Introduction

First of all for the question Why film studies? The answer can be defined as through courses

that offer a foundation for understanding cinema-and its relation to culture, history,

technology and aesthetics, Film Studies teaches the world to create and analyse moving

images, to produce research, and to make art. The broad question What is cinema? provoked

answers that shaped what came to be referred to as film theory. Efforts to develop a scientific

understanding of film are almost as old as cinema itself. When these efforts took root within

the university within the 1960s and early 1970s, they shared a minimum of three

characteristics with other sorts of humanistic inquiry. Firstly, film may be a medium of

aesthetic importance; the foremost important dimension to cinema is its capacity to require

form as art, even as the foremost important dimension of writing is its capacity to require

form as literature. Secondly, film art, like literature, affects viewers during a similar, aesthetic

manner that’s faraway from the contingencies of your time and place; it transcends the local

to achieve a more timeless significance and Thirdly, the history of the cinema is that the

history of its emergence as an kind. Watching a motion picture is an inherently more passive

experience than reading a book. Yet it imparts content in a much more easily consumable

way than a book of commensurate length. Movies are more tangible, visual, and compact

than comparable written works, and are therefore easier to remember. They are popular, far

and widely reaching, and, much more, entertaining. The movie industry, though, does far

more than entertain audience, it plays an active role in shaping peoples collective

consciousness. The advantages of a film over a book is that book is direct or indirectly

limited to the readers whereas films are widely accessible to a mass audience.
The usage of Interdisciplinary approach towards the topic is must needed in theoretically and

practically. Because no branch or text will stand alone or can’t exist without the help of

another one.

This treatise is dealing with films from two cultural backgrounds having common elements in

them which is put forth and to analyse. Having different cultural backgrounds makes the

project to use an interdisciplinary approach towards the topic. When taking a film to deeply

analyse it’s inner layers and to find the core using a theory, it should consider that a film is

not a single text based, it includes more than one text. It has many discipline that’s why the

dissertation requires an interdisciplinary approach towards the topic. For make it happen , the

dissertation discusses analysing of trauma based on the different cultural backgrounds, so the

trauma theory with the assistive of cultural trauma theory.

There are some other studies which are based on these movies that are The Terminal and

Take Off. Some of them are listed here; firstly on the movies Take Off are:

 Take Off Movie Review: Parvathy’s brilliance headlines a riveting survival saga set in

Iraq, by Anna MM Vetticad, March 26, 2017, which is published on an entertainment

news page, Firstpost.

 Take Off Movie Review : firm on ground, by G Ragesh, March 30 2017, published on

onmanorama online articles.

 Take Off Movie Review by Sanjith Sidhardhan, March 24 2017, published on Times

Of India

There are some actual studies are available from resources about specific topics related

studies about the movie The Terminal, they are:

  The Interpretation of The Terminal Movie and precarious logic of modern camps by

Gunay Mammadrzayeva (Kadir Has University) June 2 2018, published on

researchgate.net

 A Film Analysis from perspectives of Cultural Studies: The Terminal, by Shinichi

Nakamoto.

 Stranger than Fiction – the true story behind the movie The Terminal, by Lisa Jewell,

December 24 2018, published on Medium.

All the above mentioned topics and articles are a study towards the films which the

dissertation is about. But none of them has no connection with the topic that the treatise uses

and there are no studies that come about with the same topic, trauma and cultural trauma, on

the movies Take Off and The Terminal till now.

By peeking into the chapters, the chapters are divided into three which are Trauma, Take Off

and The Terminal. The first chapter comprises the theories of Trauma and Cultural trauma

which are by the theorists, who contributed much to the fields, like Sigmund Freud and

Jeffrey C Alexander respectively. The first chapter examines the evolution and reasons for

trauma and Cultural trauma. Gives more detailed illustrations to understand and study what

psychological and cultural traumas are and their discrepancies between them. Wherein they

act according to the circumstance that is the psychological trauma occurs when someone the

more frightened and helpless they feel, the more likely they are to be traumatized. Whereas

cultural trauma occurs to a community when they suffer or witnessed to a horrendous event.

In this chapter, the theoretical findings of Freud and Jeffrey C Alexander are incorporated.

The second chapter is about the film Take Off and how the mentioned theories are explored

in it by taking the cultural background and changes as a cause for trauma. The film here talks

about the life of a group of nurses who entered into a warzone land with or without knowing
the outcomes which were waiting for them. By having a little knowledge about the risk

elements in a warzone country like Iraq, they took the chance to provide for their families.

The personal and family backgrounds and the mental stresses will automatically develop the

chances for trauma in a persons life, so it only boosted the trauma when the people witnessed

to the terror. The involvement of trauma and cultural trauma is clearly portrayed in this

chapter with the help of some examples and important conversational dialogues from the film

which represents another fact which causes for trauma. This chapter consists of the tragic

moments from the film and how they affects a community and results in psychological and

cultural traumas.

The third and last chapter is revealing and exploring trauma in the movie The Terminal. An

American film where the total story appearing inside on an airport in the United States. This

chapter addresses the chances for trauma formation on the identities and especially on the

protagonist Viktor Navorski's stranded life on an international transit lounge at JFK airport

for almost nine-months. Being witnesses to a military coup in homeland indirectly the

protagonist undergoes anxiety, identity crisis, undergoes a capitalist system of restrictions

which establishes him as a ‘Man from Nowhere' and the political control on petty people. In

this case it continuously tries it's best to move the Krakozhian citizen, who happened to stuck

in an airport which is under the control of first world countries, to a political asylum. The

chapter discusses the traumatic experiences and how they affects on people, even if on

individuals and in communities.

Both the films, Take Off and The Terminal are inspired from the real-life events that actually

happened mostly in the same backgrounds which are portrayed by these films. Take Off, the

film was inspired by the real events which happened in 2014, during the early days of ISIS

crisis in Iraq, where nurses from Kerala were held captive by the terrorists. Whereas the film

The Terminal is actually inspired from the real life story of Mehran Karim Nasseri,
additionally acknowledged as Sir Alfred Mehran, an Iranian refugee who lived in the

departure lounge of Terminal One in Charles De Gaulle Airport from 26 August 1988 till

July 2006, when he was once hospitalised.

Both these real life experiences can depict the feelings, mental and physical conditions of any

common people. So this dissertation's main aim is to analyse how the cultural backgrounds

and the shifts from them causes for traumatic experience on individual and community using

the trauma theories. So this study also explores the significance of the topic in contemporary

world. The findings are codified in the conclusion.

