Trauma &amp; Closure

This thesis consists of three chapters, each built up around a case study. The three chapters are divided in temporal sense. In the first chapter the concept of a continuous now is central to the analysis of the case study, the second chapter has a relation with the future, and the final chapter is related with the notion of history. What the films have in common is that in each film the protagonist undergoes a trauma. How the counter-chronological and ‘a-temporal’ narrative structure of these films problematizes the film ending is observed, analyzed and linked to the psychoanalytic notion of drive and desire. Furthermore, throughout the flow of chapters, I will analyze to what extent this manner of ending a film has ideological implications. Psychoanalysis as a tool to analyze film and its protagonists is used as a theoretical framework to analyze the ideological implications these film endings might have. More specific, starting from the angle of the ‘Lacanian’ Mirror Screen...Show moreThis thesis consists of three chapters, each built up around a case study. The three chapters are divided in temporal sense. In the first chapter the concept of a continuous now is central to the analysis of the case study, the second chapter has a relation with the future, and the final chapter is related with the notion of history. What the films have in common is that in each film the protagonist undergoes a trauma. How the counter-chronological and ‘a-temporal’ narrative structure of these films problematizes the film ending is observed, analyzed and linked to the psychoanalytic notion of drive and desire. Furthermore, throughout the flow of chapters, I will analyze to what extent this manner of ending a film has ideological implications. Psychoanalysis as a tool to analyze film and its protagonists is used as a theoretical framework to analyze the ideological implications these film endings might have. More specific, starting from the angle of the ‘Lacanian’ Mirror Screen theory it is questioned to what extent the apparatus theory is challenged and problematized by these specific films and their endings. Moreover the concept of the simulacrum, as an extreme notion of ideology is questioned and criticized. The notion of ideology, and violence are approached from a ‘Lacanian’, or, I should emphasize, ‘Žižekian’ point of view. I argue that these films in order of appearance demonstrate that the concept of the simulacrum by Baudrillard needs to be reconsidered and redefined in relation with the traumatic kernel of the real, or should be considered irrelevant, and moreover, I argue that the apparatus theory needs to be redefined.Show less

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Trauma & Closure