Cinema as a safe vessel: Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee
(2023) In Journal of Scandinavian Cinema 13(3). p.301-323- Abstract
- The article discusses strategies adopted in Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s feature-
length animated documentary Flee (2021) for crossing the cultural and
emotional distance between audiences and the refugee protagonist Amin. Focus
is on a central scene in which a group of Afghans sailing across the Baltic Sea
in the early 1990s encounters a cruise ship from Norway, the crew of which
reports the refugees to the authorities. Juxtaposing the scene with a historical
cornerstone of non-fiction animation, The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918),
and drawing on theories developed within the blue humanities, I argue that
Flee attempts to remind today’s White western audiences that their position
as ‘dry’ subjects – safely... (More) - The article discusses strategies adopted in Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s feature-
length animated documentary Flee (2021) for crossing the cultural and
emotional distance between audiences and the refugee protagonist Amin. Focus
is on a central scene in which a group of Afghans sailing across the Baltic Sea
in the early 1990s encounters a cruise ship from Norway, the crew of which
reports the refugees to the authorities. Juxtaposing the scene with a historical
cornerstone of non-fiction animation, The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918),
and drawing on theories developed within the blue humanities, I argue that
Flee attempts to remind today’s White western audiences that their position
as ‘dry’ subjects – safely elevated above sea level, socially privileged and seem-
ingly self-sufficient – is not a given. While destabilizing the targeted audiences’
assumptions of safety and encouraging (a politics of) listening, Flee seeks to
serve as a ‘safe vessel’ for Amin. It does so through the dialogic treatment of
its documentary subject and its drifting storytelling, and by offering an audio-
visual alternative to the dominant contemporary media depictions of people flee-
ing across the Mediterranean. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/521d5e27-eb08-4dfc-a69b-167f29dbfe0c
- author
- Mrozewicz, Anna LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- animated documentary, refugee representations, migration cinema, trauma in cinema, Baltic Sea, blue humanities, New Danish Cinema
- in
- Journal of Scandinavian Cinema
- volume
- 13
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 23 pages
- publisher
- Intellect Ltd.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85184677911
- ISSN
- 2042-7891
- DOI
- 10.1386/jsca_00099_1
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 521d5e27-eb08-4dfc-a69b-167f29dbfe0c
- date added to LUP
- 2024-02-12 15:41:33
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:53:04
@article{521d5e27-eb08-4dfc-a69b-167f29dbfe0c,
abstract = {{The article discusses strategies adopted in Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s feature-<br/>length animated documentary Flee (2021) for crossing the cultural and<br/>emotional distance between audiences and the refugee protagonist Amin. Focus<br/>is on a central scene in which a group of Afghans sailing across the Baltic Sea<br/>in the early 1990s encounters a cruise ship from Norway, the crew of which<br/>reports the refugees to the authorities. Juxtaposing the scene with a historical<br/>cornerstone of non-fiction animation, The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918),<br/>and drawing on theories developed within the blue humanities, I argue that<br/>Flee attempts to remind today’s White western audiences that their position<br/>as ‘dry’ subjects – safely elevated above sea level, socially privileged and seem-<br/>ingly self-sufficient – is not a given. While destabilizing the targeted audiences’<br/>assumptions of safety and encouraging (a politics of) listening, Flee seeks to<br/>serve as a ‘safe vessel’ for Amin. It does so through the dialogic treatment of<br/>its documentary subject and its drifting storytelling, and by offering an audio-<br/>visual alternative to the dominant contemporary media depictions of people flee-<br/>ing across the Mediterranean.}},
author = {{Mrozewicz, Anna}},
issn = {{2042-7891}},
keywords = {{animated documentary; refugee representations; migration cinema; trauma in cinema; Baltic Sea; blue humanities; New Danish Cinema}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{301--323}},
publisher = {{Intellect Ltd.}},
series = {{Journal of Scandinavian Cinema}},
title = {{Cinema as a safe vessel: Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jsca_00099_1}},
doi = {{10.1386/jsca_00099_1}},
volume = {{13}},
year = {{2023}},
}