Post memory and cinematic affect in The Midwife
Abstract
The Second World War has proved a rich source of inspiration for fiction films worldwide. The
Finnish fiction film The Midwife (Kätilö, Antti J. Jokinen, 2015) is aimed at an international
audience with a story that takes place in the context of the Lapland War in Finland in 1944.
The film tells of a romantic relationship between a local woman and a member of the German
army, in a highly affective manner. This article argues that the film downplays elements that
might have interested the national, or local, audience, and that it privileges affect over
knowledge. To bring out the film’s transnational character, the article begins by analysing it
in the context of national, or local, and global influences and argues that the film’s decontextualised,
deterritorialised, and denationalised nature can be a result of its desire to appeal
to a wide audience; yet a set of tensions and paradoxes are identified that bring out the
complexities of the local–global nexus. The article goes on to ask whether the affectivity
emphasised in The Midwife could have been a means to produce a story that communicates
across borders. The article also explores whether affectivity can be a way to create a meaningful
connection to the past in the current era of post memory (Aleida Assmann). Analysis of
the film’s aesthetic and narrative devices is combined with cultural analysis of the contemporary
memory and media culture and its global flows.
Main Authors
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2017
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Taylor & Francis; Co-Action Publishing
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201704031865Käytä tätä linkitykseen.
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2000-4214
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2016.1273594
Language
English
Published in
Journal of Aesthetics and Culture
Citation
- Hiltunen, K., & Sääskilahti, N. (2017). Post memory and cinematic affect in The Midwife. Journal of Aesthetics and Culture, 9(1), Article 1273594. https://doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2016.1273594
Copyright© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.