Terrorism as theatre: ISIS beheading videos aimed at capturing attention of ‘obsessed’ Western audience
A video depicting any slaying, particularly of a kidnapped civilian, would be “dramatic” but the alarming beheading videos of two U.S. journalists by terror group ISIS seem to reach for a grander display: the overtly theatrical.
The stark video of the purported beheading of kidnapped U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff, released Tuesday, is another planned performance directed and produced to seize the attention of a broad Western audience.
Although the subject matter is desperately gruesome, the video comes precisely two weeks after a similar video showing the death of another kidnapped U.S. journalist, James Foley. Both executions seem to demonstrate a calculated move toward Hollywood movie-style messaging.
This sequel even promised a third installment by introducing a third Western captive at the end.
Both killings are clearly done for the camera, with a black-clad executioner standing over each victim, who is kneeling, wearing an orange robe, while a landscape of open desert forms an evocative but uncluttered backdrop. The executioner directly addresses the camera — repeatedly pointing a knife at it — and the message is recorded from multiple angles and edited.
It is the epitome of terrorism as theatre.
“This is choreography par excellence. They are stage-managing our reaction, they are controlling the timing of our reaction,” said John Horgan, a psychologist and professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and director of the school’s Center for Terrorism & Security Studies.
“They are setting the agenda with these videos. They know we are obsessed with them and know we can’t resist poring over the videos and we can’t resist buying into the theatre of them.”
Many violent jihadi videos, including those by ISIS, seem to be documenting events that are occurring regardless; these two slayings appear to be done specifically for public Western consumption.
“The production values are definitely different in these videos and going for the largest possible consumption of the image,” said Steve Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East
Media Research Institute, based in Washington.
“[They are] totally staged, from the angle of the camera … to the quality of the image. They want to instil fear and they are succeeding. Governments are reacting. It has gotten the attention of the West.”
Symbolism seems imbued in the productions.
The victims are clothed in orange, likely meant to evoke the garb worn by prisoners at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
“That’s not a coincidence,” said Thomas Juneau, an international affairs professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in the Middle East.
“Guantanamo is a hated symbol of America. By using that symbol, [ISIS] positions itself as the main source of resistance against the United States,” which helps establish ISIS on the political scene, not just on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria.
The definition of terrorism, of course, requires the staging of violence or threats to maximize impact, psychologically if not physically. Intimidation and coercion are intrinsic components.
In today’s world, it is necessary to turn to digital media and the Internet to widely spread any message. The release of the videos online helps a distant terrorist reach a global audience.
Such theatre, once produced, is uploaded and pumped through social media.
Terrorism as theatre: ISIS beheading videos aimed at capturing attention of ‘obsessed’ Western audience
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