Emotions and the Archive: Felix Moeller’s Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss (2008) and Malte Ludin’s 2 or 3 Things I Know About Him (2004)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article discusses the intersection of emotion and the archive in Felix Moeller’s Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss (2008) and Malte Ludin’s 2 or 3 Things I Know About Him (2004). Both films challenge the association of the archive with cognitive interpretation and analysis, highlighting its tendency to evoke primarily emotional responses. Through highly constructed interviews and a distanced stance vis-à-vis their subjects, Moeller and Ludin question the documentary status of their films. As this article suggests, both directors reveal the psychological significance of a perpetrator’s legacy on the second and third generations by creating tension between the material space of the archive and the unpredictable, emotional nature of intergenerational family memory.
Author: Catrina de Rivera
Institution: Valparaiso University
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4411107669