Alexander T. Riley
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479870479
- eISBN:
- 9781479809400
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479870479.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter focuses on the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel in Shanksville as a commemoration of United Airlines Flight 93. It first provides the narrative on the origin of the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel ...
More
This chapter focuses on the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel in Shanksville as a commemoration of United Airlines Flight 93. It first provides the narrative on the origin of the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel before discussing some of the meanings being associated with the chapel, in the form of possible or likely readings of its symbolism in the context of the broader American culture. It then considers how people interact with the symbolic material at the chapel and how these interactions change the meanings that emerge from the symbols. It also explores the cultural narrative at work in the chapel, with particular emphasis on how dead bodies and their representations, even if they are not the bodies of heroes, acquire special symbolic importance. The chapter suggests that the basic meaning of the American flags present in the chapel is tied into the sacrificial death and transfiguration of the hero.Less
This chapter focuses on the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel in Shanksville as a commemoration of United Airlines Flight 93. It first provides the narrative on the origin of the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel before discussing some of the meanings being associated with the chapel, in the form of possible or likely readings of its symbolism in the context of the broader American culture. It then considers how people interact with the symbolic material at the chapel and how these interactions change the meanings that emerge from the symbols. It also explores the cultural narrative at work in the chapel, with particular emphasis on how dead bodies and their representations, even if they are not the bodies of heroes, acquire special symbolic importance. The chapter suggests that the basic meaning of the American flags present in the chapel is tied into the sacrificial death and transfiguration of the hero.
Alexander T. Riley
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479870479
- eISBN:
- 9781479809400
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479870479.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This book examines the mythology of the United Airlines Flight 93 disaster in America's collective consciousness. Flight 93 was the fourth plane hijacked in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and it ...
More
This book examines the mythology of the United Airlines Flight 93 disaster in America's collective consciousness. Flight 93 was the fourth plane hijacked in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and it eventually crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Drawing on the basic intellectual framework created by Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss nearly 100 years ago, the book explores the myth of Flight 93 and its relationship to the myth of America. It shows how the myth of Flight 93 is articulated in news coverage of the crash, in books and films about the flight and its passengers, and in the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel and the Flight 93 National Memorial erected at the crash site in Shanksville. The book analyzes the various sites in which the narratives, collective memory, and meaning of Flight 93 have been produced and are constantly being reproduced.Less
This book examines the mythology of the United Airlines Flight 93 disaster in America's collective consciousness. Flight 93 was the fourth plane hijacked in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and it eventually crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Drawing on the basic intellectual framework created by Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss nearly 100 years ago, the book explores the myth of Flight 93 and its relationship to the myth of America. It shows how the myth of Flight 93 is articulated in news coverage of the crash, in books and films about the flight and its passengers, and in the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel and the Flight 93 National Memorial erected at the crash site in Shanksville. The book analyzes the various sites in which the narratives, collective memory, and meaning of Flight 93 have been produced and are constantly being reproduced.
