This study uses “Re-presentation” as its main concept. In the field of films about post-war trauma, it compares and analyzes the similarities and differences in the chronotopic modes and ways of representation in traditional cinema and virtual rea...
This study uses “Re-presentation” as its main concept. In the field of films about post-war trauma, it compares and analyzes the similarities and differences in the chronotopic modes and ways of representation in traditional cinema and virtual reality cinema (VR cinema). By doing this, it tries to show how different media change the way post-war traumatic memory, historical ethics, and ideological messages are rebuilt through audiovisual narrative.
When moving from 2D media to VR media, the ways in which post-war trauma is audiovisually “represented” have changed greatly. Based on a statistical comparison of the thematic distribution of award-winning VR cinema, this study finds that works with themes of “post-war trauma” make up a much larger share of winners in VR than in 2D cinema, far more than the portion of the same theme in 2D films. This result shows that VR has become an important place for new trauma narratives in post-war contexts. With this in mind, and in response to the core questions of “representing post-war trauma” in today’s media shift, the study compares the spatial construction, narrative logic, and directorial strategies of 2D and VR cinemas that deal with post-war trauma. Its aim is to find out how changes in media technology reshape the ways traumatic experience is shown, how historical memory is built, and how ideology is expressed.
In terms of research objects, this article focuses on “post-war trauma-themed films.” These films take social and individual trauma after the end of war as their main topic. They bring forward and reflect on remaining post-war problems such as sexual violence, political persecution and ideological control, refugee migration, colonial histories, genocide, and humanitarian disasters. The sample selection follows three principles: (1) the 2D and VR cinemas together cover the main topics of the current post-war trauma context; (2) their chronotopic ways of “representation” have model value; (3) the two media samples are chosen based on a principle of symmetry. Because of this, on the 2D side the study selects Spirits’ Homecoming (2016), Detention (2019), and Schindler’s List (1993); on the VR side it selects Dongducheon (2017), The Key (2019), and The Man Who Couldn’t Leave (2022). These six works come from different regions and historical backgrounds and, with attention to the use of 3DoF and 6DoF technologies in VR, show the thematic diversity of post-war trauma.
Methodologically, this article uses a Qualitative Comparative Method to analyze and compare the mechanisms of “representation” in 2D and VR post-war trauma films. Theoretically, it uses Gabriel Zoran’s Narrative Space Theory as its main framework. It divides films in these two media into three layers—Topographic, Chronotopic, and Textual. And then it combines David Bordwell’s theory of the Classical Hollywood Narrative with Henry Jenkins’s theory of the Interactive Narrative to compare the narrative modes of both media. Through cross-media and cross-layer comparisons, the analysis shows how different media create differences in the “content of representation” for space, event, and character when showing post-war trauma. It also shows how each medium presents different mechanisms in the “modes of representation” through transition, signs, and audience participation. In the end, it summarizes how “ideology” is encoded differently, as well as the possible future directions of post-war trauma films, when shifting from 2D to VR.
The main body of the article looks at the differences in the content and modes of chronotopic “representation” between 2D and VR post-war trauma films. First, in terms of the content of representation, 2D cinema puts stress on a realist rebuilding of historical sites. And in this way it shows the factual roots of “post-war trauma.” The representation of post-war space is mainly built through a contrast between oppression and protection. Its boundaries are mostly closed but open symbolically at the ending or at key moments. And it shows the idea that “post-war trauma” can be healed under the guidance of the nation or justice. In representing events, 2D cinema follows a clear linear causal chain and a sense of ethical closure. The protagonist reaches moral growth at the end. And the people who cause war or oppression usually face a bad end. In representing characters, relationships normally follow a top-down conflict model of “protagonist pushing forward—antagonist blocking—supporting-role helping.” The protagonist—who directly experiences post-war trauma—drives the story with strong subjectivity. Through this model, films give audiences, through heroic figures, a spirit of fighting against wartime violence and post-war oppression. And they also show an ethical direction that supports rebuilding national memory and a belief in heroic salvation. In this structure, “trauma” works not only as a trigger for personal growth and heroic change. But it is also encoded in collective memory as a main path of “recovery” and “reconstruction.” And it stresses that healing and historical reconciliation are reached through heroic sacrifice and national guidance.
