Time Travel, Trauma and The Futility of Revenge in Looper (2012)

This chapter begins by observing that the increased production and popularity of a particular subset of time travel narratives, referred to here as ‘time travel rescue narratives’, can be interpreted as a distinctly conservative response to the immediate preoccupations of the twenty-first century, specifically the events of September 11, 2001. The subsequent focus on Looper – a time travel narrative written and directed by Rian Johnson – considers the film in relation to broader cultural and political changes associated with processing the events of 9/11. Through a focus on Looper’s plot, casting, and characters, I argue that the film offers a critical commentary on responses to cultural trauma by splitting our identification between two ostensibly ideologically opposed protagonists.