Trauma

Psychological trauma, it’s illustration in language and also the role of memory in shaping

individual and cultural identities are the central considerations that defines the sector of

trauma studies. sick person analytic theories on trauma paired with further theoretical

frameworks like post structural, socio cultural and post colonial theory kind the premise of

criticism that interprets representations of an extreme expertise and it’s result upon identity

and memory. The idea of trauma itself a supply of critique, is usually understood as a

severely turbulent expertise that deeply impacts self’s emotional organization and perception

of external world. Trauma studies explores the impact of trauma in literature and society by

analysing it’s psychological, rhetorical and cultural significance. complicated psychological

and social factors that influence the self’s comprehension of a traumatic expertise and the

way such an expertise shapes and is formed by language. The formal innovations of texts,

each print and media that show insights in to the ways in which identity, the unconscious and

basic cognitive process ar influenced by extreme events therefore stay a big focus of the

sector. Trauma studies first developed in Nineties and relied on analyst theory to develop a

model of trauma that imagines an extreme expertise that challenges the boundaries of

language and even ruptures the which means altogether. This model of trauma indicates that

suffering is unattractive. Quickly following the normal model was a lot of doctrine model of

trauma that means the assumed unspeakability of trauma is one of several responses to an

extreme event ratter than it’s shaping feature.

Trauma theorists reckon literature thus vital attributable to it’s ability to accommodate each

graspable and incomprehensible. Literary language at the same time defies also as claims,

understanding. only too obvious these days World Health Organization have the historical

information of violence of the twentieth century and skill of the ominous begin of twenty first

century.

The word trauma comes from Hellenic language which means ‘wound’. though the precise

definition of the fashionable idea of trauma varies consequently to context and discipline,

there's a general agreement that if trauma may be a wound, it's a peculiar reasonably wound.

there's no specific set of physical manifestations distinguishing trauma and it nearly

invariably produces perennial, uncontrollable and infinite effects that endure long when it’s

ostensible “precipitating cause”. Trauma, so presents a novel set of challenges to

understanding, additional as a result of traumatic events usually happen because of social

forces also as within the social world. Trauma has an inherently political, historical and moral

dimensions. it's an knowledge base faculty of theory, that embrace branches of study in

science, psychiatry, sociology, public health, history and literature. It emerged as a literary

theory in early Nineties. it's early connections to Holocaust and war two literature.

Trauma or traumatise means that a traumatic event that involves one event or experience; it

involves the emotions and emotions. Moreover, analysis trauma engages serious long

negative consequences. basically, past trauma and traumatic reminiscences have an effect on

the mind of the characters. confusion and insecurity cause trauma ; typical causes of analysis

trauma are statutory offense, employment discrimination, police brutality, bullying, force,

and notably childhood experiences. considerably, childhood trauma will cause violent

behaviour. analysis trauma are caused by ruinous events, war, treachery, betray and sexual

abused. However, the most purpose is that the various folks can react otherwise to similar

events. In alternative words, not all those that expertise a similar traumatic event can become
analysis traumatized. knowledge base, trauma incorporates a shut relationship with the

opposite field like science, sociology, history, war, politic, and considerably literature.

Psychological trauma, its illustration in language, and also the role of memory in shaping

individual and cultural identities are the central considerations that outline the sector of

trauma studies. psychoanalytical theories on trauma paired with further theoretical

frameworks like poststructural, content, and postcolonial theory kind the premise of criticism

that interprets representations of an extreme expertise and its effects upon identity and

memory. The idea of trauma, itself a supply of critique, is usually understood as a severely

turbulent expertise that deeply impacts the self’s emotional organization and perception of the

external world. Trauma studies explores the impact of trauma in literature and society by

analyzing its psychological, rhetorical, and cultural significance. Scholarship analyzes the

complicated psychological and social factors that influence the self’s comprehension of a

traumatic expertise and the way such an expertise shapes and is formed by language. The

formal innovations of texts, each print and media, that show insights into the ways in which

identity, the unconscious, and basic cognitive process are influenced by extreme events

therefore stay a big focus of the sector. Freud’s theories on traumatic expertise and memory

outline the psychological concepts that guide the sector. psychoanalytical theories relating to

the origins and effects of trauma arose within the within the of shock and hysteria by

researchers World Health Organization, additionally to neurologist, embrace Joseph designer,

state capital Janet, Jean‐Martin Jean Martin Charcot, hero Oppenheim, Abram Kardiner, and

Morton aristocrat. Freud’s early theories in Studies on Hysteria (1895) written with Joseph

designer, and particularly his custom-made theories later in his career in on the far side the

pleasure-unpleasure principle (1920), dominate trauma’s abstract employment by literary

trauma critics these days.

Trauma theory, henceforth, becomes a comparatively recent idea that emerged within the

health care setting throughout the 1970th largely in reference to studies of Vietnam veterans

and alternative survivors groups(holocaust survivors, refugees, victims of sexual assault).

“Post traumatic stress disorder” was adscititious as a brand new class within the Yankee

specialist Association official manual of mental disorders in 1980(Center for Nonviolence).

All the refined and insidious types of trauma(as violence intentional violence or witnessing

violence, assault, discrimination, poverty, racism, oppression, and succeeding chaotic life

conditions)are pervasive and, once knowledgeable inveterately, have a accumulative impact

that may be essentially life fixing. However, in terms of the vary of science theories, it

remains unclear what causes specific traumatic responses particularly people. differing types

of traumas manufacture totally different responses, like divisible blackout or intrusive recall,

that are a results of the social valuation of the traumatic expertise, created during a specific

culture (Kirmayer 184).

The loss of identity and that means that have an effect on the cluster consciousness. It marks

and changes them in elementary and irreversible ways that. Typically leading to loss of

language , way and values. Cultural trauma may be a loss of identity and that means that

impact cluster consciousness. Since 1700 Haw’s tough cultural shifts that have left the well

being of recent Hawaiian’s in hazard. Cultural trauma happens once members of a put

together feel they need been subjected to a fearful event that leaves unerasable marks upon

their cluster consciousness, marking their future identity during a elementary and irrevokable

ways that. Whereas this new scientific thought clarifies casual relationship between

antecedently unrelated events, structures, perceptions and actions, it conjointly illuminates a

neglected domain of social responsibility and action.

In this treatise, Cultural Trauma is explained with support of the theories and assumptions

raised by a key figure like Jeffrey C. Alexander.

Alexander initiates the formulation of his theory with the subsequent definition:

Cultural trauma happens once members of a collectivity feel they need been subjected to

a fearful event that leaves unerasable marks upon their cluster consciousness, marking

their reminiscences forever and dynamic their future identity

in elementary and irrevokable ways (Alexander, 2004, p. 1.) In accordance with this reading,

this opening definition1 constitutes cultural trauma in terms of

five important and interlacing components. Firstly, it starts with a gaggle of individuals being

subjected to what they understand as “a fearful event”. Secondly, this event should be

recognized and felt by “members of a collectivity” as being fearful. Third, for the event to be

a cultural trauma it should be deeply felt in such the simplest way that it

“leaves unerasable marks upon their cluster consciousness”. This mark upon the “group

consciousness” is, fourthly, imagined to influence the “memories” of this cluster, or

collectivity, “forever”. Fifth, and last, at now, beyond question thus, existing cultural trauma

can, because of the impact of the collective memory, conjointly amendment the “future

identity” of the particular suffering cluster and, eventually, a wider, enlarged collectivity.

