https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1si1.026
Listening as Recognition: Power, Trauma, and Affective Orientation in Baby Reindeer
Dr Ashwathi
Assistant Professor
Department of Languages-English Area
JAIN (Deemed- to- be) University, Bangalore
Abstract: Trauma does not end with the moment of violence; it persists by reorganizing how individuals orient themselves toward recognition, intimacy, and authority. This paper examines the representation of trauma and relational attachment in the Netflix series Baby Reindeer (2024), arguing that the narrative depicts sexual trauma not as a singular past event but as an ongoing structure shaping the protagonist’s perception, memory, desires, and relationships. Drawing on Cathy Caruth’s theory of trauma as belated and fragmented experience, Judith Herman’s analysis of trauma within unequal power relations, and Sara Ahmed’s concept of affective orientation, the paper explores how trauma resurfaces through disrupted narrative temporality, coercive authority structures, and the protagonist’s search for recognition. The series gradually reveals the protagonist’s sexual abuse through fragmented recollections and delayed recognition, reflecting Caruth’s formulation of trauma as an experience that returns through repetition and narrative disruption (Caruth 1996). Simultaneously, the abusive relationship between the protagonist and his mentor exemplifies Herman’s argument that sexual violence often occurs within institutional and interpersonal power asymmetries that constrain resistance (Herman 1992). Building on these frameworks, Ahmed’s notion of orientation helps explain how trauma reorganizes affective attachments, directing the protagonist toward relationships that promise emotional recognition and attentive listening, even when such attachments remain unstable or harmful (Ahmed 2006). Through close textual analysis, the paper argues that Baby Reindeer constructs trauma as a relational and affective condition shaping the protagonist’s orientation toward intimacy, authority, and recognition, contributing to discussions on the representation of sexual violence in contemporary queer streaming narratives.
Keywords: trauma representation, sexual violence, affective orientation, power, disrupted narratives
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