Truth and Trauma: A documentary investigation
Translated title
Truth and Trauma
Authors
Uhrenholdt, Kristoffer ; Vejrup, Mathias Krøyer
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2020
Submitted on
2020-05-20
Pages
88
Abstract
Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan dokumentarfilm skildrer traumer, og hvad traume-feltets idé om en 'repræsentationskrise' betyder i en multimodal genre, der kombinerer billeder, lyd og tekst. Repræsentationskrisen henviser her til, hvor svært det kan være at vise og fortælle om traumatiske erfaringer på en troværdig måde. Studiet bidrager til repræsentationsteori i både dokumentarteori og traumestudier og knytter an til debatter om virkelighed og sandhed i en kompleks, postmoderne verden. Analysen fokuserer på tre dokumentarer: The Act of Killing (2012), Surviving R. Kelly (2019) og Waltz with Bashir (2012). Metodisk bygger afhandlingen på tekstuel analyse, traumestudier og dokumentarteori og udfører en socialsemiotisk analyse af nøglesekvenser. Social semiotik er studiet af, hvordan mening skabes på tværs af ord, billeder og lyd. Filmene er udvalgt via en eksplorativ, fænomenologisk tilgang, og teorierne er omsat til konkrete kategorier for kodning og analyse (operationalisering) på tværs af social semiotik, traumestudier og dokumentarteori. Epistemologisk trækker studiet på poststrukturalistiske perspektiver, der betoner, at viden formes af sprog og kontekst. Resultaterne peger på, at dokumentargenren kan udforske traumers repræsentationskrise gennem tre overordnede repræsentationsformer: verbal repræsentation (fx interviews og voiceover), observationsrepræsentation (observerende optagelser) og abstrakt repræsentation (stiliserede eller symbolske greb). Analysen fremhæver også muligheder og problemer ved filmskaberens position og rolle i skabelsen af traumefortællinger, ligesom mediets egne konventioner påvirker, hvordan historierne bliver til. Endelig identificeres temaet undertrykkelse, som kaster lys over både dokumentarisk skildring og repræsentationen af traume.
This thesis examines how documentary films depict trauma and how trauma studies’ idea of a ‘crisis of representation’ plays out in a multimodal genre that blends images, sound, and text. Here, the crisis of representation refers to the difficulty of showing and telling traumatic experiences in a credible way. The study contributes to representation theory in both documentary theory and trauma studies and connects to debates about reality and truth in a complex, postmodern world. The analysis focuses on three documentaries: The Act of Killing (2012), Surviving R. Kelly (2019), and Waltz with Bashir (2012). Methodologically, the thesis draws on textual analysis, trauma studies, and documentary theory and conducts a social semiotic analysis of key sequences. Social semiotics studies how meaning is made across words, images, and sound. The films were selected using an exploratory, phenomenological approach, and the theories were translated into concrete categories for coding and analysis (operationalization) across social semiotics, trauma studies, and documentary theory. Epistemologically, the study adopts post-structural perspectives, which emphasize that knowledge is shaped by language and context. Findings indicate that documentaries can explore trauma’s representational crisis through three broad modes: verbal representation (e.g., interviews and voiceover), observational representation (fly-on-the-wall footage), and abstract representation (stylized or symbolic techniques). The analysis also highlights both potentials and problems in the filmmaker’s stance and role when crafting trauma narratives, and shows how the medium’s conventions shape these stories. Finally, it identifies the theme of suppression, which informs both documentary representation and the representation of trauma.
[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]
Keywords
Documents