List of cultural references to the September 11 attacks

This list of cultural references to the September 11 attacks and to the post-9/11 sociopolitical climate, includes works of art, music, books, poetry, comics, theater, film, and television.

Art and design

Ground Zero by Bobb Vann

9/11 Flipbook by Scott Blake

• 9/11 Flipbook^[1] (2005–present) by Scott Blake allows viewers to watch a continuous reenactment of United Airlines Flight 175 crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Accompanying the images are essays written by a wide range of participants, each expressing their personal experience of the September 11th attacks. In addition, the essays' authors posted their responses to the request that they reflect on, and respond to, the flipbook itself.
• A Garden Stepping into the Sky^[2] (2002-3) by Ron Drummond is a design for a World Trade Center Memorial built out of the "clay" of functional interior space suitable for commercial, cultural, or residential uses. Praised by New York novelist and critic Samuel R. Delany and architecture critic Herbert Muschamp, Drummond's design was the focus of a documentary by the award-winning independent filmmaker Gregg Lachow and was featured on CNN and KOMO-TV News.
• Golden Angels Over Lower Manhattan (2011), a painting by the New-York based Polish artist, Leokadia Makarska-Cermak, who was in Lower Manhattan during the attacks. She presented the painting at the Sanctuary Still remembrance event held at the St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church on September 11, 2011.^[3]
• Save Manhattan, a series of works by the Moroccan artist Mounir Fatmi. Three Installations show Manhattan as if the attacks did not take place, and a light is projected to create a sharply defined shadow of the pre-9/11 skyline of the city. Save Manhattan 1 is made with books, Save Manhattan with videotapes and Save Manhattan 3 is a sound installation with speakers.^[4] In the Save Manhattan Video, the skyline progressively dissolves and becomes the memory and the ghost of something that was but that is not anymore.^[5]
• September (2005), a painting by Gerhard Richter^[6]

Classical music

For rock and related music with references to the attacks, see List of songs about the September 11 attacks

• John Adams - On the Transmigration of Souls
• James Adler - Reflections upon a September morn
• Lera Auerbach - Violin Sonata no.2 "September 11"
• Richard Blackford - Not in Our Time
• John Corigliano - One Sweet Morning
• Anthony Davis - Restless Morning
• David Del Tredici - Missing Towers (Perpetual Canon), the third movement of Gotham Glory for solo piano
• Jed Distler - 110 for 911, for speaking pianist, to the text of "Word Tower Two," a collective poem initiated by Citylore, curated by Bob Holman
• Michael Gordon - The Sad Park, written for the Kronos Quartet
• The Hungarian composer Robert Gulya, who was living in the USA from 2000 to 2002, started to work on a guitar concerto in autumn 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks. Gulya chose a theme for the concerto's first movement, which reminds of the terror attacks.^[7] The world premiere of this concerto was filmed and released on the DVD Live in Budapest by the Austria guitarist Johanna Beisteiner.
• Adolphus Hailstork - Armageddon and As Falling Leaves
• Lance Hulmé - Threnody for the Victims of September 11, 2001
• Aivars Kalējs - Musica dolente for symphony orchestra, dedicated to the innocent victims of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. The world premiere conducted by Andris Nelsons.
• Aaron Jay Kernis - Sarabanda in memoriam, an arrangement for string orchestra of a movement from his Second String Quartet (1998)
• Wojciech Kilar - September Symphony
• Phil Kline - September 22 Vigil, a walking vigil performed in Manhattan on the evening of 22 September 2001, between Union Square and Washington Square.
• Elodie Lauten - S.O.S.W.T.C.
• Arkady Luxemburg - Suite No. 2 for strings 'In Memory of the Victims of September 11, 2001'
• Kevin Malone - E pluribus unum, Angels and Fireflies, Eighteen Minutes, Vox humana, vox populi, Tacet al fine, Requiem77, Gently Tread
• Ingram Marshall - September Canons
• Cindy McTee - Adagio from Symphony No. 1 'Ballet' for Orchestra
• Robert Moran - Trinity Requiem
• Stephen Paulus - Prayers and Remembrances
• Krzysztof Penderecki - Piano Concerto 'Resurrection' (dedicated to the victims of 9/11)
• George Quincy - Voices from Ground Zero
• Steve Reich - WTC 9/11, written for the Kronos Quartet
• Terry Riley - Sun Rings, written for the Kronos Quartet
• Ned Rorem - Aftermath
• Gary Schocker - A Fond Farewell: Meditations on September 11
• Tolibhon Shakhidi - 11th of September
• Christopher Theofanidis - Death of a Soldier
• Joan Tower - In Memory for String Quartet
• Karen Walwyn - Reflections on 9/11
• Julius P. Williams - Midnight Tolls
• Charles Wuorinen - September 11, 2001
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich - Clarinet Concerto
• Gloria Coates - String Quartet No. 8
• Bechara El-Khoury - New York, Tears and Hope
• Mohammed Fairouz - Symphony No. 4 "In the Shadow of No Towers"
• Leonardo Balada - Symphony No. 5 "American"
• Stephen Hartke - Symphony No. 3

