep with Vulcan was destroyed and what is the impact of that on the federation? And what is the impact of that on Spock? What is the impact of that on Kirk? What is the impact of that on the geo-politics of the galaxy itself?
​

http://collider.com/damon-lindelof-star-trek-2-into-darkness-interview/220137/2

 

[Set Harth]

Isn't everything these days? At least the critics say so.

 

[blaXXer]

No.

Yes.

Perhaps.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

No.

Yes.

Perhaps.

But perhaps not.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

I just want to be able to empathise with the bad guy. Making his motives understandable certainly helps in that regard. Every film with a proper antagonist is better if you can understand why they're doing what they're doing.

Also, this one's going to have a lot of screeching fangirls.

 

[Borgminister]

No.

Yes.

Perhaps.

But perhaps not.

Yes and no.

 

[M'Sharak]

Will "Into Darkness" be a parable on 911 and terrorism with a message that basically says "terrorist are not really pure evil because while their methods are abhorent, their motives might be sympathetic and they only do what they do because they see themselves as the underdog?

While the Lindelof quote posted by Salvor indicates that the writers did and do intend the destruction of Vulcan to have had an impact upon the Federation comparable in scale to that which the Sept. 11 attacks had upon the United States, I would hope that the story we get is neither so simple as a straight parable nor such an obvious parallel.

Root causes leading to terrorism generally, now - that could work into a story in any of several ways, but there's no need for 9-11 to be a part of it - not even figuratively. It's not as if there's a shortage of other examples from which to draw.

 

[Mage]

My first reply was a bit sarcastic. Mostly because I feel that not everything has to relate to 9-11. And I doubt JJ would want a deep hidden message in his Star Trek. Non of his movies ever gave me the idea he's about deep messages.

 

[RAMA]

I don't have a problem with Earth-centric stories, just a problem with bad stories. This looks like quite an interesting mutli-layered story, that happens to have the government and traitors as bad guys again: the current cultural zeitgeist.

RAMA

 

[F. King Daniel]

Maybe the Federation will react to a Romulan terrorist action by invading Qo'nos. They'll bank on the common human not being able to tell the difference between Romulans and Klingons, and hope no-one notices them securing Praxis' dilithium reserves while they're at it...

 

[EnsignRicky]

After the last one, I think I'm gonna need a 4:20 parable.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

This got me thinking. Will "Into Darkness" be a parable on 911 and terrorism with a message that basically says "terrorist are not really pure evil because while their methods are abhorent, their motives might be sympathetic and they only do what they do because they see themselves as the underdog?

No, because STXI was already a 9/11 parable, between Nero's omnicidal rage and his imcomprehensible finger-pointing and blame-gaming.

More to the point, the motives between the 9/11 terrorists weren't all that sympathetic. They genuinely didn't care if they were the "good guys" in any scenario, they do what they do because they are TOLD to do it and because they have been conditioned to obey those orders to the death.

So unless Cumbebatch's character turns out to be the real mastermind behind Nero's evil plot, there's no 9/11 parable to be had. This is something entirely different.

 

[Borgminister]

I'm thinking more like a bell curve.

 

[Set Harth]

I would attack Qo'noS just for being spelled Qo'noS.

 

[Phily B]

please no im bored of them, especially when they end up being one sided.

 

[intrinsical]

Perhaps.

But perhaps not.

Yes and no.

It is a quantum state of superposition until the movie is observed in the cinema.

 

[Kruezerman]

Why not? It'll make Star Trek relevant again.

Although I'm thinking more along the lines of a PATRIOT Act parable/criticism here.