“…in the aftermath of 9/11 and in the context of the “War on Terror,” destruction functions culturally and primarily as a solution to the problems posed by a complex and anxiety-inducing present. The beauty contained in contemporary representations of destruction is thus less an immediate aspect of the sublime spectacle that is destruction itself but rather constitutes a result of the effect of destruction. Unlike Cold War-era representations of destruction that mediated a dominant fear of annihilation, contemporary representations of destruction are beautiful because destruction is in fact an antidote to a world that produces the fears we seek to escape.”
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