A CRITICAL VIEW TO CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM IN NORA FINGSCHEIDT’S FILM “SYSTEM CRASHER”

Abstract

Today, in addition to its artistic meanings, cinema also conveys messages reflecting some problems in society. It is a well-known fact that dramatic and engaging visuals and narratives in films have a considerable effect on the audience; as a result, seeing some great movies that show the difficult lives of individuals including some societal problems can play a significant role to comprehend the society better. They help us criticise our lives, understand ourselves, and inquire about social coherence and relations. Nora Fingscheidt's film System Crasher (2019) can be considered as one of the movies of that kind. It is about a traumatised nine-year-old child whose caregivers are determined to give the troublesome Benni some foundation and prevent her uncontrollable violent outbreaks in the Child Welfare system. She is a "systemsprenger" or "system crasher," a phrase used in German social services to identify children who fail to find a home or care facility to live. Therefore, Fingscheidt's film focuses on a repetitive portrayal of Benni's transition from one treatment facility to the next: from residential care to psychotherapy, foster care, and anger management courses. It is a sequence of events that happens to be an endless circle. In this study, it is aimed to convey how Nora Fingscheidt's System Crasher reveals a critical perspective to the Child Welfare System in terms of reflections of sociology. In this context, the film is analyzed as a critique of the inadequate Child Welfare and Social Services system. As a result, more of these films with social themes should be produced in order to raise public awareness about the necessity for a better Child Welfare System to protect vulnerable children.