Expanded Cinema and War; Trauma in Hyper-Documented Age

Abstract

This thesis investigates ways to wed Gene Youngblood’s notions of expanded cinema with the popular appeal of dramatic films whose narrative structures are driven by the conflict-crisisresolution system. By examining alternatives to conventional narratives surrounding war-torn sites of conflict, this thesis examines a series of experimental animation and kinetic and nonlinear story-driven artworks to develop an alternative grammar for a possible visual, narrative, and technical storytelling style for a future society of global peace. Drawing upon my personal history as a Bosnian animation filmmaker and having experienced first-hand the conflict as a casualty of war, these experiments seek to shed light on the imperative for simultaneously seeking a popular anti-war language while avoiding the mass appeal of conflict-driven narrative structures. I have developed a series of open-source, easily reproducible expanded cinematic experiments using everyday materials to address this issue.