Cylons Hate Our Freedoms
September 2007: The updated version of Battlestar Galactica hits its third season, with Time magazine praising it as one of the canniest observers of the war on terror, ironically, from deep space.
The Joker is a Terrorist
July 2008: The Dark Knight joins The Village, the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy and an increasing number of other movies in being categorized as an allegory for the Sept. 11 attacks. The Joker is a madman who wants to see the world burn. Sauron is recruiting an army, including the Arab-looking "men from the South," to kill all freedom, and so on.
Samuel L. Jackson Has Had It With MFing Snakes...and Terrorists
May 1, 2009: It's official: Every single movie, period, is a 9/11 allegory. Slate magazine posts an analysis of Snakes on a Plane: "One need not bow to allegory, really—Snakes is literally about terrorism ... Snakes on a Plane doesn't need to be conscious of itself as a 9/11 movie to effectively function as one. It plays on all our fears—the dangers of air travel, the death of innocents, the random appearance of evil in our daily lives—but it allows us to master those fears, and, ultimately, to achieve some measure of control over them."
The Other Universe Is More Peaceful Than Ours
May 12, 2009: Olivia (Anna Torv) meets William Bell (Leonard Nimoy), then looks out the window of his NYC office and sees a still-intact World Trade Center—a sure indicator for her and Fringe viewers that Olivia is no longer in "this world" and has entered a parallel universe.
The War Wins an Oscar
March 7, 2010: The Hurt Locker becomes the first post-9/11-related war film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
Pattz Gets It Wrong
March 12, 2010: Robert Pattinson's 9/11-tinged film, Remember Me, hits theaters. Critics rip the twist ending, in which Pattinson dies atop one of the Twin Towers, as "borderline offensive" and "crass."
Justice
May 1, 2011: Osama Bin Laden is killed. Celebrities take to Twitter to express relief and delight. Steven Martin quips, "Tonight, President Obama will announce that Clint Eastwood shot Osama Bin Laden."
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SEAL Team Six (TM)
May 14, 2011: Disney trademarks the name of the group credited with bringing down Bin Laden: SEAL Team Six. The company indicates it may create a TV show based on the team. However, the Mouse House eventually changes its mind and withdraws its trademark bid.