Guided by the intention to deepen the account of Alexander’s cultural trauma theory it’ll

currently take the reader on a brief journey through important specifications2of the trauma

theory. These specifications, nine in variety, concern the scientific character and relevancy of

the speculation, criticism of different approaches and reticulate arguments on trauma as a

attainable outcome of social construction made and carried by human agency, totally

different institutional arenas and differentiated audiences. The specifications conjointly talk

1
The definition here is, Alexander points out, to be ”developed here”, 2004, p. 1.
2
over with the problem of mediate representations, substance, and a master narrative. It all

ends with notions of a collective memory that haven’t however been touched upon, namely,

collective memory as one thing contingent and endlessly contested . However, as already

recognized, it’s a locality of the project’s aim to explore the state of the present cultural

trauma theory.

a) A theory universally applicable: per Alexander his cultural trauma theory is “a scientific”3

and “an empirical” theory. As per it “suggests new important and causative relationships

between antecedently unrelated events, structures, perceptions, and actions”. It’s conjointly of

connectedness to state that he considers the speculation to be universal and, hence, applicable

all told elements of the globe. “Collective traumas have”, Alexander writes, “no geographical

or cultural limitations”.

b) A critique of lay trauma theory: Alexander formulates his theory’s basic assumption

against the backdrop of a critique of what he sums up as “lay trauma theory”. The common

denominator for this lay theory is that the belief that events that are traumatic have a

additional or less given “natural fallacy” to be thus. So per the lay theory the trauma potential

is known as an intrinsic a part of the events themselves. Alexander rejects any sort of lay

trauma theory and argues for a additional “theoretically reflexive” different.

c) Cultural trauma as a social construction: In accordance with Alexander’s initial definition

cultural trauma is usually to be understood as one thing that’s socially made. It means social

construction is to be understood as a human process in sort of mediation through

representations. Thus, it’s solely through representations that the expertise of the traumatic

event is sent. As Alexander puts it, “imagination is intrinsic to the terribly method of

representation”. What’s of interest here, he states, is “neither metaphysics nor morality,

however epistemology”. Again, the harmfulness of an occurrence isn’t determined by the

3
Alexander, 2004, p. 1.
event itself, because it is argued in lay trauma theory. It’s rather the layers of that means that

are assigned thereto that outline its damaging effects and trauma character. Hence, again, a

cultural trauma may be a social construction by the suggests that of mediating imaginations

and representations. Thus, in Alexander’s own words, “for traumas to emerge at the extent of

the collectivity, social crises should become cultural crises”4. This is often the quintessence of

cultural trauma understood as a content construction. Meanings should be ascribed to an

occurrence so as to form it traumatic. Hence, the formation of an nascent trauma may be a

human process during which an occurrence is attributable as traumatic. This trauma method

happens, as Alexander formulates it, within the “gap between event and representation”.

From this follows that the development of collective identity “involves a cultural reference”,

and, consequently, “only if the laced meanings of collectivity are suddenly dislodged is

traumatic standing attributed to an event”.

d) Social actors, carrier teams, and claim creating: The ascription of trauma – claim making –

to an occurrence may be a method that involves human agency au courant by systems of that

means. These claims are created by reflexive social agents and sent to different members of

the collectivity, and, eventually thus, conjointly to enlarged collectivities within the wider

society. Alexander calls these actual teams of agents “carrier groups”5. Per the cultural

trauma theory these teams will originate from totally different elements of the social system.

They “may be elites”. They’ll be “denigrated and marginalized classes”. They’ll even

be “prestigious non secular leaders or teams whom majority

has selected as religious pariahs”. These teams may additionally be people or determined

by totally different institutions6. Despite what conditioned them, they are, quoting Alexander,

“the collective agents of the trauma process”, and per se they act like speakers telling a

4
Alexander, 2004, p. 10.
5
It is a term borrowed from Max Weber’s sociology of religion. Can see in Alexander 2004, p. 11.
6
Jeffrey states about generational respectively institutional determinations.
story. So these claim manufacturers will return from a good vary of social, economic and

political backgrounds. The story told is one in all a terrible wrong that has been done to

them which threatens their collective identity. It’s a wrong that has to be corrected. Hence,

the act of conveyance the trauma claim includes a heap in common with a speech act7.

e) Institutional arenas: The claim creating representations made by carrier teams are mediate

through totally different institutional arenas, like non secular, aesthetic, legal, scientific and

state bureaucracy, that successively are influenced by “stratificational hierarchies”8. One

establishment is of specific importance: the mass media. “Mediated mass communication

allows”, Alexander writes, “traumas to be expressively dramatized and permits a number

of the competitory interpretations to achieve monumental persuasive power over others”.

f) Audiences: Audiences taking note of the claim makings from speakers, people or

representatives of carrier teams and institutional arenas, is taking the shape of the

overall public. They are, Alexander states, “putatively homogeneous but sociologically

fragmented”63. The situation in which the speech act is carried out is related to the specific

structural situation in which it is situated. It is historically, culturally and institutionally

dependent. The speaker intends to convince the audience that it, in fact, has been traumatized.

This is how Alexander puts it: In doing so, the carrier group makes use of the particularities

of the historical situation, the symbolic resources at hand, and the constraints and

opportunities provided by institutional structures”. With these tools at hand, the primary step

is convincing the own cluster of its traumatization. Once this has been triple-crown the work

towards spreading the claim to different teams at intervals the overall public begins.

g) The trauma method is characterised as a “spiral of signification”: per Alexander the

trauma method, in less complicated words, “the nascent trauma process”, relies on, a “spiral

7
Alexander, 2004, p. 11-12.
8
“Stratificational hierarchies” refer to ”uneven distribution of material resources and the social networks that
Provide differential access to them” (ibid, p. 21).
of signification” 9. an  actual carrier cluster has to tell a convincing story. The success of such

a story depends “on constructing a compelling framework of cultural classification”10.

Constructing a compelling and triple-crown story may be a complicated method,

a method that may be tormented by conflict and opposition as conflicting narratives clash

for the proper of making a replacement master narrative. So as to squeeze a wider cluster the

story wants not solely to be contingent, however that means that may reach intent on wider

collectivities should even be ascribed to it.

h) a suffering cluster and different collectivities. Per Alexander there are four representations,

or queries, that are “essential to the creation of a replacement master narrative” . These are:

• character of the pain11 : What has befallen the afflicted cluster and what will it mean to

the larger collective that the cluster may be a half of?

• the character of the victim: “What cluster of persons was tormented by this traumatizing

pain”? Is it restricted to a selected cluster or is that the trauma shared with others?

If thus, are these different teams conjointly specific or is that the victim “’the people’ in

general”?