Film

International

• 11'09"01 September 11 (2002), an international anthology film composed of contributions from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Egypt, France, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Mexico, United Kingdom, and the USA, each exploring reactions to 9/11.

North America

Video, television, and theatrical release: documentaries

• 102 Minutes That Changed America, a 2008 American made-for-television History Channel documentary which follows the events of 9/11 through raw footage.
• 9/11, a 2002 Franco-American made-for-television CBS documentary.
• 911: In Plane Site, a 2004 American documentary film which advocates 9/11 conspiracy theories.
• 9/11: Press for Truth, a 2006 American independent film which investigates the events of 9/11.
• 9/11: The Twin Towers, a 2006 American made-for-television Discovery Channel documentary about the events of 9/11.
• Answering the Call: Ground Zero's Volunteers, a 2005 American documentary film.
• Beyond Belief, a 2007 American independent film about the post-9/11 experiences of two women who lost their husbands on 9/11 and who set up a humanitarian program for war widows in Afghanistan.
• Bowling for Columbine, a 2002 American documentary film by Michael Moore that refers to the events of 9/11 in its "Wonderful World" montage.
• The Cats of Mirikitani, a 2006 American documentary about the painter Jimmy Mirikitani who lived in New York at the time of 9/11.
• The Concert for New York City, documentary of the five-hour benefit concert at Madison Square Garden.
• Countdown to Ground Zero, a 2006 American made-for-television History Channel documentary which covers a 9/11 timeline.
• United States of Banana, 2011 series of art films by photographer Michael Somoroff, based on the 9/11 novel United States of Banana by Hispanic-American author Giannina Braschi.
• Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, a 2006 American independent film about the backlash experienced by the country music band, Dixie Chicks during the Post-9/11 climate.
• Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11, a 2006 American documentary broadcast on the Sundance Channel.
• Fahrenheit 9/11, a 2004 American documentary film by Michael Moore.
  • FahrenHYPE 9/11, reaction to the above film
• Flight 175: As the World Watched, a 2006 American made-for-television The Learning Channel documentary about United Airlines Flight 175.
• The Flight That Fought Back, a 2005 American made-for-television Discovery Channel documentary about United Airlines Flight 93.
• Grounded on 9/11, a 2005 American made-for-television History Channel documentary.
• Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire a 2004 documentary
• The Heart of Steel, a 2006 American independent film about the post 9/11 experiences of a group of volunteers.
• Hotel Ground Zero, a 2009 American made-for-television History Channel documentary.
• I Missed Flight 93, a 2006 American made-for-television History Channel documentary about people who missed Flight 93.
• Inside 9/11, a 2005 American made-for-television National Geographic Channel documentary about the events before, during, and after 9/11.
• The Love We Make, a 2011 American documentary about Paul McCartney's experiences in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks, following him as he prepared The Concert for New York City October 2001 benefit event.
• The Man Who Predicted 9/11, a 2002 American made-for-television History Channel documentary.
• Metal of Honor: The Ironworkers of 9/11, a 2006 American documentary.
• Native New Yorker, a 2005 American documentary.
• On Native Soil: the Documentary of the 9/11 Commission Report, a 2005 American documentary.
• Rebirth, a 2011 American documentary about five individuals impacted by 9/11.
• The Second Day, a 2011 documentary by a man who as a boy lived through 9/11 and relates his real-life experience.^[8]
• The Secret History of 9/11, a 2006 American documentary.
• The Tillman Story, a 2010 American independent film about the death of football star and Army Ranger Pat Tillman during the Post-9/11 climate.
• Toxic Clouds of 9/11, a 2006 American documentary.
• Toxic Legacy, a 2006 Canadian documentary.
• Twin Towers (film), a 2003 American documentary.
• Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?, a 2008 American documentary directed by Morgan Spurlock

