‘Star Wars’ inspired terrorists

Atwood stands by comment on 9/11 attack on Twin Towers

The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood stands by her comment that the movie gave militants the idea for the 9/11 attack on Twin Towers.

LOS ANGELES: The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood ( pic)

made waves earlier this week when she told Variety that she believes Star Wars might have inspired the 9/11 attacks.

On Friday, when asked about those comments at Variety’s

Power of Women event in New York, Atwood stood by what she said, adding, “Flying a vehicle into a target to blow it up, okay. Star Wars is fiction so he gets out but Japanese kamikaze pilots did the same thing, so it’s not a new thing and it’s not an original thought with me. I just thought people already knew that, but I guess some people are so young that they forgot about that.”

The Canadian author is being honoured at the luncheon, and in a sitdown this week for the Power of Women issue, she talked about how an opera of The Handmaid’s Tale, which premiered in Denmark in 2000, included a scene that showed the Twin Towers in New York blowing up.

Atwood said that gave her “a creepy feeling,” but added the 9/11 terrorists “didn’t get that idea from my opera, don’t worry. They got the idea from Star Wars”.

When pressed, she elaborated, “Remember the first one? Two guys fly a plane in the middle of something and blow that up? The only difference is, in Star Wars, they get away. Right after 9/11, they hired a bunch of Hollywood screenwriters to tell them how the story might go next.

“Sci-fi writers are very good at this stuff, anticipating future events. They don’t all come true, but there are interesting ‘what if ’ scenarios.”

Atwood is being recognised at the Power of Women event for her work with AfterMeToo, which aims to continue the work done by the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. — AFP