Films of Trauma Unfolding: Disorientation and Loss

Abstract

A group of lesser known films transition from the theme of disorientation to that of complete disintegration and loss of the child. Among these are films such as Games for Two (1989), Identity (1988), and The Coup (1990). These films criticize the advent of post-1980 consumer culture, claiming that it brings about the annihilation of “the child within.” Better known films search for history, recovery, community, language, continuity, and perspective in order to reconstitute the human subject and social utopia represented as the child. Films such as The Voice (1986) and You Sing Your Songs (1986) treat the cultural disorientation of those imprisoned in the 1980s. This theme is explored in films that breed intertextual references such as September Storm (2000) and My Father and My Son (2005).