Mediating trauma: The Nanjing Massacre, City of Life and Death, and affect as soft power

Abstract

In this chapter, I utilise theories of affect – emotion and feeling/bodily states that are non-conscious and extra discursive – to analyse 'City of Life and Death' (Lu Chuan, 2009) and examine how meaning is transferred about the Massacre through the senses. I begin by examining how the Nanjing Massacre has been discursively constructed over the past 80 years, and analyse how the Massacre has been compared to the Holocaust in that both have become iconic, traumatic events that have waxed in importance over the past decades. Then, I consider how history, memory and trauma have been used for political purposes to construct identity. After reviewing the literature on City of Life and Death, I analyse how the film creates an affective experience for the viewer, by examining the mise en scène and cinematography of selected scenes, specifically the use of the point of view (POV) shot, the reaction shot, and close-up portraits of the victims. The film emphasises imagery over dialogue, which positions the viewer as ‘witness’ to the event, while also emphasising the affective experience of the event by examining the character’s facial reaction to it. Unlike cognitive forms of meaning that require context and translation, affect ‘speaks’ affectively, and thus the viewer does not need to know the language or socio-historical context – rather, strong emotions such as pain and trauma are much more visceral and universal, therefore communicating more directly than other forms. I then consider how the film’s affect circulates internationally, in that it has won numerous awards at international film festi- vals, including the 2009 Asian Film Awards, the Asian Pacific Screen Awards, the San Sebastian Film Festival and the Oslo Film Festival. I conclude by questioning whether such mediated affect can also be seen as a form of ‘soft power’ in that ‘sharing’ this affect globally not only communicates the nation’s emotional and traumatic history but, in doing so, makes the nation seem less of an economic and political threat by focusing on this historical pain.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Corey Kai Nelson Schultz: orcid.org/0000-0001-7866-2264

Catalogue record

Export record