Constructing Cultural Memories of Trauma in Popular Holocaust Films

This book deals with one of the most complex issues that continue to touch nerves in the 21st century: the Holocaust, popular film and memories of trauma. Thoroughly considering these topics, the study provides the reader with a thought-provoking investigation into the funda-mental challenge to cinema in the post-modern age. Theoretical chapters in which the author analyzes the problem of the cinematic repre¬sen¬tation of trauma are followed by a careful and innovative close-reading of five of the most popular Holocaust films of the past two decades: Europa Europa, Schindler’s List, Life Is Beautiful, Jacob the Liar and The Pianist. Despite the existing numerous interpretations of these films, the author has discovered some new perspectives employing diverse narratological and semio-tic approaches. The analysis of those films enriches the current understanding of the medium, parti¬cularly with regard to its function of representing trauma and constructing cultural memory.