Screening the Scars: The Cinematic (In)visibility of Social Trauma

Using the cultural medium of film to show how very differently social trauma is negotiated and narrated in different societies, a varied group of international experts offer a careful analysis of the psycho-historical roots of differently motivated losses of trust in social instances in connection with the concept of social trauma.

In the last decade, the concept of trauma has experienced a surprising boom in sociological and media debates. In a culture of outrage, blanket narratives of victimhood often overshadow the concrete, known social violations and their observable real economic and psychological consequences. The aim of this volume is to reflect on this shift in discourse and to compare it with the concrete historical backgrounds and psychosocial constitutions of countries that have been haunted by social trauma in different ways. In discussing feature films from Germany and four Balkan countries, the book presents the distinct social-traumatic histories, how they are negotiated in different societies, and the motifs cinema uses to narrate them.

The award-winning films featured are Sadilishteto [The Judgement], Grbavica [Esma’s Secret – Grbavica], Muškarci ne placu [Men Don’t Cry], Enklava [Enclave], Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer [The People vs. Fritz Bauer], and Sonbahar [Autumn]. The individual film analyses are each accompanied by interviews with the filmmakers and introduced by overarching themes, the role of cinema as a place of social understanding in a post-traumatic society, and the methodology of film analysis.

With contributions from the worlds of film, psychoanalysis, activism, psychiatry, film studies, literary and cultural studies, psychology, trauma studies, philosophy, psychotherapy, and human relations, this book has a broad appeal. It is a must-read for those looking for a deeper insight into social trauma and the impact of sociocultural factors, shown so clearly through the filmmaker’s lens.