Date of Award
12-17-2014
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
This thesis examines the three films that constitute director Ingmar Bergman's first trilogy, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence. In the thesis I take a multidisciplinary approach to analyzing the films' treatments of language, trauma, and God. Drawing on the Old Testament and work of psychoanalysts dealing with trauma, I argue for the similarities and reciprocity between trauma and communion with God and the ways in which the three films illustrate these relationships. Each film functions on a reflexive level to criticize the tools of filmmaking--images, dialog, and narrative--and points to discordance between symbols and reality. Bringing in Jacques Lacan's model of the imaginary and symbolic orders, I analyze the treatment of language and trauma in the trilogy and the potential for recovery suggested by the end of each film. The thesis culminates by tracing the trilogy toward a new vision of God and his role in the human psyche.
Recommended Citation
Dyer, Daniel, "Sacred trauma: Language, recovery, and the face of God in Ingmar Bergman's trilogy of faith" (2014). English . 5.
https://ualaska.researchcommons.org/uaf_grad_english/5
Handle
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/4802