Video, television, and theatrical release: feature films

• 25th Hour, a 2002 American film by Spike Lee that is set in post-9/11 New York and puts Ground Zero in the background of a pivotal scene.
• The 9/11 Commission Report, a 2006 drama based upon the 9/11 Commission Report.
• Airborne, a 2012 independent film about a hijacked airliner. The film introduces its story by pretending since 9/11 there would be a so-called "Firelight Protocol" which had been "designed to protect those on the ground".
• A Broken Sole, a trilogy of 2007 American short films that use 9/11 as a backdrop.
• A Few Days in September, a 2006 film about a CIA agent with advanced intelligence of the September 11 attacks.
• The Conspirator, a 2010 historical drama film directed by Robert Redford about the response to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Critics have cited it as an analogy to the post-9/11 atmosphere.^[9][10]
• DC 9/11: Time of Crisis, a 2003 American made-for-television Showtime drama, re-enacting the events of 9/11 from the point of view of President George W. Bush.
• Dear John, a 2010 American film that uses 9/11 as a backdrop.
• The Dictator, a 2012 film, includes a joke about 9/11.
• Diverted a 2009 Canadian made-for-television Canadian Broadcasting Corporation film about the town of Gander, Newfoundland hosting thousands of travelers after the United States shut down its airspace.
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a 2011 American film based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.
• Flight 93, a 2006 American made-for-television A&E Network drama about United Airlines Flight 93.
• The Great New Wonderful, a 2005 American film following a group of New Yorkers one year after the attacks.
• The Guys, a 2002 American film that adapts the Anne Nelson play.
• Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, a 2008 American comedy about the impact of the post-9/11 atmosphere on Harold and Kumar.
• Into the Fire a 2005 American film about the aftermath of 9/11 for three New Yorkers.
• Julie and Julia, a 2009 American film in which the main character works in a call center for 9/11 victims, leading her to find an escape.
• Mooz-lum, a 2010 American independent film that documents the lives of an African American Muslim family whose lives are changed by 9/11 and its aftermath.
• The Path to 9/11, a 2006 American made-for-television ABC mini-series about events preceding 9/11.
• Postal, a 2007 American film that opens with the 9/11 attacks.
• Reign Over Me, a 2007 American comedy-drama about the post-9/11 experiences of Charlie Fineman who lost his wife and children in the attacks.
• Remember Me, a 2010 American drama in which the events lead up to 9/11.
• Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story, a 2003 American made-for-television USA Network drama which includes Giuliani's response to the events of 9/11.
• The Space Between, a 2010 American drama about a flight attendant who finds herself responsible for a Muslim child in the wake of the attack.
• Stairwell: Trapped in the World Trade Center, a 2002 American independent film about a group of people trapped in a sub-basement of the World Trade Center after the two towers collapse.
• Tiger Cruise, a 2004 American made-for-television Disney Channel Original Movie which intertwines a fictional storyline with the events of 9/11.
• United 93, a 2006 American drama about United Airlines Flight 93.
• World Trade Center, a 2006 American drama by Oliver Stone.
• WTC View, a 2006 American independent film about the effect of 9/11 on a photographer who placed an ad for potential roommates on September 10, 2001.
• Ted, a 2012 American comedy, includes a joke based on 9/11.

Ted (Seth MacFarlane) tells Norah Jones, when she states her nationality, "Whatever. Thanks for 9/11."^[11]

Internet

• Loose Change, an American series of internet documentaries which advocates the 9/11 conspiracy theories.
• Zeitgeist: The Movie, a 2007 documentary which advocates 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Middle East, South Asia, and diasporas

Video, television, and theatrical release: documentaries

• Arabs and Terrorism (2007), an American documentary in six languages, filmed in 11 countries, comprising 120 interviews with "experts/politicians and hundreds of street interviews in the United States, Europe, and the Arab world."^[12][13][14]
• Being Osama (2004), a Canadian documentary that explores the Post-9/11 lives of six Montreal Arab men, all with the first name Osama.
• Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath (2006), an American documentary made in response to the murder of a Sikh man as a result of the post- 9/11 atmosphere.^[15][16]
• It's My Country Too: Muslim Americans (2005), a documentary that follows the journey of the South Asian rock music band Junoon during their tours to post-9/11 America.
• Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age (2009), an American documentary about five stand-up comedians who respond to the post-9/11 atmosphere.^[17][18]

