Violent Histories and Embodied Memories: Affectivity of "The Act of Killing" and "The Look of Silence"

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the capacity of visual media to produce an affective atmosphere capable of evoking embodied memories of intergenerational experiences of historical violence. Focusing on the detailed personal narrative of an Indisch (Indo-Dutch) descendant of survivors of the 1965–1966 killings living in the Netherlands, the chapter examines how she began to confront her personal family history and their connections to 1965 only after watching The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014), documentaries by Joshua Oppenheimer et al. Dragojlovic argues that the spectator—a descendant of the 1965–1966 events—is overwhelmed by the affective atmosphere of the violent past, which n..