‘Be quiet!’ Terrorism and Trauma in Paul Greengrass’ Bloody Sunday and United 93

Abstract

This article traces the history of terror and terrorism from the French Revolution to the present day in order to describe its rhetorical dimension. From the 1790s onwards, a key rhetorical element of terrorism is the creation of an effect of silence and speechlessness which is closely connected with the philosophy and psychology of the sublime. The second half of the paper investigates how Paul Greengrass’ films Bloody Sunday and United 93, which both deal with the topic of terrorism, transform the rhetorical dimension of a terrorist outrage, the main thesis being that the films appropriate the dimension of silence and speechlessness in order to become monuments of commemoration.