Trauma of abandoned children: the case of nobody knows (Japan) and tâm hồn mẹ (Vietnam)

Abstract

This article examines the trauma and ways of presenting trauma of children abandoned by their parents in the Japanese film Nobody Knows (Hirokazu Kore-edam, 2004) and the Vietnamese film Tâm hồn mẹ (Pham Nhue Giang, 2011). The article points out that the two films have created a narrative model in presenting the trauma of abandoned children. Specifically, the two films depict being abandoned as the cause of children's physical and mental injuries; presenting flashbacks and fantasies as manifestations of trauma; building old soul children as a resistance to the trauma of abandonment; presenting heartless mothers - a very unconventional sub-narrative - and indifferent society as the cause of trauma; portraying making friends as an expression of and also a way to heal from trauma. In addition, to show the characters' trauma, the two films create shabby, neglected spaces in the middle of a bustling city. That narrative model has some differences with real-life cases of abandoned children, but that difference helps the film speak out a unique voice about the trauma of abandoned children.