Cinematic Representations of Displacement: Contemporary Narratives Addressing the Refugee Crisis

Abstract

Art’s response to the significant rise of the number of refugees around the world today is a testimony to a global pressing issue. Their representations, in both factual and fictional productions, reflect a process of relocating and its impact on individuals, families, and at times entire communities creatively and aesthetically. This paper explores the aesthetic representation of displacement in contemporary cinema, a medium that emerges as a powerful dimension to expressively depict the experiences of the displaced. The study delves into the aesthetic representation of displacement narratives within the context of a global refugee crisis with a focus on two notable films, Dune (2021) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). The construction of both worlds presents a particularly well-crafted narrative that embeds elements of displacement and the displaced. To do so, the theoretical framework outlines Nelson Goodman’s theory of worldmaking arguing that components and systems of the fictional worlds of the films are modes of reference to the actual one. That is, it highlights the significance of cinema as a reflexive symbol of cultural and social structures by examining how cinematic techniques metaphorically symbolize primary world structures through secondary world ones.