• Relation of the trauma victim to the broader audience: what’s the connection between the

victim and also the larger collectivity? “To what extent do the members of the audience for

trauma representations expertise an identity with the now put-upon group”12? There’s a

desire for a shared base of values so as for the audience to just accept and take a

locality within the specific trauma narrative.

9
Coined by sociologist Kenneth Thompson which means way of publicly signifying issues and problems which is
Intrinsically escalating.

10
Alexander, 2004, p. 12.
11
Ibid., p. 13.
12
Alexander, 2004, p. 14.
• Attribution of responsibility: A triple-crown narrative demands a wrongdoer. World Health

Organization afflicted the damage? “This issue is usually a matter of symbolic and social

construction”. A trauma narrative has, in someway, an exclusive tendency and wishes an

opposing half. In different words, there’s a desire to spot World Health Organization

performed the “deed”.

i)Collective memory as a relentless method: Ultimately the trauma process ends up in a

revision of the collective identity. In doing therefore the collective can remember on a

collective past. “A collective memory is thereby”, quoting Alexander, “not solely social and

fluid however deeply connected to the up to date sense of the self”. This

suggests that once the foremost intense identity revision has past there’s a come back to

a additional routinized condition. As things quiet down and also the discourse of a cultural

trauma may reduce its grip upon society. However, the trauma may survive as a locality of a

collective memory, and a replacement collective identity can be “rooted in sacred places and

structured”, by the assistance of, “ritual routines”. Thereby the cultural trauma becomes

commemorated in monuments and museums, however now not will it fan the flames of

constant powerful emotions. This is, what Alexander calls, the “triumph of the

mundane”. Not withstanding the trauma settles, it will still play a very important roll because

it will facilitate resolve issues within the future. By changing into mundane, the trauma opens

the door for others to induce concerned and so widening the circle of World Health

Organization “we” are. This is often however Alexander states it: whether or not any or all of

those structures truly inherit play isn’t itself a matter of structural determination. It’s subject

to the unstructured, unpredictable contingencies of historical time”. The formation of traumas

still because the keeping of such traumas alive and well is formed attainable by “contingent

historical facts”. In different words a created cultural trauma may not be forever.
Take Off

Take Off a Malayalam movie by well-known film editor Mahesh Narayanan, makes his

directing debut with a story inspired by the real-life experiences of Indian nurses held captive

in 2014 in Tikrit, caught between Iraqi government forces and ISIS. The nurses’ ordeal is

recounted through the fictionalised life of one, Sameera played by Parvathy.

Movie is based on the experience of Indian nurses from Iraq in 2014,Sameera is a nurse in

Kerala who is moving to Iraq for better compensation with her colleagues. Her better half

(Faizal) and relatives are not strong of her desire to work to column her family. They at last

get separated after their disparities. Shaheed, a partner from work sees every one of her issues

and wishes to wed her. In spite of the fact that Sameera is at first reluctant about another

marriage, the two move wedded before to Iraq. Rest of the plot spins around the

inconveniences confronted by the couple and different medical caretakers after they achieve

Iraq for work. Manoj Kumar played an important role in film as Indian ambassador who help

these nurse.

The story takes place in the background of Kerala which shifts it’s focus to Tikrit, Saddam

Hussein’s battle-ravaged hometown in Iraq, where the nurses are assigned to work for a

hospital which is in under the control of Iraq government itself. But within hours the land

became a place of chaos. The intervention of Islamic States made it so. A place like Iraq
which is famous for it’s high economic achievements through oil refineries is the same one

which is being witnessed for numerous wars to accumulate wealth and capture it’s territories

by various terrorist and profitable organisations like Isis. Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham

(ISIS), follows a distinctive variety of Islam whose beliefs about the path to the Day of

Judgment matter to its strategy, and can help the West know its enemy and predict its

behaviour. They are hungers for genocide which they believe that they are doing to protect

and upraise their religion.

While discussing the topic, there are some important characters who are to be discussed

because of their indispensable roles they played in.

Sameera, the main leading character of the movie Take Off is played by Parvathi Thiruvoth,

is stifled by patriarchal restrictions every which way she turns. Divorced from her husband

whose family found her ways too liberal (when the men sit down to eat, Sameera takes a plate

for herself casually), convinced that she must work if she is to pay off the debt in which her

parental home is immersed, and fighting the black bouts of depression that chase her thanks

to her separation from her beloved eight-year-old son Ibru, Sameera is already a woman in

the heat of many battles.

Kunchacko Boban as the well-meaning Shaheed, Sameera’s colleague who is interested in

her, one cannot but think that perhaps Sameera would have been better off had she been

allowed to take certain decisions by herself. We catch a moment of Sameera’s frustration

when she finds that Shaheed has announced her unwanted pregnancy to the family but the

story doesn’t linger on the point.

Fahad Fasil plays the role of Manoj Kumar, an official at the Indian embassy in Iraq, who

tries to help the stranded Indians who don’t know which way to turn and whom to trust. His

soulful eyes and understated performance complement the storytelling – there are only so
many things one can do when essaying the role of a rescuer who doesn’t ever lift a gun but

Manoj Kumar makes himself effective. There are still characters are left to be said about, as

the topic gets progressed, they will be.

In the movie Take Off war plays an essential role for defining the mental states of individuals

and groups , who are being the victims of bloodshed and mass murders of innocents, facing

death just before their eyes and of course the longings of the souls towards their homeland

which at a point they believe it would remain just as a hope that they could see their

homeland once again for the last time. But apart from only considering the war which causes

trauma ,the financial crisis and personal misery also causes for the trauma. Analysing the

movie, a group of nurses including the main character Sameera are preparing and working for

a job in abroad, specifically in Iraq which will provides them a much better salary than the

current one where they are working for now. By taking the character Sameera, she is an

individual with all means who is trying to overcome the sorrowful memory about previous

marriage which ended up in divorce and also a mother who lives far away from her child with

all his memories of every moment of her life. In the real world she struggles to pay off the

debts on her parental house, the same reason why she was forced to left her child with her

husband. She was the one who have to carry all the weigh of her family.

Sameera is a representative of all the souls working in this firm. The mental stress because of

duty, traumas because of sexual abuse from co-workers, and lack of respect which they

deserve are portrayed through this character. In a scene from where the story leads explains

the situation precisely when a doctor from Iraq asks about why they choose to come there

instead of working in their country, the character Shaheed, Sameera’s husband and who also

a nurse replies that it’s the respect which the people in there gives them and also the attractive
salary package which is four times more than which they were used to receive from the

previous hospital. So the economic condition in their own land in a way caused for their

everlasting traumatic experiences which eventually haunts them. The story was successful in

portraying the physical and challenges from society and also from their own religion which

Insists and forces them to come in terms with them when a woman tries to achieve a last ray

of hope for her family. It is both physical and mental. While overcoming all these obstacles

before herself, Sameera’s pregnancy made her to doubt about all the optimistic thoughts in

her till then. Even the opposition for to travel while carrying didn’t stopped her from working

but lead her into the verge of depressive state of mind. For a woman, especially in such a

health situation mental stress and trauma could cause for various health related problems.

