Tropes and Cliches

Generational Trauma

What the fuck is Generational Trauma and how/why is it a trope? Ask and ye shall know.

So generational trauma is a relatively new area of study in psychology. The term was first used by Vivian M. Rakoff ( a Canadian psychatrist) to describe the large number of descendants of Holocaust survivors seeking mental help. And it being documented among those who are descendants of enslaved Africans, indigenous people, war refugees and survivors, and many other groups. And there are people denying it, despite seeing it in the media they consume.

Let's look at Avatar the Last Airbender. By the start of the show, the war has been going on for 100 years. Sokka, Katara, and Aang go to a Fire Nation festival and all assume a performer was about to hurt Katara, despite having the situation under control. We see first hand that trauma. Katara was the last water bender in the South Pole due to the fact that after the air nomads were wiped out, they went to the South Pole and rounded up water benders until Hama escaped to which they responded with straight up killing them( which lead to the death of Sokka and Katara's mother). Hama pass her trauma to Katara by teaching her blood bending.

When the Legend of Korra came out, I was surprised the writers didn't try to touch on that, but had no problem with murder-suicide. The show had the opportunity to talk about the colonies( and yes I'm aware they did in the tie in comics) and the lasting animosity towards the Fire Nation. I was surprised everyone just moved on and didn't make any snide remarks towards fire benders because of the war. The displacement, refugees, they had every chance to talk about, or at least squeeze in a " There's still people 70 years after the end of the war that hate fire benders for one reason or another."

Disney's Encanto is, personally, the best example of Generational Trauma and moving on from it. Alma aka Abuela Madrigal witnessed her husband being killed, and from that was born the magic of the Madrigal. And this is on top of the fact the triplets were possibly less than a week old when they had to flee. So between postpartum hormones and witnessing that, Alma became overbearing ( to put it lightly). The triplets all have their issues due to their powers. Julietta( probably the least traumatized) has the ability to heal you with a snack, now gets to play doctor, Pepa mood controls the weather so imagine being mad, but you can't be mad because you'll cause a hurricane. And Bruno can see into the future, but like most messengers he's shot. Moving to Mirabel's generation: Camilo is only useful when he's someone else, Luisa never had a break in her life, Isabela( and I would like to apologize ahead of time if any names are changed, autocorrect) is forced into the Golden Child role, Dolores is probably overstimulated, Mirabel has no gift and is essentially the Scapegoat Child ( which is really cool dynamic in writing itself. I'll do a chapter later) and the only one that wasn't traumatize was Antonio( outside of the pressure of the gift ceremony because he's at least 10 years younger than his siblings and cousins). Now you should really just watch the movie yourself to see the impact, but there's a seen where Mirabel sees what happened and what created the Encanto, understanding why Alma was so hard on the family, but never really forgave her. Like I can do an entire chapter on forgiveness tropes, but all in all it's the perfect story.

And the thing is, there are many people that went through similar things. Slavery, civil wars, colonization, famine, etc.

Imagine trying to swim in a pool because it's hot outside only for chemicals to be poured into the pool, scaring you. Now you have scars and your kids find out where it's from, now they don't want to swim. Imagine being take from your home, and have your culture beaten out of you, only for you to return home and you can't understand most of your relatives.
Generational trauma as a trope is something of a storytelling tool, but it doesn't have to be the main theme of the story. Just a part of it. Many writers use it as a tool to share their experiences through the stories they tell.

"Yeah, my main character is weird as hell because as a kid, I was told to act a certain way. It wasn't until I was older that I realize I was autistic, so I used it as a way to share that. And it turns out my grandmother on my dad's side is also autistic but because of the generation she was born in she had to learn sooner how to not only mask it but also navigate the world as a WOC...."

Or even "This is just a story of how I was just reconnecting with my heritage after we had to stop in order to be able assimilate into the culture around us."

It doesn't have to be just trauma on top of trauma. It can be a journey to restore the magic lost to the ages. A coming of age story leading to adulthood. A story about dragons..DRAGONS!!!!!!!!