By contrast, VR cinema shows stronger expressionist and symbolist features when it represents space. It often builds trauma spaces that reflect the inner mind, allowing viewers to enter the inner world of people who have experienced post-war trauma. In event representation, 3DoF VR still keeps a director-led linear story path, but it depends on the viewer’s own perception and small acts of interaction to connect different pieces of information. As an immersed witness, the viewer understands more clearly that a trauma event is not a single, fixed historical story. Instead, it slowly appears through perceptual rebuilding and personal experience, which shows the broken and delayed nature of trauma. At the same time, 6DoF VR, through its interaction systems, builds a more non-linear and open “generative time.” It lets viewers change, to some degree, the order in which events appear, so each viewer’s understanding and experience of trauma becomes more personal and more different from others. In character representation, the 3DoF VR protagonist is still someone who directly suffers post-war trauma, but their narrative agency is greatly reduced. They are mostly passive, often unable to resist or forced into complete silence. In 6DoF VR, the protagonist becomes the “viewer” themselves, who directly goes through trauma events inside the virtual world with a certain level of freedom. Yet because of current technical limits, even though viewers can join the story, they still cannot change the ending. This setup, in some ways, makes the feeling of powerlessness inside traumatic memory even stronger. As a result, the character-relation structure of VR films changes into a model of “protagonist’s passive reception—antagonist’s oppression—supporting roles’ guidance—viewer’s witnessing/participation,” with the viewer becoming part of the narrative as a co-witness or participant in the trauma story.
In terms of modes of representation, directors of 2D post-war trauma films make sure of clear thematic “representation” through continuity editing and a stable system of signs. 2D cinema usually uses a linear narrative structure. And it uses camera blocking, sound design, and music to guide the viewer’s gaze and emotional reaction. Through these visual and sound signs, directors show “post-war trauma” as a concrete historical experience. At the same time, viewers are placed as outside observers. And they follow the path set by the director to understand the emotional and ethical meanings of trauma. Because of this, viewers of 2D post-war trauma films are often led to accept values and ethical responses that are already set in advance. And these responses are closely connected to moral justice in national narratives or ethnic memories. In this setting, viewers are guided to accept the idea that trauma can be healed. And it forms an ideal picture of post-war recovery through the victory of heroic figures or the nation.
In contrast, VR post-war trauma films achieve representation by shifting to a “logic of spatial perception.” They use immersive spaces, interaction systems, and environmental signs to guide the viewer’s attention and feelings. And they create trauma experiences that are dynamic and generative. In the move from 3DoF to 6DoF, VR cinema slowly breaks away from the director-led linear storytelling found in 2D cinema. Viewers are no longer only passive observers. But they join in experiencing and building traumatic events through the movement of their virtual bodies and through interactions with the environment. In this way, the complex and non-linear nature of trauma is felt more directly and clearly. Also, VR’s interaction systems allow each viewer’s trauma experience to appear in a different way. Viewers not only witness the happening and result of trauma. But they also respond to its “personalization and differentiation” by taking part through their own actions and choices. This method moves the audiovisual “representation” of post-war trauma away from fixed national narratives and moral lessons. And it places more focus on the inner worlds of victims. It turns viewers into “co-witnesses” of traumatic time. Through this, viewers gain deeper understanding of ongoing post-war issues through bodily participation and perception.
At the same time, using VR as the main medium, this study also looks at future directions for post-war trauma-themed films. Future works can make use of VR’s natural strengths of “immersion” and “interaction” to deepen the emotional experience and ethical reflection of “post-war trauma.” More concretely, by aiming for (1) better spatial detail, (2) building multiple narrative paths, (3) strengthening affective interaction systems, and (4) improving perceptual interaction techniques, viewers can feel the roots and the still-unfinished nature of post-war trauma more fully. In future VR media, viewers will not understand trauma only through indirect observation. But they will understand it through direct experience and personal reflection inside virtual space. This supports a change from “witnessing” to “participation.” And it shows a larger shift in today’s post-war narratives—from a nation-centered historical viewpoint to a more personalized, decentralized, and generative way of giving testimony about trauma.
Finally, by reorganizing the three layers of Topographic–Chronotopic–Textual, the article shows that, in the shift from 2D to VR, the ideological path of post-war trauma-themed cinema has moved from heroism and a salvational logic that supports the “national narrative” toward logics based on personal experience and survival that center on the “trauma narrative.” In 2D media, post-war trauma films usually develop through a linear causal chain and ethical closure, showing trauma as part of collective historical memory within a fixed narrative form. Viewers act as indirect observers who stand outside the story like judges, evaluating and emotionally reacting to post-war trauma. This model connects the “representation” of trauma to national or ethnic collective memory and stresses healing and ethical repair through heroic roles or collective recovery. In this kind of narrative structure, post-war trauma is shown as a controllable historical event; the viewer’s emotional and ethical responses are guided by the director toward the moral justice of the nation or society, leading to a closed, finished resolution of trauma.
By contrast, VR media weaken the control of grand narratives and put more focus on personal experience and testimony of trauma. The “representation” of post-war trauma thus changes from telling outside historical events to showing personal psychology and emotion. As the media form changes, the design of immersive spaces and interaction systems also changes the viewer’s ethical position in a deep way: viewers not only give immersive witness to how trauma begins, but also take part with empathy as co-experiencers and participants in traumatic events. Because of this, the “represented” post-war trauma in VR cinema no longer appears as historical remains or a social–moral task, but as a personal, unfinished, and highly varied psychological experience. This shows the shift of post-war narratives from a “centralized grand narrative of national ethics” to a “decentered, generative narrative of trauma ethics.”