In contemporary mobile society, relatively recent technological advances in transportation

and communication have intensified people’s cross-border activities and experiences. The

growing opportunities of linking migrant workers with transnational and native communities,

also because the diversity and fluidity of those ties, point to the emergence of latest modes of

transacting that need regular cultural transitions and sustained contact across national borders.

The transition from one cultural background to another is clearly depicted in the movie when

the group of nurses arrives in Iraq airport. Since from the airport scene, the Army’s security

provided for the bus which the nurses are traveling defines the country’s insecurity. A

warzone like Tikrit provides a warm welcome for the newcomer nurses with a bunch of

bodies and wounded people from bomb blasts on their first day at that land. The casualties

were able to made a first impression about the dangers and seriousness of that land among the

nurses. The class discrimination sufferings in the gulf countries in a capitalist manner could

been seen from the characters of Dr.Tariq and his wife Dr.Rukhsal where Tariq confesses to

Shaheed that his wife is from the Yazidi community, which means that she is from a lower

community who were meant to be slaves according to the term Yazidis. Yazidi, a member of
a Kurdish-speaking people living chiefly in Iraq, Syria, Armenia, and Georgia and adhering

to an ancient monotheistic religion. Most of the women from the community are subjugated

to the Islamic States ,and they are using them for sex slave. The trauma every Yazidi women

and children undergone are inexplicable because of it’s horrors. In this movie even in the

midst of lawful armed forces and under the powerful authority, the scene from enforce

vehicle checking marks the discriminating mentality from the authority which meant to be

unbiased on a particular person only because she is from a minor community and the mind-

set of the officers that they also be treated as the terrorists. The insecurity under a government

on a person basis on their community also will be the same effect as mental harassment. Even

the people from the same country undergoes through discriminations and harassments from

the country itself because of they belongs to the lower class and caste. The term Yazidi itself

means fearless, but the irony is that the members in that community have to pass each day

with fear. Dr.Rukhsal is a fearless woman, even though she is a human more over. She being

witnessed to her own husbands death in that concentration camp of ISIS would have been

surely made a mental shock in her, it can be seen from the helplessness and hopeless face of

her. The gunshot took a life by providing something to her, a lifetime trauma to grieve on.

The arrival of the first born of Sameera to the war-land makes it more difficulty for a

pregnant women like Sameera. The unexpected pregnancy, the space they are working in, the

child’s arrival to a conflict situation is enough for a woman to worry and to stress about. The

unacceptable behaviour of the eight year old child Ibru by realising about the relationship of

his mother with Shaheed explains the normal process like every child undergoes in the same

age and situation.

Sameera(to Jincy): You tell me, haven’t I been a good mother to him?

I have lived in fear for so long.

 Of my father when I was young,

Of Faizal after marriage,

And now him(Ibru)

The mentioned conversation clearly charts the fear in Sameera because of being submissive

to different persons in various phases of her life, the trauma still haunts her in her present.

Talking about Faizal, the firstly married husband of Sameera who is a product of patriarchal

society, went through trauma also. Faizal is a dearest son in a patriarchal family where

women considered as mere kitchen materials and should be live under the roof where men

supposed to work for the family and women must obey the rules and regulations they put

forth. Religious beliefs are must for the women according to these types of families. Where

men rule and woman suffer the trauma also took place silently, but in this situation where

Sameera works against the rules of that family, the bursts begins to happen inside the family

by the patriarchal men against a woman from their family going for a job. Nothing could stop

Sameera from providing for her family which eventually caused for a divorce and a life far

away from her child. Sameera gained an identity by breaking the rules established by

patriarchal society but there still remained some poor souls designed to not to have an

identity for themselves and to chain themselves to the patriarchal rule which imposed over

them by the society. Faizal in a sense enslaved to his father. As a husband he can’t even make

a decision of his own for himself. The couple parted because of not their wish but from the

family side of Faizal who was against woman who work, they believed that it would bring

bad reputation to their family. The separation should definitely brought trauma on for the rest

of his life. Later on the airport scene, Faizal confesses to Sameera about his failure as a

husband and lives to regret it. Regrets forms trauma.

The brutal civil war and the invasion of ISIS in Iraq made everyone’s life upright down and

miserable in the land. The situation and emotions of Sameera get worsened by realising that

Mosul has been captured by the terrorists and the unit sent there also under the control of the

terrorists group where Shaheed was one of them. It was a moment that breaks the emotions of

a bold woman like Sameera where she became helpless to do anything to bring back Shaheed.

A humanely approach from the managing director made it possible for Sameera to seek

information about her missing husband from the embassy where Manoj Kumar interrupts in

the middle of Sameera’s emotional breakdown. Taking the character ambassador of Indian

embassy Manoj Kumar, the first and last person who throughout stood by the rescue of the

nurses amidst of all chaos that happening across the country. As a person Manoj has his own

trauma to fight while on one hand he was in the verge of a divorce demanded by his wife on

the other hand being cautious for the crucial decisions he has to make to ensure the safety of

the nurses. Apart from the battle on the ground his inner self was also in a battle with the

situations inside and outside. While the nurses were taken hostage after an attack on a Tikrit

hospital, the workers were abducted from a construction site in Mosul. While taking into the

new camp of the terrorists, to the hospital, Sameera witnesses the mass murders of civilians,

army and enforce officers and also the patients in their hospital. The terrible event could

surely made an impact on anyone who witnesses the bloodshed. The fear in the 14 nurses are

clearly portrayed and the mental state of that horrendous event could form a cultural trauma

on all of them.

Shifting the focus to the eight year old child Ibru, being witnessed to much more than any

child on that age could. The horrendous events, chaos, and slaughtering by the terrorists

became a daily scenery for them. Being witnessed to all these and of a blast which nearly

killed everyone, one can see the shocking impact it created on the hostages, so it would be
made a much more powerful effect and psychological trauma which could haunt the rest of

the life of that child. It is already mentioned that the movie was inspired from a real incidents

which happened in 2014 held in the same place as the movie portrays, Tikrit. So as per the

real characters experiences which they shared to the media, they are still having nightmares

about the incidents, the trauma of that horrible incidents haunts them even in their present

life. Even if an adult can’t get relief from the events, it would be much more worse on a child.

From the scientific study from the authors Mona S. Macksoud, Atle Dyregrov, Magne

Raundalen in their book The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping (second edition), With the

growing number of countries involved nowadays in armed conflict, more children have come

to suffer the atrocities of war. Displacement, witnessing violent acts, bearing arms, being

victims of direct hostilities are some of the traumatic experiences children face growing up in

war-torn countries. There is no question that such overwhelming experiences have an impact

on the development of children, their attitudes toward society, their relationships with others,

and their outlook on life in general.