Video, television, and theatrical release: feature films

• AmericanEast (2007), an American drama about Arab-Americans living in Post-9/11 Los Angeles.
• Amreeka, a 2009 American/Canadian independent film that documents the lives of a Palestinian American family and their experiences in Post-9/11 suburban Chicago.
• The Baby Doll Night, a 2008 Egyptian film set in Cairo post-9/11.
• Bandhak, a 2003 American film that explores the theme of racism against South Asian Americans post-9/11.
• Brick Lane, a 2007 British film tells the story of Nazneen, a Bengali who grew up in Bangladesh. It follows her experiences after she moves to London before, during, and after 9/11.
• Hope and a Little Sugar, a 2006 Indian film that explores the impact of the post 9/11 atmosphere on a Sikh family and their Muslim friend.
• I Am Singh, a 2011 Bollywood film about the murder of Ranveer Singh's younger brother (who was living in the United States when it happened) as a result of the post 9/11 climate.
• Just Your Average Arab, a 2006 American film in which "Arab-American characters meet in the storage room of a convenience store where they take an 'Arab American Survival Guide post 9/11' class."^[19][20]
• Khuda Kay Liye, a 2007 Pakistani film that tells the story of three Pakistanis and their lives before and after 9/11 in regards to the after-effects to Muslim Americans from the 9/11 reactions.
• Kurbaan, a 2009 Bollywood film that tells the story of Avantika Ahuja and Ehsaan Khan in India and the United States Post-9/11.
• Madhoshi, a 2004 Bollywood film that is about Anupama Kaul whose sister is killed during 9/11.
• My Name Is Khan, a 2010 Bollywood film that is a Bildungsroman of the life of Rizwan Khan. It begins with his childhood in Mumbai and progresses to his later years living in the United States before, during and after the events of 9/11 in regards to the after-effects to Muslim Americans from the 9/11 reactions
• New York, a 2009 Bollywood film that tells the story of Samir, Maya, and Omar. They are three New York college students whose lives are changed by 9/11 and its aftermath.
• The Road to Guantanamo, a 2006 British docudrama about British Pakistani and British Bangladeshi young men who were impacted by the Post-9/11 climate.
• Tere Bin Laden, a 2010 Bollywood film that is a comedy about journalist Ali Hassan living in Pakistan. Due to his desperation to migrate to the U.S., he makes a fake Osama Bin Laden video using a look-alike, and sells it to TV channels.
• Yasmin, a 2004 German/British film set in a British Pakistani community in parts of Keighley, West Yorkshire, England before and after 9/11.
• Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota, a 2006 Bollywood film that tells the story of a group of people from India who were aboard the ill-fated flights that crashed into the WTC and the Pentagon on 9/11.

Literature and poetry

Fiction and non-fiction

Australia

• "The Caribou Herd" (2003) by Miles Hitchcock won The Age Short Story Award in 2003. The narrator is an elderly English man with dementia, flying to New York on the day of the attacks and reminiscing about the 20th Century.

Europe

• A Manhã do Mundo (The Morning of the World) (2001) by Pedro Guilherme-Moreira.
• Brick Lane (2003) by Monica Ali. The novel tells the story of Nazneen, a Bangladeshi woman who moves to England and her life before and after 9/11.
• Burnt Shadows (2009) by Kamila Shamsie^[21]
• Dead Air (2002) by Iain Banks. An early chapter is set in London on September 11, 2001. The main protagonist is a left-wing radio "shock jock" attending a wedding when news of the attacks filters through (Tuesday afternoon British time).
• Eleven (2006) by David Llewellyn. The novel takes place in Cardiff and London on September 11th and deals with the impact the terrorist attacks have on the lives of people in the UK.
• False Impression (2005) by Jeffrey Archer. The novel is a thriller that takes place during and immediately after 9/11.
• Netherland (2008) by Joseph O'Neill. The novel tells the story of a Dutch businessman who lives in New York and is traumatized by the events of 9/11.
• Saturday (2005) by Ian McEwan. The novel is set in London after the September 11th attacks but before the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The novel shows how much the world has changed since the attacks in America.
• When God Was a Rabbit (2011) by Sarah Winman. The protagonist and her brother are living in America at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and the main character believes her brother and his best friend have died in the crash.
• Windows on the World (2003) by Frédéric Beigbeder. The novel is set in the restaurant at the top of the North Tower on September 11. It tells the story of Carthew Yorston and his two sons as they try to escape or somehow survive the attack. Each chapter of the book represents one minute in time between 8:30 and 10:30 on 9/11. It also features a parallel narrative wherein the author, a French writer sympathetic to America, discusses the process of writing the book and his motivations for doing so.

