“Nightmare is over”: Trauma and Agency in the Remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street

Rosana Ruas Machado Gomes

doi:10.1590/1982-2553202151921

Abstract

Abstract The 2010 remake of the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street focuses on the earthly abuses committed by the now confirmed pedophile Freddy Krueger. The fact that the victims of Krueger’s sexual assaults start getting murdered in their sleep is relevant to the trauma studies, as nightmares are one of the most common symptoms observed in people diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Therefore, one of the goals of this paper is to analyze the ways in which trauma is portrayed in the movie. Considering that the teenagers can only overcome Krueger — and therefore, their trauma — once they are able to witness the terrible events of their past, this work also aims at observing and discussing the trajectory that allows the protagonists to survive. In order to meet these goals, some central concepts to trauma theory are presented and discussed in relation to their portrayal in the film. The analysis shows that the main character Nancy can only defeat Krueger once she knows everything that has happened in the past and is able to have agency in the story.

Highlights

Joanne Leal (2020) highlights the role of cinema as a powerful means of communication, as films are able to speak to their audiences in multiple ways, including language, music, images, and narrative
Graeme Turner’s (1999) book Film as Social Practice focuses on the interface between cinema and communication, discussing film through a cultural studies perspective
The scholar notes that up to the end of the twentieth century, film studies tended to be largely dominated by the perspective of the aesthetic analysis, in which movies’ ability to become art through the arrangement of images and sound was the main focus. He introduces his book as breaking with such perspective, studying film as narrative, entertainment, and cultural event: “The book is intended to introduce film as social practice, and the understanding of its production and consumption, its pleasures and its meanings, is enclosed within the study of the working of culture itself” (TURNER, 1999, p. 2)

Summary

Introduction

Joanne Leal (2020) highlights the role of cinema as a powerful means of communication, as films are able to speak to their audiences in multiple ways, including language, music, images, and narrative. This work seeks to show that Nancy can only overcome Freddy — and her trauma — once she knows everything that has happened to her and is ready and able to have agency in the story.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion