Posts tagged 9/11
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
0Today my friends and I finally got to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a movie adaption of Jonathan Safran Foer’s book. The movie was slow paced, but emotional. Overall, I did not love it. It lacked the beautiful story that the grandparents of Oscar, the main character, had. They had a beautiful love story and lived through the Dresden bombings. They were particularly significant, because the other half of the novel was about Oscar and a search that he embarks on after his father dies in the attacks on 9/11. There was a deep and satisfying connection between the two stories in the novel. The movie, on the other hand, was more focused on Oscar and his quest. It focused on the pain that Oscar went through because of the twin tower attacks on 9/11. It also focused a lot more on Oscar 
as a character in himself. He was portrayed as autistic, much more than in the book; the bruises he gave himself were also much more brutal than I imagined.
While it did not live up to the book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, if anything, did a good job at bringing together the extraordinary pain of this historical event. Ten years later, it is a good way to recognize the lives lost.
Pray for Japan and 9.11
0On Sunday, September 11th, I was lucky enough to be a part of such a beautiful event at The Riverside Church which was aimed to commemorate the lives lost on that date ten years ago. When I walked into the church I immediately felt a force of peace overcome me. I had used that day to reflect, and I had looked at videos of the towers collapsing in honor of remembering what our country went through that day. I wanted to cry for the people that died. But after a long day of solemnity, being in the church reminded me of the strength that our country has had to overcome and rebuild within the last ten years.
When I walked in I was handed an origami crane and a program. The cranes were beautiful, but I didn’t know what they were for. Ana told me about the Japanese legend that allows a person one wish after folding a thousand origami cranes. I was immediately impressed by such a beautiful symbol. A wish for healing, as these cranes represented, is not unrealistic. Then I saw that at the top of the program given out to each of the participants of the night, it read “Pray for Japan and 9.11.” I loved that we were together with Japan in this struggle for healing. A lot can come from unity.
The performance of the night was by all means the most impressive. The unity was made literal as the Japan and U.S. Memorial Orchestra and Chorus came together with members of the Queens College Orchestra and Chorus. The orchestra and chorus had a power that overtook the whole sanctuary and captured me in a state of reflection. The various tones and speeds of different parts of the requiem exhibited many different emotions and had a sense of a story to it–one of pain followed by hope.
What stayed with me the most was that such power can come from a piece whose words I couldn’t even comprehend. Despite that, knowing that such an amazing message remained within the piece made it even more captivating. At some point, the words “dona eis requiem” was sung, which means “grant them eternal rest.” When I think about these words I immediately think of the victims of the tragedy in Japan and in Manhattan. May they indeed forever have eternal rest.
Jonathan Safran Foer
0During orientation before my first year at Macaulay Honors College, my entire class had the opportunity to meet author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer.
Jonathan Safran Foer made a statement during the interview on “Arts Day” of orientation that has continued to stick with me: Art is anything that an artist intends to be art. That is a beautiful concept. I can carefully place together pieces of clay, mold it in a way that expresses my emotion, call it art, and it will be art. The best part, according to Foer’s statement is that it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, because since I intended it to be art, that is exactly what it is. That statement forces everyone to be open minded and tolerant, because in that case not everyone will understand all art—just as I, myself, have not understood all art. It forces onlookers of art to inquire about the respective artists’ reasons for their art. Lastly, it gives us the opportunity to put ourselves in others’ shoes in order to feel their emotions, experience them, and then to empathize with others.
Art is anything that an artist intends to be art. There is another aspect to this statement, however, that I believe Foer left out. What about something that was not intended to be art by its maker? Can it not be seen as art to someone else? It is true that one person’s garbage is another person’s treasure; that’s why we have garage sales! So, simply put, if you think something is art, it is art. If you don’t think so, however, that does not mean that it is not art. Art calls for the acceptance and tolerance that we need in the world so much. It represents our struggles because as people we tend not to understand each other’s struggles to the fullest. Art may give us a chance. I love Foer’s passion for art exhibited in his interview and in his book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Most of all, I love that he did not intentionally try to make his book stand out above others; as he explained, he just made it the way he wanted it. It is art.