North America

• American Widow (2008) by Alissa Torres. A graphic novel by Alissa Torres, who was eight months pregnant when her husband Eddie Torres perished in the WTC on 9/11.
• Between Two Rivers (2004) by Nicholas Rinaldi
• Bleeding Edge (2013) by Thomas Pynchon. The novel is a detective story which takes place between the burst of the dot-com bubble and the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
• The Book of Ten Nights and a Night (2004). Shocked by the 9/11 attack, a writer tells stories over the next eleven nights.
• Brooklyn Follies (2005) by Paul Auster
• The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) by Stephen King. Two characters place an artifact known as Black Thirteen in a coin-op storage unit in the World Trade Center in 1999, intending to leave it there forever. After leaving, they half-jokingly discuss what would happen if the towers were to collapse on the object.
• A Disorder Peculiar to the Country (2006), by Ken Kalfus. The novel follows the lives of New Yorkers Joyce and Marshall Harriman who are in the middle of a nasty divorce. In the early morning hours of September 11, Marshall leaves for the World Trade Center and Joyce for the airport.^[22][23]
• The Emperor's Children (2006), by Claire Messud. The novel traces the lives of three NYC friends before and after the events of 9/11.
• Everyman (2006), by Philip Roth. The protagonist of the novel moves to the New Jersey shore as a result of the fear he feels in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005) by Jonathan Safran Foer. The novel follows the narrator, 9-year-old Oskar Schell, whose father was on the upper floors of the World Trade Center when the jets crashed into the Twin Towers. To fight his grief and quell his imagination, Oskar embarks on a quest to find what he hopes is his father's most illuminating secret. In service of this quest, Oskar conquers many of his irrational fears and comforts other damaged souls.
• Falling Man (2007), by Don DeLillo. The novel features a protagonist who survives the attacks on the World Trade Center.
• Forever (2003) by Pete Hamill. The novel tells the story of an Irish immigrant who is granted immortality, provided that he never leaves the island of Manhattan. Hamill completed his manuscript at 11:20 pm on the evening of September 10, 2001; he was about to deliver it to his editor when the attacks occurred. He spent another year revising the book. As a result, the 9/11 attacks form the culmination of 250 years of New York history described in the novel.^[24]
• The Good Life (2006) by Jay McInerney. The novel takes place immediately before, during, and after the events of 9/11.
• Home Boy (2009) by H. M. Naqvi. The novel tells the story of three Pakistani college students, AC, Jimbo and Chuck, before and after 9/11.
• "In Spirit", a science fiction novella by Pat Forde, published in Analog in September 2002 and nominated for a Hugo Award. A time travel story in which a form of "spiritual" time travel is perfected in the middle of the 21st century and the aged children of 9/11 victims are given the opportunity to go back in time and be with their loved ones "in spirit" in their final moments.
• Last Night in Twisted River (2009) by John Irving. Portions of the end of the novel take place on September 10 and 11, 2001, and deal with several characters' reactions to learning about the attacks.
• The Last Illusion (2014) by Porochista Khakpour
• "Let the Great World Spin" (2009) by Colum McCann. The novel focuses on Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope crossing of the Twin Towers, and the effects it has on New Yorkers in 1974. At the end, the novel jumps to 2005, in which one of the character's daughters deals with living in a post-9/11 world, connecting the destruction of the towers to Petit's 1974 walk.
• The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up (2012) by Jacob Appel. The novel depict the life of fictional botanist Arnold Brinkman, a New Yorker falsely branded a terrorist-sympathizer in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
• "The Mutants" (2004) a short story by Joyce Carol Oates in I Am No One You Know: Stories.
• Night Fall (2004) by Nelson DeMille. The novel connects TWA 800 to twin tower crash.
• Once in a Promised Land (2007) by Laila Halaby.^[25]
• Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice (2011, non-fiction) edited by Alia Malek.^[26]
• Pattern Recognition (2003) by William Gibson. The first novel to address the attacks; the main character is a marketing consultant whose father disappeared in Manhattan on the morning of September 11.
• Saffron Dreams (2009) by Shaila Abdullah.^[27]
• Small Wonder, a collection of 23 essays on environmentalism and social justice by novelist and biologist Barbara Kingsolver, published in 2002 and written in response to the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
• The Submission (2011) by Amy Waldman. The novel is about an American Muslim architect Mohammed Khan whose design is chosen for the memorial site at Ground Zero.^[28][29]
• ″The Suffering Channel″ (2004) is a novella by David Foster Wallace in Oblivion: Stories. Set in July 2001, its central protagonist, Skip Atwater, is a journalist who works for the fictional Style Magazine, which is located in the World Trade Center. Atwater is attempting to write an article about a midwestern artist, Brint Moltke (whose excrement reportedly resembles famous cultural objects) for the September 10, 2001 issue of Style.
• Sons and Other Flammable Objects (2007) by Porochista Khakpour
• Terrorist (2006) by John Updike. The novel explores post 9/11 America through the eyes of a radical Muslim youth and his Jewish guidance counselor.
• "The Things They Left Behind" (2005) by Stephen King. A short story about survivor guilt.
• Theater of the Stars: A Novel of Physics and Memory (2003) by N. M. Kelby. The novel centers on two women, a mother and daughter. Both of them are physicists - and both of them have dizzying gaps in their memories of their pasts.
• United States of Banana (AmazonCrossing 2011) by Giannina Braschi is a dramatic novel in which the collapse of the Twin Towers marks the fall of the American empire on September 11, 2001.^[30]
• United We Stand (2009) a novel that focuses on the aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001.
• Villa Incognito (2003) by Tom Robbins. The novel features several scenes of Military and CIA officials reacting to news of the attacks.
• We All Fall Down (2006) by Eric Walters. September 11, 2001 was "Bring Your Kids to Work Day", and the main protagonist, Will was going to meet with his father in his office in the World Trade Center. This novel focuses on how Will and his relationship with his father changes on the day of the 9/11 attacks.
• The Zero (2006) by Jess Walter is a novel about Brian Remy, a New York City cop suffering memory gaps in the wake of 9/11.^[31]