The UN camp scenes explores the horrifying aftereffects of war causes. The thousands of

refugees in that camp are victims of a brutal civil war. The war made them identityless

people, the war questioned their sanity and morality by providing them a life-long trauma to

haunt them. The shifting of nurses from Tikrit to Mosul, to the place where the ISIS leaders

and terrorists made their head camp, the nurses have to pass through a state of mind where

they think that their life is going to end anyway even with the moral support provided by the

Manoj Kumar and team. The team led by the embassy also have to face through the obstacles

which present before them while trying to saving the hostages. According to the hostages

they are forced to face not only trauma but also crisis of identity when they are forced to

destroy all the evidence to hide their identity for their own safety. The scene from the movie
where the rest of the nursing crew’s disapproval towards being rescued from there by stating

that they don’t want to be rescued without getting the remuneration for their work in there.

The fact which made them to act so is the family of theirs who sent them far away from home

by spending much enough money even they can’t afford it but putting faith in their daughters,

so that the reason they stubborn to their decision even the city outside is burning and there is

no life for them there. The process which made them to think so is the fear of trauma they are

going to undergo once they reach their home with empty hands. They are scared about the

worst situations of their family.

Like the hostages and the rescuers the trauma of war and insecurity travels beyond Iraq

straight to the families of the hostages and to the whole country. Even if the authority was

succeeded in saving the victims the trauma remains the same even in the victims and the

whole families. The concentration camps, where Sameera meets Shaheed, also defines the

intensity of the life threatening moments.

The Terminal

The Terminal, an American movie released in 2004 directed by Steven Spielberg, is based on

a story by Andrew Niccol and Sacha Gervasi. This parable about modern life, America, and

the spiritual virtue of waiting is filled with magical moments that demonstrate the joys that

can ensue when we slow down, practice deep listening, and learn the art of being present with

others. This spiffy entertainment is light-hearted and playful, especially in its varied portraits

of the working-class men and women who are employed in international airports. Tom Hanks

gives a rounded and moving portrait of a man who models for the art of patience or waiting

with equanimity.

While Viktor Navorski is flying to New York City, a military coup takes place in his Eastern

European country of Krakozhia. At John F. Kennedy International Airport, he is told by the

airport’s chief officer, Frank Dixon, that his visa, issued by the previous government at home,

is not valid, and since the U.S. State Department has refused to recognize the new regime, all
flights back to his country have been cancelled. This means that Navorski is for the time

being a man without a country. Or as Dixon puts it, he is “unacceptable” for entry into

America, and he can’t be deported. The only solution for this shy and befuddled man is to

stay in the international transit lounge until things are resolved in Krakozhia. The story is

about the survival of Navorski amidst the white supremacy for a long Nine month time period

which is a life time to learn and to teach humanity.

The different studies have certain harmful impact on psychological state of the migration

journey, together with prolonged detention or stays in typically unsafe exile camps

(Gkionakis, 2016; Lambert & Alhassoon, 2015; Silove, Austin, & Steel, 2007) yet because

the asylum-seeking method (d’Halluin, 2009; choreographer, Gernaat, Komproe, Schreuders,

& De Jong, 2004). Post-migration factors, like state, AN insecure residency standing and

worry of homecoming, scarce proficiency in a very host language, social discrimination and

difficulties with integration have equally been shown to be correlative with mental issues in

refugees (Kartal & Kiropoulos, 2016; Schick et al., 2016; Sijbrandij et al., 2017; Silove,

Ventevogel, & Rees, 2017). The psychological impact of those factors and other ‘daily

stresses’ (Miller & adventurer, 2014) square measure a relevant thought within the

lightweight of the extra essential life events with that asylum seekers and refugees square

measure Janus-faced. In a very multi-agency orientate the psychological state of exile

populations discharged in 2015, agencies and alternative international humanitarian

organisations have highlighted that doubtless traumatic events from the past don’t seem to be

the sole, or perhaps most vital, supply of psychological distress however that the bulk of

emotional suffering is directly associated with current stress factors (Crepet et al., 2017;

Inter-Agency commission (IASC), 2015; Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), 2016;

Ventevogel, Schinina, Strang, Gagliato, & Hansen, 2015). Many studies on refugees and

asylum seekers have confirmed this clinical impressio (Maier & Straub, 2011; Silove, 1999;
Silove, Steel, McGorry, & Mohan, 1998; Van Ommeren et al., 2001). The treatment models

developed in Western cultural contexts are criticised for ignoring vital variability among

informative models of distress evident in numerous cultural settings. Often, the link between

the health professionals and asylum seeker or exile face cultural barriers concerning an

absence of shared understanding, informative model or idiom of distress, rendering

exchanges within the consultation troublesome and increasing the danger of inability and

errors in diagnosing and . This itself may be a barrier to access.

From a public health perspective, the requirement for culturally relevant treatment

interventions considering post-migration factors is clearly of no little concern. A excess of

key authors within the field yet as humanitarian actors have highlighted this gap within the

literature and demand a lot of longitudinal studies to feature to our understanding of trauma

from a a lot of culturally, socially and politically relevant perspective. This includes a

spotlight on life trajectories, dynamic processes and current material realities for refugees in

host communities.

The movie take place in the JFK airport in New York where the leading character of the

movie Viktor Navorski arrives from his country Krakozhia (which is a fictional

land).Krakozhia is a fictional country, created for the film, that closely resembles a former

Soviet Republic or Eastern Bloc state. Though it is a fictional land in movie, The film is

partially inspired by the true story of the 18-year stay of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who is an

Iranian refugee, in Terminal 1 of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, from 1988 to 2006.

The first scenes of the movie tells about some Chinese refugees who tries to get back to their

country but ended up being caught by the immigrant officers. Refugees and migrants are the

main victims of cultural traumatic experiences because they held up in a situation or place

where actually they don’t belong and being witnessed to horrendous experiences which

causes the trauma. So taking the case of refugees, according to the study of National
Association of Social Workers (NASW), There have always been migrants and refugees

worldwide. However, the number of persons who are displaced, both internally and to

another country, is currently at a historic high. Environmental, geothermal, and human

conflict factors all contribute to the rise of migration. Each of these factors alone can cause

migration; when combined they increase abnormal migration. For example, environmental

factors cause displacement and movement of people. Crop failure, for instance, can result in

food scarcity, causing people to migrate to other countries for survivable living conditions. It

is no surprise that human conflicts and violence are the main reasons for mass migration. At

the end of 2014, war, violence, and persecution led to one in every 122 humans in the world

becoming a refugee, becoming displaced, or seeking asylum. As reported by the United

Nations refugee agency (UNHCR),4 the level of worldwide displacement has never been

higher—with a record 59.5 million people having migrated from their homes at the end of

2014.Historically, the United States had always been a world leader in welcoming refugees.

