Childhood and Trauma – The Image of the Young Generation of Japaneses in Contemporary Cinema

Krzysztof Loska

Abstract

The article is an analysis of the image of young people in contemporary Japanese film, with particular emphasis on traumatic experiences from childhood or early youth. The author assumes that in the humanist discourse, trauma is not a clinical concept, but a tool for interpreting culture, and makes us aware of our attitude towards the past, and points to the problematic na­ture of its presentation. In his understanding of trauma Loska’s starting point are the theories of Dominick LaCapra and Cathy Caruth who note the narrative dimension of this concept. Especially in the recent past - notes LaCapra - fiction may well explore the traumatic, including the fragmentation, emptiness, or evacuation of experience, and may raise the question of other possible forms of experience. It may also explore in a particularly telling and unsettling way the affective and emotional dimensions of experience and understanding. Loska presents analyses of films by contemporary Japanese directors such as Shinji Aoyama, Masato Harada, Hideaki Anno, Akihiko Shiota, Eiji Okuda, Toshiaki Toyoda, Hirokazu Koreeda - that tell of identity crisis, alienation, personality disorders and mental injuries that prevent one from proper functioning in the society.