Poetry

• Anything Can Happen (2004) by Seamus Heaney (a loose translation of Horace's Ode 1.34) is a response to the attacks.^[32]
• Photograph from September 11 (2002) by Wisława Szymborska^[33]
• Curse (2002) by Frank Bidart^[34]
• Didactic Elegy by Ben Lerner^[35]
• Fallacies of Wonder (2001) by Richard Howard is poem about the difficult task of trying to remember the Twin Towers as they actually were now that they are gone.^[36]
• Inventory (2006) by Dionne Brand is a collection of poems written about the importance of witnessing in a globalized post-9/11 world.^[37]
• Routine Procedure(s) 2: Prayer Beads of Cold Sweat or Driving While Izlaamic (2006) by Ismail Khalidi (writer)^[38]
• The Hudson Remembers (2008) by Pascale Petit^[39]
• September 2001, New York City (2013) by Sharon Olds^[40]
• Out of the Blue (2005) by Simon Armitage^[41]
• The Names (2002) by Billy Collins^[42]
• Last Words (sequence) (2002) by Michael Symmons Roberts^[43]

Television

• 12 Days That Shocked the World - a History channel twelve-part special, featuring events that shocked the world as voted by viewers
• Aliens in America (2007–2008) - an American television series about a high school foreign exchange student from Pakistan who lives with an American family in Wisconsin in a post-9/11 climate.
• All-American Muslim, a 2011-2012 American reality show set in Dearborn, Michigan in a post-9/11 climate.
• Arrested Development (2003–2006) - In the episode "Best Man for the Gob", after Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) sarcastically asks Tobias Fünke (David Cross) why his marriage is suffering, Tobias responds "Well, I don't want to blame it all on 9/11, but it certainly didn't help."
• Becker (1998–2004) - In the episode "Subway Story", Becker skips dinner with an old friend because he accompanies the mother of a 9/11 victim to Ground Zero.
• Bones (2005–present) - In the episode "The Patriot in Purgatory", the team investigates the death of a homeless veteran who died following the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.
• Criminal Minds (2005–present) - 9/11 is mentioned occasionally throughout the show. Main character Kate Callahan also lost her sister and brother-in-law to the attacks; they were employees in the Pentagon.
• CSI: NY (2004–2013) - Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) lost his wife Claire, who was working in the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks.
• Family Guy (1999–2003; 2005–present) - These episodes are an example for 9/11 humor, though it may also be a reference to the fact that the show's creator Seth MacFarlane nearly became a victim of the attacks since he was originally scheduled to board one of the planes, but a hangover caused him to oversleep.
  • In the episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", Lois Griffin repeatedly chants "Nine-eleven" to gain voters at a rally while running for mayor.^[44]
  • In a deleted scene from "Meet the Quagmires", when Brian and Peter Griffin go back in time, Brian gets into a fight, and instructs the bar patron to meet on top of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.^[45]
  • In the episode "Baby Not on Board", the family stops at Ground Zero at their way to the Grand Canyon to pay their respects. Peter remarks "Ground Zero, so this is where the first guy got AIDS". Brian corrects Peter telling him it was the site of the 9/11 attacks. Then, Peter believes Iraq (under Saddam Hussein) had something to do with the attacks, but those were untrue.
  • In Back to the Pilot, Stewie and Brian travel back in time to the pilot episode which took place on January 31, 1999. While in the past, Brian informs his former self about 9/11. This causes it never to happen and when they travel back to the present the United States is in the middle of a second civil war due to the fact George W. Bush never won the 2004 Presidential election.
  • In Big Man on Hippocampus, during Fast Money round on Family Feud, when Lois was asked to name a favorite holiday, Stewie answered 9/11.
  • In the episode Back to the Woods, Peter attempts to get revenge on actor James Woods by going on The Late Show with David Letterman and, pretending to be Woods, tells the world that he is starring in an HBO comedy putting a positive light on 9/11, called September 11th 2000-FUN!, about a window washer who has just finished cleaning the last window of the twin towers; when he turns to get off the scaffolding he sees an airplane and screams "Oh come on!" Peter then makes several evil 9/11 remarks to add to his speech.
  • In the straight-to-DVD never-shown-on-television episode Partial Terms of Endearment, a special feature shows a storyboarded scene that was never made part of the episode; in the scene, Peter attempts to kill Lois's unborn fetus by using boxing gloves attached to remote-controlled planes. Two of these glove-planes end up demolishing two sand towers that Stewie is building, causing him to exclaim "This is no accident; we're under attack!", and a third glove-plane is shown to land in a part of the yard labeled 'Shanksville'; all of this is a clear parody of the events of 9/11.