The Refugee Act of 1980 provided a formal process to actively bring refugees to the country

when repatriation to the nation of origin was not possible. The resettlement process in the

United States is managed by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees,

and Migration. The refugee resettlement program has historically had bipartisan support and

at its core is a humanitarian program. During the start of the formal Refugee Resettlement

and Placement program, the United States resettled refugees from Southeast Asia affected by

the Vietnam War, as well as refugees from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In more

recent years, refugees from other parts of the world including Burma (Myanmar), Bhutan,

Burundi, Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as Iraq, Syria,

Afghanistan, Cuba, and Colombia have been resettled in the United States. The common goal

of the resettlement program is to affirm America’s commitment to human rights. The overall

hope underscoring the program is that those who are granted refugee status use their
freedoms to demonstrate their appreciation for being granted refugee status by contributing to

the economy and enriching the fabric of the community by bringing their cultural heritage

and experiences to the United States.

Given below are Definition of Refugee Resettlement Terms

a) Refugee Resettlement Agency13: Refugees are resettled across the United States by

affiliate offices of the national resettlement agencies (also called voluntary agencies)

that are contracted by the federal government to resettle refugees. At the affiliate

level, case managers assist newly arrived refugees with service connection to adjust to

their new communities and promote self-sufficiency. There are nine national agencies

that facilitate the refugee resettlement process.

b) Asylum Seeker14: An asylum seeker is an individual who has left her or his country

because of a well-founded fear of persecution, due to race, religion, nationality,

political opinion, or membership of a particular social group, but has not been granted

asylum status in the United States. People seeking asylum must go through the

immigration court system before they can be considered for asylum, whereas refugees

already have legal status when they arrive in the United States.

c) Asylee15: An asylee is an individual who has left her or his country because of a well-

founded fear of persecution, due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or

membership of a particular social group, and has been granted asylum to stay in the

United States by an immigration court judge.

13
Challenges of Refugee Resettlement Policy and Psychosocial Factors, 2019, socialWorkers.org
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid
 d) Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Holders16: Iraqi and Afghan translators and interpreters

working for the U.S. military and who meet certain requirements can qualify for the

SIV program and receive refugee benefits in the United States.

The characters which plays an significant roles are Viktor Navorski, the protagonist of the

story, Frank Dixon, the customs official, Amelia Warren, a flight attendant and Gupta Rajan,

a janitor. These characters are the essential ones to explain the relevant topic in this project.

All the characters in the movie are stuck: Viktor Navorski in the terminal, Amelia’s mature

age and unmarried status, several characters having to stay out of recognition so as not to be

deported (Gupta Rajan), Frank Dixon being field commissioner of the terminal with

insufficient authority, so all are in a sense suffering their own trauma. To analyse each one

based on their level of traumatic experiences, it can start with Viktor Navorski.

Viktor Navorski comes to New York in order to fulfil his father’s last wish, but the man who

just stepped into the airport of JFK became a man from nowhere, a military coup takes place

in his Eastern European country of Krakozhia(a fictional land). Navorski speaks only a little

broken English, does not really understand what has happened to him. He watches the

television monitors in the international transit lounge and begins to comprehend the chaos

and violence in his homeland. The moment he realises his country is in a worse situation his

helplessness, affection and anxiety towards his country, land and of course his home is

shown. Even though it’s for a time being, a situation which alters one’s mind with horrific

experiences which causes to their loved one’s or to their land may create a trauma on them. It

can be scientifically explained as, Coping with the trauma of a natural or manmade disaster

can present unique challenges—even if one weren’t directly involved in the event. In fact,

while it’s highly unlikely anyone will ever be the direct victims of a terrorist attack, plane

crash, or mass shooting, for example, people are all regularly bombarded by horrific images

16
Ibid
on social media and news sources of those people who have been. Viewing these images over

and over can overwhelm one’s nervous system and create traumatic stress. Whatever the

cause of one’s trauma, and whether it happened years ago or yesterday, they can make

healing changes and move on with your life. In here, Viktor Navorski passes through a

helpless situation. No one to help or to console. Even the language became a barrier for him

for a free communication about what is happening around. His identity and his existence is

being questioned at a point. As the story progresses forward in multiple situations Navorski

being faced to challenges from authority and from loved . Frank Dixon, the customs official

with an intriguing balance between rigidity and curiosity. He goes by the rules, but he has no

great love of the rules. Sometimes the rules are cruel, but he takes no joy in the cruelty. The

official becomes increasingly irritated, even enraged, by Viktor’s presence in the terminal. To

this precise man, Viktor is a bureaucratic embarrassment, something he doesn’t need to have

around when he is being considered for an important promotion. He tries several times to get

Viktor out of the place, including leaving the main door unguarded so he will leave and come

under someone else’s jurisdiction; he even tries to get him declared a National Security risk

and put in a Federal Detention Center. The official Dixon rattles off other potential ways to

allow Navorski into the US, but eliminates his eligibility for them all: asylum, refugee status,

TPS, humanitarian parole, non-immigrant visa, or diplomatic status. The official tells

Navorski that at this time he is simply unacceptable. The official Frank Dixon is also in a

stressful crisis, on one hand it’s Navorski, who started to live in the International Transit

Lounge, in other it’s the promotion badly desires. Dixon fears having Navorski living in JFK

will ruin his chance of receiving the promotion. So Dixon wants Navorski to break the law

and he offers a political asylum for him. Actually the reason for the stress that Dixon passing

through is Navorski, who decides to remain in the lounge until he free to enter America, even

the official prevent him from entering into the American soil by stating that America is
closed. The day by day Navorski became a headache for Dixon and when it affects his career

while ongoing with the inspection, the stressed, despair, and aggressive official promises to

Navorski that he would never see America . But the threat by Dixon which is that he will

deport and will punish the people who loves and loved by Viktor made a fear in him and

questioned his purpose of visit in America for a time being.

Amelia Warren, a flight attendant begins the story by mentioning she hinders herself. She

even admits this, admitting she’s been helping the adultering husband with whom she’s been

having an affair to seek treatment. She, at one point, says “all men are liars”. She bumps into

each other with Navorski one day and makes a good bond between them eventually. She has

been mentally stressed and in trauma .Her mature age and unmarried status may be a reason

for this and also she even regrets at one point having helped her adulterous lover seek

treatment. Amelia would fit in a fixed attitude because of her struggle to overcome issues

with men and impulsive reactions. After meeting with Navorski Amelia tries to be herself

than to pretend somebody else that she’s used to. Navorski was a great relief in her busy and

meaningless life with wrong people. The trauma on her past life became a obstacle in her

present which is clear when she’s generalized a light hearted good intentioned character like

Navorski with all men. It is her experiences from past ,which gave her a trauma of lifetime ,

to do so. Being in a world with such kind of people would made an impact in her which did

also reflected on her by impulsively reacts to Navorski. On the other side, when Viktor tries

to remove the stigma of past from her by making her self valuable than to be chained by

someone else and by asking turn off the beeper which she needs no more. The beeper is a

symbol for the life she was living with so much confusion and hatred for being dependant on

someone. She even Informs Victor that she left her partner for her own good. But when

Amelia found out the determined mind of victor to fulfil the last wish of his father, which is
not going to happen until he gets a visa and released from the airport, she sacrifices a chance

at travel in NYC with her adulterous friend so Viktor can have it. She clings to have her

trauma with her to fulfil Viktor’s purpose.

