Stručni rad
The Mind Is Its Own Place: Trauma in Warrior and Moby-Dick
Barbara Bočkaj
orcid.org/0000-0002-9575-9751
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Literary texts are often employed to help flesh out themes and
characters in films. One example of this is the usage of quotes from Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick in the film Warrior, directed by Gavin O’Connor and released in 2011. The film follows the development of relationships between two brothers and their father. One of the brothers, Tommy, and the father, Paddy, are U.S. veterans. A prevalent theme in the film is, as the title suggests, their dealing with the combat trauma they experienced. In relation to that, understanding trauma, the lack of that understanding, and the isolation which stems from that lack are explored. What makes the novel particularly suitable in this context is the fact that it also tackles trauma. Both Ahab and Ishmael have suffered traumatic events, and both deal with them in different ways. Ishmael tries to work through it by constructing a narrative about it, while Ahab spirals out of control as he continues to view the whale as the personification of all evil. In that sense, a parallel could be
drawn between his acting out and Tommy’s engaging in soft risk-taking and entering the MMA tournament, with the difference that for Tommy it turns into an opportunity to start working through.
The aim of this essay is to look at the ways in which the film makes
use of excerpts from the novel, enriching its exploration of trauma, in order to give more depth to the viewers’ understanding of the symptoms of PTSD resulting from combat trauma.
Ključne riječi
Warrior; Moby-Dick; structural trauma; combat trauma; PTSD
Hrčak ID:
240861
URI
Datum izdavanja:
4.4.2020.
Posjeta: 1.004 *