Natural Disaster and Trauma

Abstract

This chapter discusses how natural disaster (the 2018 Wenchuan earthquake) and the consequent traumatised memories have influenced cinematic representations of Chengdu and its adjacent areas. Feature films and documentaries proliferated after the earthquake, and ruins, heavy loss of life and local survivors’ troubled situations wrought by the disaster have dominated cinematic modern Chengdu. Moreover, with the catastrophic disaster’s ability of erasing physical spaces and producing traumatised experiences and memories, post-earthquake cinematic Chengdu becomes an optimal space for emotional remedy and contemplation on existence. In urban feature Buddha Mountain [Guanyin shan] (Li Yu, 2011), the ruins wrought by the earthquake symbolise the interior wasteland inhabited by film characters, and mirror the disintegration of traditional family units and the consequent psychological vacuum in modern families. Characters in the film are shown as drifters, driven from place to place because of the trend of demolition and construction, and impacted by accidents, mobility and imposed spatial oppression associated with urban spaces.