Gupta Rajan, the janitor in JFK airport is a man with mystery past and suffering trauma from

his longings towards his home country India, and from his home where his family is. The

character is portrayed in the movie as an old man who finds a bit of satisfaction in his

meaningless life by removing signboards from the wet area and watching people slips

through it. May this can be seen from a sadistic behaviour perspective, but in reality this

being the only entertainment that an old man like Gupta can get from the airport life. The

misery and mystery life of Gupta unfolds before Viktor Navorski at a point when he founds

out that Viktor also resembles his life in some points. Like Gupta, Viktor is also a person

with no identity his own, nowhere to go except the lounge, under the same system and

authority where they have to bend their heads and knees in order to survive, and also longing

towards their homeland and home, where they can find their own people and happiness.

Unlike Gupta, Viktor tries to overcome the trauma and tries to cop up with the atmosphere

where Gupta lives in a fear of deport in every day if the authority came to know about the

crime he had done in his country. So Gupta tries to keep a low profile. But at last he came out

of the fear and trauma by when he decides to return home and face charges so that Viktor can

have the trip in NYC.

Conclusion

This dissertation deals with films from two different cultural backgrounds and to analyse the

situations and events which causes for traumatic experiences by using trauma theory. And

also to verify and to point out similar or common facts which leads a person or a collective

group of people, to psychological and cultural trauma. Here to analysis and to prove the topic
an interdisciplinary approach has been used by taking psychological trauma and Cultural

trauma which is necessary to analysis because of the influence and importance it have on

these films. More than one tool needs for different situations. The different cultural

backgrounds which these movies talks about are European and Asian. There are some

common elements in both these movies which helps to enhance the study of trauma, like war.

Migration and crisis in identity.

Both the settings of the films are from different cultural backgrounds, different languages but

trauma has no cultural or language barriers. War and migration plays an important role in

these films which leads the people to psychological and cultural traumas and identityless.

War is not a natural phenomena, it is well constructed and manmade in all cases. The political

and economical causes which leads to war created a group called refugees who trapped in

between the nations with nowhere to go, like a banished group or community. They are the

living examples of Viktor Navorski from the film The Terminal. They also can be considered

as the by-products of trauma. A war always creates chaos and engulf the whole nation or

nations with insecurity and sorrows, moreover the psychological and physical worsening

conditions.

The Films Take off, a Malayalam language film and The Terminal, an American film, have

some common elements between them. These films also explores through the above

mentioned elements like war, migration and identity crisis. Even there are culturally

differences between them, The story which they tell and the characters in these films are

crossing the same bridge of mental stresses and psychological problems which they have to

witness directly or indirectly. While analysing the psychological traumatic journey of a

person who stranded in another cultural background, passively it affects more the one’s on

homeland indirectly than the active one, especially in the case of psychological stresses and

trauma. The film Take off is a good example for this. And also by taking the Terminal
movie, the military coup in his homeland makes anxiety and stressful moments in the hero

Viktor Navorski.

Entering into the films, firstly Take off film which is in Malayalam language shifts it’s frame

from the normal life of nurses, who is ambitious about taking care of their family from debts

and low financial backgrounds, to being held as hostages by a notorious terrorist group, in a

Muslim warzone country like Iraq in search of a good job and to provide for their families. A

merely change in one’s surrounding will cause a sense of consciousness in their life, then the

drastic change which can cost their lives would definitely made a panic and life-threatening

traumatic moment in them. Not a moment but will cost a lifetime even if they saved from

there. The days of unsecured life bearing trauma and fear in those nurses, is told by the film.

The Terminal film portrays the traumatic life of a man from nowhere. Even the character

Viktor Navorski own a family and the Citizenship of his country Krakozhia, he became

stranded in an airport in New York because of the military coup in his land. Being stranded in

that airport for almost nine months, because there left no valid identification to prove himself

from where he is. The lacking of the Whiteman’s language and the country’s over power over

the individual who is from a third world country tells the rest fate of Navorski in that

international lounge. The mental tortures by a powerful authority, and the rest characters

history of longing and trauma portrayed in the film .

These two movies shares a common element, that is war which eventually leads to trauma

and the crisis in identity in both movies. Being a by-product of trauma, cultural trauma

depicts the impact of a horrendous event on a collective group of people in both films, in the

film Take off it is the nurses who held captive by the terrorist group, in the other movie

Terminal it is the Chinese people, who are refugees, who tries to get back into their land and
ended up being caught by the immigrant officials. In both situation the people are passing

through a cultural trauma even if the situations are not same.

The cultural background or the place being a reason for trauma. In Terminal, a citizen from a

Muslim country landed on a European country like New York, the domination over a third

world country by a first world country is clearly shown from the scenes of the immigrant

official chief’s behaviour towards the people from a Muslim background countries. The both

of the films are based on the real events which was happened.

The dissertation proves it’s assumptions with the help of Sigmund Freud’s trauma theory

with the assist of Jeffrey C. Alexander’s Cultural trauma theory. According to Freud, trauma

is a twofold concept in that it relates to mental experience and links an external event with the

specific after-effects on an individual ‘s psychic reality. The causes for trauma are sexual

abuse, employment discrimination, police brutality, bullying, domestic violence and

childhood experiences. There it also states that different people will react differently to

similar events.

Also Jeffrey C Alexander’s five significant and interwoven elements strengthens the points;

that are:

 A group of people being subjected to what they perceive as “a horrendous event”.

 The event must be recognized and felt by “members of a collectivity” as being

horrendous.

 For the event to be a cultural trauma it must be deeply felt in such a way that it

“leaves indelible marks upon their group consciousness”.

  This mark upon the “group consciousness” is supposed to influence the “memories”

of this group, or collectivity, “forever”.

 At this point, undoubtedly so, existing cultural trauma will, due to the effect of the

collective memory, also change the “future identity” of the actual suffering group and,

eventually, a wider, enlarged collectivity.

According with these theoretical elements, in both films a group of people are subjected to a

horrendous event, facing extreme unbearable situations like concentration camps and

massacre, and being subjugated to powerful authority that they can’t even imagine. The

events even questions their lives and leaves a indelible mark upon their group consciousness.

Even after out of the life threatening events, the collective group of people are not relieved

from the trauma .

This dissertation concludes with the study by that Trauma can look very different across the

developmental stages. Identity crisis also leads to trauma. The Trauma travels across any

Cultural and age barriers.

Bibliography