A Movie (Life Overtakes Me), Refugee Children and Resigned Bodies: Resignation Syndrome or Hidden Injuries

Abstract

Moving from the question of what cinematic texts say about the mental health of refugee children, this study deals with the extent of the personal damage caused by political decisions and applied practices. It thinks about this through documentary narratives. The study chose the movie Life Overtakes Me (John Haptas ve Kristine Samuelson, 2019) with a purposeful sampling technique due to its topicality and focus on refugee children and their mental illnesses and its effort to raise awareness about the unknown. Life Overtakes Me provides a suitable ground for discussing about the trauma of being a refugee in the microcosm and its effects especially on children. The study, which aims to reveal that migration creates not only physical but also mental and biological dissolutions in families and children through Life Overtakes Me, and to make the known consequences of an unknown disease visible, is built on three levels: The concept of migration, refugee literature, and the mental health of refugee children were reviewed at the first level. At the second level, the study defined the resignation/abandonment syndrome, and at the final level, the documentary film Life Overtakes Me was analyzed. The analysis was carried out by intertextual analysis between the film narrative and the directors’ opinion of the film narrative. From the general side, the result is that this illness is triggered by the abuse/trauma that children experience in their own country and the fear of returning after getting used to the country they took refuge in. Also, illness increases with the narrowing in the definition of political refugee. Given the increase in the number of child refugees over the past ten years, the findings, which will be revealed through the film Life Overtakes Me, are considered important.

Keywords

• Immigration
• Refugee Children
• Resignation Syndrome
• Mental Health
• Life Overtakes Me

Bir Film (Life Overtakes Me), Sığınmacı Çocuklar ve Vazgeçilmiş Bedenler: Vazgeçme/Terketme Sendromu ya da Gizli Yaralar

Abstract

Sinemasal metinlerin sığınmacı çocukların ruh sağlığı üzerine ne söylediği sorusundan hareket eden bu çalışma, politik kararların ve uygulanan pratiklerin bireyselde yarattığı tahribatın boyutlarıyla ilgilenmekte; bunu da belgesel anlatıları üzerinden düşünmektedir. Belgesel sineması evrenseli içerisinden amaçlı örnekleme tekniği ile güncelliği, odağına sığınmacı çocukları ve onların ruhsal hastalıklarını konu alması ve bilinmeyene yönelik farkındalık yaratma çabası dolayısıyla Life Overtakes Me (Hayatın Tutsakları, John Haptas ve Kristine Samuelson, 2019), inceleme nesnesi olarak seçilmiştir. Film dolayımıyla görünür kılınan ve bedeni ele geçiren vazgeçme/terketme sendromu, mikro kozmosta mülteci olmanın travması ve bu travmanın çocuklar üzerindeki etkileri hakkında konuşmak için elverişli bir zemin sunmaktadır. Life Overtakes Me aracılığıyla göçün aileler ve çocuklar üzerinde sadece fiziksel değil aynı zamanda ruhsal ve biyolojik çözülmeler yarattığını ortaya koymayı ve bilinmeyen bir hastalığın bilinen sonuçlarını görünür kılmayı amaçlayan çalışma, üç düzey üzerinden kurgulanmıştır: İlk düzeyde göç kavramı, mülteci yazını ve mülteci çocukların ruh sağlığı üzerine literatür gözden geçirilmiştir. Son iki düzeyde çalışma, vazgeçme/terketme sendromunu tanımlamış ve Life Overtakes Me adlı belgesel filmi analiz etmiştir. Çözümleme, film anlatısı ve yönetmenlerin film anlatısına dair kavrayışları arasında metinlerarası analiz yapılarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Genel cepheden açığa çıkan sonuç, çocukların kendi ülkelerinde yaşadıkları taciz/travmalar ve sığındıkları ülkeye alıştıktan sonra tekrar geri dönme korkusuyla tetiklenen bu hastalık/rahatsızlığın, siyasi mülteci tanımında yaşanan daralmaya paralel arttığı yönündedir. Son on yılda çocuk sığınmacı sayısında yaşanan artış dikkate alındığında, Life Overtakes Me dolayımıyla ortaya koyulan bulguların önemli olduğu düşünülmektedir.

Keywords

• Göç
• Sığınmacı Çocuklar
• Vazgeçme/Terketme Sendromu
• Ruh Sağlığı
• Life Overtakes Me

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