Cinematic Representations of Crisis: Comparing Cinematic Treatments of the July 22 Terror Attacks
摘要
Making movies about the 22 July terror attacks has been controversial; strong voices were raised against the production of Utøya: July 22 (Erik Poppe), Reconstructing Utøya (Carl Javér), and 22 July (Paul Greengrass), three films that all premiered in 2018. Opposition against ‘turning terror into film’ was, however, strongest before the works were ever screened. This chapter discusses the purpose and effect of these three films, focusing on intention, achievements, and reception. I argue that though the films are all treatments of the same traumatic event—the Utøya mass shooting—they do and achieve almost entirely different things. Aside from differences in genre (drama, documentary, and thriller/courtroom drama), the films mainly diverge in whose stories they tell. Through a comparison of intention, genre, setting, story time, and actors, I discuss how cinema as a medium for re-telling, experiencing, and healing, can function as memorials.