Jordanian pilot burnt alive: What IS terrorists and Hollywood producers have in common

Violence is entertaining. No one knows this better than Islamic extremists and Hollywood producers. The day after Nick Berg was decapitated in Iraq in 2004, the top 5 search terms in the United States were: nick berg video; nick berg; berg beheading; beheading video; nick berg. The next five were more variations on that theme. [caption id=“attachment_2078997” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Islamic State knows the value of slick production: AP[/caption] It is no surprise then that the top search term for February 3, according to Google trends, is ‘Jordanian pilot’. The numbers will undoubtedly be higher tomorrow once the hordes trawling the web for the Islamic State video of the horrific killing of Moaz al-Kasasbeh are added to the tally. For all the expressions of revulsion or condemnation, nothing goes viral faster than the terrorist execution video – a rapidly expanding genre being taken to new lows by the IS. Decapitation videos are so yesterday. The hot new thing in the jihadi porn genre is the spectacle of someone being burnt alive. It’s why @NDTV has so helpfully tweeted out an image – of that very special moment just before the flames reach al-Kasasbeh – for those of us who haven’t yet got around to watching the video. Why, it’s like a trailer that makes you want to see the movie. In the midst of the outrage, let’s not forget one tiny fact: the extremists (again, much like movie-makers) make only what we are all gagging to see. The Islamic State’s swift escalation from beheadings to more terrifying forms of execution is hardly accidental. Neither is the fact that these acts are documented with such high production values, and such cinematic expertise. Between its recruitment pitches and execution ‘documentaries’, IS is rapidly emerging as the MTV of terrorism. Writing in the Daily Mail after James Foley’s execution, Guy Adams noted of the first IS ‘production’:

Though it leaves little to the imagination, the deeply disturbing film does not show the actual moment of Foley’s decapitation. This marks it out from other, less sophisticated predecessors. ‘Some previous Islamist videos, such as the one showing the killing of U.S. hostage Nick Berg in 2004, didn’t get widely shared because people regarded them as too graphic,’ says Hussain. ‘This one, however, has been edited to make it less like a snuff movie, and therefore far more useful as a piece of propaganda.’  Chillingly, the video’s producers appear to have learned this production technique from the makers of successful horror movies, who have for years worked on the basis that the most terrifying violence is often that which is hinted at - but not actually shown.

In the latest video, as well, the actual moment of death is edited out, leaving our imagination to fill in the blanks. IS is almost coy compared to Hollywood which no longer taxes our imagination. Our screens are flooded with serial killers. Think Dexter is bad? Hannibal can do it bloodier. We now live in a Game of Thrones era where rape is part of the scenery, as are mile after mile of crucified corpses. Here is Askmen.com celebrating “10 of the most epic and brutal kill scenes”; The winner being the ‘Red Wedding’ where a pregnant woman is brutally stabbed and another character has her throat slit. Anyone notice how ‘historical accuracy’ has become an excuse for staging ever more gruesome scenes of violence? No doubt when Hollywood makes its cinematic version of the Islamic State, the excuse will be the same. Art imitates life, imitates art etc. as extremists stage their killings with Hollywood elan, while movies stage violence in the name of realism. Call it the death spin of irony.