On the eleventh day of the ninth month of the first year of the third millennium, the east coast of the United States was brutally attacked. The aftermath was there for everybody to see. Two glittering towers of glass and steel had been sent crashing to the ground and thousands of unsuspecting souls had been snatched from their mortal dimension.

What was not as plain to see was the simultaneous collapse that occurred on the west coast of that continent. For it was in the state of California that an even taller tower fell. Not one made of glass and steel, but rather of smoke and mirrors. It was the Tower of Celebrity and it had come crashing down. Again, there were bound to be casualties. The first bodies to be taken from the rubble were those of George Clooney and Julia Roberts. Luckily, many others got out before the implosion.

Although it may seem impossible to believe, the tragic collapse of the Trade Centre towers did have one positive aspect - it served to clear our vision. Today, it's easy to see who the real heroes are, and for that matter, always were. Since September 11, the image of the real hero is forever etched into our collective subconscious. An NYPD firefighter fearlessly makes his way up a dying giant as hundreds of mere mortals make their way down.

Hollywood has also been exposed. Author and dramatist G.Bernard Shaw (Man and Superman, 1903) accurately depicted Hollywood before it began. At the time Shaw's character Don Juan was extolling the virtues of Hell, a similar place to Hollywood - well, at least one with equal quantities of sex, violence and assorted videotapes of Pamela Anderson. Just like Hell, Hollywood can be seen as 'the home of the unreal and of the seekers for happiness ... here you escape the tyranny of the flesh; for here you are not an animal at all: you are a ghost, an appearance, an illusion, a convention, deathless, ageless: in a word, bodiless ... here there are no hard facts to contradict you, no ironic contrast of your needs with your pretensions, no human comedy, nothing but a perpetual romance, a universal melodrama.'

What a place to live! Although, a visit there probably won't prepare one too well for the unsavoury task of fighting a raging fire. In contrast, the firefighter is trapped in his physical body, in a real world, and is subject to the hard facts of very, very hot flames. The best a celebrity could do in this circumstance is obvious - send in the body double.

These people who walk upon red carpets are not only famous - they are also virtuous. At least, that's the impression they like to give. You can just see today's celebrity standing before a full-length mirror and looking straight into it: "Mirror, mirror, on the wall - who's the most virtuous of them all." Naturally, when September 11 happened, it came as no surprise that the celebrities were immediately on hand to assist the Red Cross, the United Way and various other charities with the raising of money to help the victims' families. In fact, they couldn't get there quick enough. But when the money collected was not seen to be going out to the victims' families - where were the celebrities? Apparently, they had gone to ground - possibly deep in a cave, somewhere in Tora Bora.

One could never accuse Hollywood of failing to appreciate the importance of image. That being so, its people were undoubtedly the first to sense themselves under attack by a force only slightly less powerful than a 6,800-kilogram daisy cutter bomb. Accordingly, Hollywood leapt to its own defence. Celebrity journalist Jeanne Wolf tackled the awkward money problem head on. "All over Hollywood people are investigating." Yes Jeanne, that's probably true - and O.J. is on the verge of finding the real killers. Faced with such criticism of its stars, Motion Pictures Association boss Jack Valenti pointed out that even in Muslim countries where many people don't like Americans - these same people love Hollywood movies. In other words, some of the West's potentially most dangerous enemies really love Hollywood. God bless Hollywood.

This article first appeared in the Melbourne newspaper The Age on the 5 January 2002.