Happy Tuesday! Acclaimed author Margaret Atwood sincerely believes that Star Wars inspired 9/11.
The Handmaid’s Tale author was interviewed by Variety for a piece entitled ‘Margaret Atwood on How Donald Trump Helped ‘The Handmaid’s Tale‘, which was the usual back-and-forth of whether or not Atwood defines herself as a feminist writer.
But then, inexplicably, while answering a question about the women’s marches in 2017, Atwood pointed to an opera adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale that premiered in Denmark in 2000.
“It started with a film reel going across the top of the stage and showing various things blowing up. And one of the things that blew up was the Twin Towers. But it hadn’t blown up yet. They did the opera again, and they had to take it out, because it was no longer in the future. Does that give you a creepy feeling?”
The journalist replied that it does (and probably internally screaming at the scoop appearing before his eyes). Atwood continues:
“They didn’t get that idea form my opera, don’t worry. They got the idea from Star Wars.” 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.”
Incredible stuff. A short list of things that ‘predicted’ the September 11th terrorist attacks, FWIW: The Simpsons, The Lone Gunman, the Jackie Chan comedy Nosebleed, Beavis and Butthead and Marvel.
While the 78-year-old Canadian author has truly, honestly blessed the world with an extensive collection of poetry, fiction, essays and criticism, but she’s not immune to some truly baffling opinions.
And look, giving the huge backlash to her #MeToo comments earlier this year, it would seem that Atwood is simply not suited to the Twitter age. Fair enough.