• Fringe (2008–2013) - The show repeatedly references the 9/11 attacks, as well as depicts an alternate reality, in which the show explicitly shows the World Trade Center attack having been averted in the episode "There's More Than One Of Everything," but the Pentagon and White House were attacked instead, as stated in the episode "Jacksonville."
• Homeland (2011–present) - The show centers on the characters of Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), a bipolar Central Intelligence Agency officer, and Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), a homecoming U.S. Marine. Mathison has come to believe that Brody, who was held captive by al-Qaeda as a prisoner of war, was "turned" by the enemy and now supposedly poses a serious threat to the security of the United States. The series' first season in particular plays with the steadily-shifting equilibrium of not-knowing who-is-who and thrillingly depicts the aftermath of 9/11 as a national trauma and the fragile state the nation's collective mind has been left with.^[46]
• Law & Order (1990–2010) - 9/11 is frequently referenced from season 12 (2001–2002) to the end of the series. The season 13 episode "The Ring" depicts the murder investigation of a woman who was reported killed in the World Trade Center but is found a year later buried in a vacant lot in Hell's Kitchen. It is later determined that some of her remains were dumped in the rubble of the twin towers to hide the fact that she was killed the night before.
• The Office (U.S. TV series): "Email Surveillance" (2005) - Michael Scott (Steve Carell) initially mistakes the company's tech support employee, Sadiq (Omi Vaidya), for a terrorist as a result of the Post 9/11 atmosphere.
• Rescue Me (2004–2011) - A television series about the professional and personal lives of a group of firefighters in the fictional Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse in New York City, post 9/11. Flashbacks of 9/11 are prominent throughout the series.
• The Sarah Silverman Program (2007–2010) - In the episode "Patriot Tact" (a pun of the Patriot Act), after Sarah is criticized for running over men with her car which she mistakes for Osama bin Laden, she tries to raise awareness for 9/11 by putting on a play where her neighbors Brian and Steve dress up as the towers of the World Trade Center.
• Skins (2007-2013)- In the Season 2 episode "Sketch" a group of High School students perform in a musical called "Osama:The Musical " about two lovers who meet during the September 11th attacks.
• South Park (1997–present) - The Season 5 episode "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants", which was the first episode to air after the attacks, is almost entirely based around the attacks and the American Invasion of Afghanistan. September 11 was also referenced in "A Ladder to Heaven", where Alan Jackson's "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" and Saddam Hussein are the main references in the show. In Season 10, the episode "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce" takes on 9/11 conspiracy theories.
• Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–05) - In the Season 4 episode "Stormfront, Part 2", images of the World Trade Center Towers burning can be seen in the 'time stream' while Captain Archer and Crewman Daniels are talking about the Temporal Cold War and how history is restoring itself.
• Third Watch (1999–2005) was a series about first responders in New York City. The events of 9/11 dominated much of its 2001-2002 season, which began with an episode entitled "In Their Own Words" which broke the fourth wall and featured real-life first responders discussing 9/11. The first two scripted episodes of the season were also directly tied to the event, with the first set the day before 9/11 and the second some 10 days after.
• Touch (2012–13) was series about a former reporter, Martin Bohm, and his mute 11-year-old son who communicates through numbers. In the pilot episode, Martin is still struggling to cope with the death of his wife, who was killed in the Twin Towers on 9/11. He later learns of a firefighter who tried to save her, who is still struggling with her death as well.
• The West Wing (1999–2006), about a fictional US presidential administration, was one of the first scripted TV series to respond to the attacks with a special standalone (and, according to statements made by the cast introducing it, non-continuity) episode "Isaac and Ishmael" featuring the aftermath of a similar attack. It was written and filmed within two weeks of the real-life attack.
• The Wire (2002–08) -- In the pilot episode of the series, Detective Jimmy McNulty visits a friend of his who is an agent in the FBI, Terrence "Fitz" Fitzhugh, with the intention of seeing if the FBI can assist him in his investigation of the Barksdale drug ring. Fitzhugh, however, informs him that the FBI is ending most of its drug investigations, diverting those resources to anti-terrorist activity in the wake of 9/11.

