The joy of forgetting

Date
2011
Authors
Veitl, Veronika
Supervisor
Hughes, David
Perkins, Margaret
Item type
Thesis
Degree name
Master of Communication Studies
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Auckland University of Technology
Abstract

`The Joy of Forgetting’ is a 90-minute psychodrama involving themes of perception; of the secret ‘worlds’, the flights of fancy and darkest depths of a child’s imagination. It centers on Melanie who has buried the memory of a traumatic childhood event when several of her friends are thought to have been abducted. This incident, on a fairground in a small town in Germany, irrevocably affected her relationship with her father, Rubi, a fairground attendant who became the prime suspect in their disappearance. In her middle age, accompanied by long term family friend Bassi, Melanie revisits the fairground - and remembers herself. The screenplay depicts her memory of herself as 10 year old Hannah, who attempted to lead her father to where she thought her friends were hiding from their parents. In this way Melanie has used Hannah to cope with the unthinkable. However, as years have passed, Melanie has realized, in protecting (forgetting) this world she is, at least, partly responsible for the ensuing social/personal alienation of her father. At another level, in the psychodramatic genre, the screenplay challenges viewer engagement in a non-linear kaleidoscopic representation of the ‘melt-down’ of a child-adult rationalization of a trauma in a way that attempts to work beyond the contemporary semiotic cliché. Thus, the attempt is to position the screenplay at the periphery of mainstream cinema and to address mature audiences. Ultimately Melanie’s reality can but remain within Melanie.

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Keywords
Screenplay , Script , Feature film
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