A reflection on how tragedy shapes pop culture

DISCLAIMER: The intention of this article is not to mock, demean, or minimize the tragedy of what happened on September 11, 2001. It is simply to consider how our culture deals with shocking events and incorporates them into humor and pop culture. The Herald recognizes the heroism of that day’s first responders, and our hearts go out to the families of those involved. 

I’m quite sure that the title of this article is likely the oddest thing you have read all day. It is shocking and confusing, and you have to consider whether it isn’t a little disrespectful. I assure you, however, that this statement is a genuine butterfly effect of misfortune. 

It all starts with the events that occurred on September 11, 2001 and a 24-year-old man named Gerard Way. When the hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center towers, the then-Cartoon Network intern was seated on a ferry crossing the Hudson River. 

Way was so impacted by the events of that day and the chaos that followed that he began to write music again as a form of therapy. He wrote “Skylines and Turnstiles” about the tragedy. This momentum of songwriting inspired Way to form My Chemical Romance, the iconic emo rock band. 

“One of the biggest reasons I started My Chemical Romance was because I was one of the people to witness 9/11 in New York City. That felt like the end of the world…” Way said to Newsweek. “…I was surrounded by hundreds of people on a dock on the Hudson River, and we watched the buildings go down, and there was this wave of human anguish that I’ve never felt before.”

This next part is where things get really crazy. Stephanie Meyer, author of the hit Young Adult series “Twilight,” says that she was inspired by My Chemical Romance to create the vibe for the books. 

The band was largely where her inspiration for Jacob, the werewolf rival love interest, came from. 

“This band is so in touch, for me, with Jacob’s character,” Meyer told Entertainment Weekly. “This really raw, uncontrolled emotion — where it’s not about some person who’s grown up and calloused over and learned how to control things.” 

And that, my friends, is how 9/11 led to the creation of “Twilight.” 

If we want to take things a step further and finish the chain of events, we could say that 9/11 truly led to “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

An absolutely shocking thing to read, I know. But “Fifty Shades” was originally written as self-insert “Twilight” fan fiction. It grew so popular online that it was taken and edited to remove the more telling signs of copyright and published as the raunchy story we know today. 

You might read this and wonder why in the world this article was even considered for publication. And the reality is that this series of events reveals a hidden part of the collective American psyche. 

Americans love dark humor. 

We take our most tragic events and find a way to turn them into a joke or, in Gerard Way’s case, a song. Perhaps the transformation of catastrophe into humor is more of a characteristic of a younger generation, but it is true that Americans use the arts to cope. 

We convert our hardships into songs, poems, and paintings. We then use these to come together and find common ground in love for our great country. There is nothing wrong with trying to find a light in dark situations. It helps us process, heal, and grow. 

Now, when you remember the events of September 11 twenty-five years ago, you can go and share a ridiculous story of how one of the darkest times in our nation’s history created silly books for teenagers and revealed how America heals through pop culture. 

Categories: News