Theater

• The Domestic Crusaders (2005) by Wajahat Ali. The play is about a Pakistani-American Muslim family grappling with their own internal trials and tribulations, the changing dynamics of American society and a globalized, post-9/11 world.
• The God of Hell (2004) by Sam Shepard. The play was written in part as a response to the post-9/11 atmosphere.
• The Guys (2001) by Anne Nelson. The play explores the memories and emotions of a surviving fire captain and a writer who helps him write eulogies for his lost comrades.
• The Mercy Seat (2002) by Neil LaBute. The play is about a protagonist who considers faking his death after having coincidentally survived the attacks.
• Recent Tragic Events (2003) by Craig Wright. The play takes place on September 12, 2001, and deals with a blind date between a man and a woman who is trying to reach her sister, who lives in New York.^[47]
• Bystander 9/11: A Theatre Piece Concerning the Events of September 11, 2001 (2001) by Meron Langsner. An impressionistic but wholly authentic response to the catastrophe as it unfolded and in the days following. This play is included in The Methuen Drama Anthology of Testimonial Plays.^[48]
• Omnium Gatherum (2003) by Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros. The play involves a sophisticated dinner party of characters talking about and who perished in the 9/11 attacks.
• Truth Serum Blues (2005) by Ismail Khalidi. The play tells of the story of Kareem a "young Arab-American" whose life is changed by the Post-9/11 atmosphere.^[49]
• "United States of Banana" (2011) by Giannina Braschi is a mixed-genre dramatic work conjuring a post-9/11 world in which Hamlet, Zarathustra, and Giannina are on a quest to liberate Segismundo who is trapped in the dungeon of the Statue of Liberty after the fall of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.^[50]
• Good Morning Gitmo (2014) by Mishu Hilmy and Eric Simon is a one-act dark comedy. The play takes pace decades into the future, where the warden creates a deranged morning talk show for the staff and detainees stuck on Camp Delta. The play devolves when actual visitors from the mainland arrive.^[51]

References

External links

• The Collected Works: How artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, video-game designers, and quilters responded to the attacks—a selection - New York Magazine, August 27, 2011.
• Rebuilding NYC: 9/11 in Art and Culture: September 11 Film and Video Documentaries; a lengthy list of September 11-related documentaries. The site also has lists of books, songs, theater and works in other media inspired by September 11.
• For literary re-interpretations of the 9/11-incident, one may access Pinaki Roy's “Rereading Walt Whitman’s Construction of American Identity in Post-9/11 Milieu”, in Different Americas: Resituating American Identity in the Post-9/11 Third Worldian Classroom (eds. Purakayastha, A.S., M. Alam, and D. Chakraborty), New Delhi: Authors Press, 2014 (ISBN 978-81-7273-751-1), pp. 81–92.