Tempered by tragedy, pop culture still our haven

By Tom Long
Detroit News

In 2001, Drew Barrymore and Tom Green got married, said they were just joking, then really got married and filed for divorce within six months.

Pop culture, inarguably filled with more piffle than profundity, has nevertheless again proven itself a refuge for a nation stressed. The Honolulu Advertiser

On Sept. 11, our national preoccupation with such silliness was suddenly gutted. In the wake of the terrorist attacks, America's consciousness was devastated in a way hitherto unknown, and it seemed as if a dark cloud was going to linger over the pop culture landscape forever.

In the months since, one undeniable truth has emerged: The beat of pop culture goes on. The horns may be a bit more muted now, the string section a bit more strained. But the beat goes on. And pop culture, inarguably filled with more piffle than profundity, has nevertheless again proven itself a refuge for a nation stressed.

Consider:

• In the eight months prior to Sept. 11, only one film — "Shrek" — had broken the $200 million box office barrier. In the three months since then two films — "Monsters, Inc." and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" — have shot past that mark and a third, "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," may join them.

• Since Sept. 11, Britney Spears, Garth Brooks, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand and Ja Rule have all released albums that have gone platinum, and "A Day Without Rain," the soothing album by Enya released more than a year ago, has shot into the top 10 and gone five times platinum.

• The 8-year-old sitcom "Friends" has drawn upwards of 30 million viewers at times since Sept. 11, offering America comfort-food television with beloved characters. And Arnold Schwarzenegger has finalized a deal to star in "Terminator III," for a fee of $30 million.

The beat goes on. But the beat has definitely been different the past few months. Pop culture has been influenced by the terrorist tragedy, it has reacted directly to America's anxiety and it has offered escape.

The swiftness with which the entertainment community reacted to the terrorist attacks was surprising. A mere 10 days after the tragedy, on Sept. 21, a two-hour televised fund-raiser titled "America: A Tribute to Heroes" was broadcast on most networks, raising more than $150 million for victims' families. The subdued, no-frills attitude of the show set the tone for the following weeks.

"I think excess and frivolity had already started to wear thin," Gucci's Tom Ford said before a post-attack fashion show, and that opinion has been widespread. Certainly no one's going about in the camouflage chic outfits that Destiny's Child made the rage earlier in the year.

"Big fashion, big cars, big food — big all of a sudden seems to be not the coolest thing anymore," says Jerry Herron, director of American Studies at Wayne State University. "There's a way in which small is the new big."

The twice-postponed Emmy Awards show that took place on Nov. 4 saw stars dressed in business attire rather than extravagant gowns. Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and dozens of other major show biz names answered the phone banks during "A Tribute to Heroes," throwing off any Hollywood pretensions. And the most successful TV special since Sept. 11 was "The Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers." A collection of bloopers from the 1970s variety show attracted 30 million viewers in November.

Big at the beginning

The year 2001 didn't start out unbig. The phenomenon that ruled the first half of the year was CBS's "Survivor: The Australian Outback," the reality show that became winter and spring's giddy water cooler conversation piece.

It's success, and the success of Fox's "Temptation Island," set off a mad dash to produce more reality shows, which either peaked or hit bottom (depending on how you look at it) last summer with NBC's mean TV trio — "Weakest Link," "Fear Factor" and "Spy TV," all shows with cruel streaks. Overkill eventually diluted the genres impact and by fall only "Survivor" still had a solid audience.

Big was also the operative word at the box office before September, followed by the word "drop." Hollywood trotted out one special effects blockbuster after another — "The Mummy Returns," "Pearl Harbor," "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," "Planet of the Apes" — to huge opening weekend audiences that inevitably plummeted by the next weekend. The sleeper ogre that ate them all was the animated "Shrek," which earned $276 million and later in the year also broke records for DVD and video sales.

Excess was certainly a keyword when it came to the year's hottest concert ticket, Madonna's Drowned World Tour, which was broadcast live on HBO from the Palace at Auburn Hills. It featured a platoon of writhing dancers, state-beyond-the-art technology, a constantly evolving stage set and the Material Girl herself in all her chameleon glory, playing a kilt-wearing punk, a bronco-riding cowgirl, a mystical geisha and herself (whoever that is). More than a rock show, it was a celebrity worship event.

Hope and understanding

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the outlandish, loud and brazen seemed off base. Films — most notably Tim Allen's "Big Trouble" and Schwarzenegger's "Collateral Damage" — that had terrorist themes were postponed. Images of the World Trade Center in various media were digitally erased. Television once again took on the role of great communicator as the nation grieved and looked to news broadcasts and analysts for hope and understanding.

When David Letterman came back on "Late Night" on Sept. 17 with a stirring commentary on the attacks and an emotional Dan Rather as guest, there was no thought of joking around.

"What struck me was that there was sort of this apocalyptic vacuum on television for the first few days," said Charles Gary, an aspiring screenwriter who last year moved from Honolulu to Los Angeles. "It was a welcome relief when Letterman came on and broke the ice. I think he and John Stewart had some incredibly real, heartfelt moments. After we had gotten enough of the facts from the news, I think everyone needed someone to grieve with and be scared with, and the late-night shows — aside from Jay Leno — gave us that."

But within a few days Letterman, Leno on "The Tonight Show," and other comics began offering cautious humor. And the door was opened for laughing again, and for facing the nation's fears.

Video rentals, it turned out, went sky high immediately after the attacks, with people either turning to comfortable family comedies or, again against many predictions, to films about terrorism. America went back to the movies almost immediately, and when television finally began rolling out its new season, the dials were tuned into familiar shows — "Everybody Loves Raymond," "The West Wing," "E.R."

New series were virtually ignored in the weeks after Sept. 11.

"There was a point when I wanted the television to stop whining and start living again and I did start to watch creative entertaining shows again," Gary said. "I think that as Americans, we process things through our interaction with pop culture and there's some sense of control in that."

One date only

By November, Britney Spears was doing an HBO special, Michael Jackson was releasing a new album and appearing in a televised tribute, and Harry Potter was ready to spread magic to kids in movie theaters. And while things started getting big again — "Harry" opened on the most screens nationwide in history — somehow it was a bit more tempered. It helped that the huge successes — "Harry," "Monsters," "Rings" — were out and out fantasies.

Excess and spectacle and mindless gossip will surely reign over popular culture again, that being the American way. But for now, the height of fashion continues to be red, white and blue — on T-shirts, with flag decals, on jewelry and jackets. And while it was a fractured year of pop culture trends, boondoggles and blockbusters, the year 2001 will most likely be remembered for one date and one date only.

Advertiser staff writer Michael Tsai contributed to this report.