FROM SUFFERING TO RESILIENCE: CHILDREN’S CHARACTERS IN WAR FILMS AND ACTION FILM AS A REFLECTION OF SURVIVAL STRATEGIES

Abstract

The article addresses the problem of the evolution and typology of child representations in global war cinema within the framework of survival strategies. The aim of the study is to analyze the evolutionary development of the depiction of child characters in world war and action cinema, to systematize their typological models, and to identify the sociocultural factors that have determined specific imagological modes of representation. The research methodology is based on a combination of systematization, typological, comparative, imagological, and content analysis methods. The scientific novelty. The relevance of this work lies in the fact that for the first time in the Ukrainian academic discourse it highlights the connection between artistic imagery in the depiction of children’s characters in war films and action films, sociocultural conditions during the creation of specific films and psychological mechanisms of adaptation of these same heroes in combat conditions in order to identify the necessary survival strategies. Understanding such an approach allows us to take a new look at the role of world cinema in shaping the perception of war over the past decades, starting from the middle of the 20th century to the present, as a complex and multidimensional phenomenon that goes beyond traditional battle narratives and reflects precisely the humanitarian and humanistic issues of children’s participation in armed conflicts. Conclusions. It is argued that cinema reveals an evolutionary diversity of child images: from passive suffering to active resilience; from isolation to adaptation or collective resistance. Child representations in cinema trace a trajectory from collective trauma to individual renewal, emphasizing the cost of war for the younger generation. It is demonstrated that the child character functions as a powerful metonymy of national trauma, an instrument of critique of the adult world, and a symbol of hope for reconstruction. Thus, the child in war cinema is not merely an artistic device but also a universal bearer of cultural memory, shaping awareness of the value of peace and the necessity of safeguarding humanity.