Analysis: Is Cloverfield a 9/11 Analogy?

When the film Cloverfield hit theatres it instantly became a phenomenon. But was there a deeper meaning behind it's story or was it just another disaster movie? There are many ways to interpret Cloverfield. Some consider it a knock off of previous movies such as The Blair Witch Project. It uses the same technique as Blair Witch but at a lesser level. Where the Blair Witch Project felt like a more realistic home video, Ckoverfield's image quality was far superior to any home video camera. But when looked at in deeper context an alarming feature of Cloverfield becomes noticeable; it's parrelles to the events of 9/11.



The first connection can be drawn in the most simple form, a mysterious creature is attacking New York City and no one knows who or what it is or what it wants. Buildings topple like Lego's as the creature lays waste to the city, leaving everyone in it in utter panic and shock. This alone is an interesting parallel to draw but it alone cannot serve as enough evidence to draw a conclusion. The second connection is the use of ammeter home video to depict the event. Because of the quickness of the events on September 11, 2001 the media(and the rest of the country) was so caught up in surprise and panic that most of the footage captured is either from amateur eyewitnesses, panicked news camera men or security footage. There is no sweeping shots of the city from a distance moving in between buildings. There is no dolly shots from safe distance. All the footage from that day is right in the middle of the action. It is in no way choreographed. This is much like Cloverfield where we only see glimpses of the beast. This is one of the main parallels between Cloverfield and 9/11; the sense of the unknown. It wasn't until later on that we find out that a Godzilla like creature is doing the damage much like the mystery of who was attacking us on 9/11.



Although the parallels are here to draw a conclusion that Cloverfield is indeed a 9/11 analogy, it seems that it is more a product of it's time rather then a straight up analogy. 9/11 changed he world and it changed movies as well in how they are made and how they are perceived. Prior to 9/11 when a building collapsed it simply collapsed. But now one is hard pressed to not see a building collapse then immediately think of dust filling the streets as this is one of the most vivid image memories of that day. This is not because buildings didn't do this before 9/11,we just never paid any attention to it. Now that image is ingrained into our minds. 9/11also put disaster moves on an indefinite hiaus. It seemed wrong and in extremely poor taste to produce a disaster movie as the events were so fresh in our minds that picking at that wound, and a wound so deep and painful, seemed like a death wish on a career.

Prior to 9/11 New York was destroyed numerous times from Godzilla to Deep Impact and Armageddon. New York was destroyed also in The Day After Tomorrow which is a rare post-9/11 disaster movie. So in conclusion Cloverfield is not a 9/11 analogy despite there being obvious parallels. Instead it is a product of it's
time and a prime example of how folks can be shaped and changed by the events of the world we live in.