LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! MOVIE POSTERS HELP CHILDREN COPE
Some are superheroes, princesses or fairies. Others are action heroes, basketball players or simply themselves.
All, however, are stars of movie posters they are making during a series of cancer support groups offered by Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.
“They are expressing themselves in the movie posters – how the characters looks and what props they’ll use. The younger children often use magical wands and tiaras, while the angry teenage boys used guns and knives. Some brandish lasers and swords, trying to kill the cancer,” said Pauline King, a registered nurse and director of Healing Journey for Children at the OSU James Cancer Hospital.
Children ages 3 to 18 who are coping with the serious illness or death of a loved one from cancer often find comfort through the support groups that help children from the point of diagnosis of a loved one through to three years post death, King said.
Youngsters often don’t have the emotional skills necessary for coping with the loss of a loved one, which is why such support groups are so important for the emotional well being of the entire family, according to King.
As part of the support group, each child sketches a movie poster, complete with the name of their fictional movie, story line, characters and opening date (generally the child’s birthday). Storylines often revolve around hating the cancer and loving their families, King said.
“These aren’t things children would innately say, but through this process, they communicate their feelings,” King said. “This is a form of art therapy that pulls out of children things that you wouldn’t necessarily hear from them.”
Themes and visuals of the posters vary depending on the ages of the children making them, King said. Younger children often dress up as superheroes, princesses or fairies, and usually include photographs of their parents. Teenagers often portray themselves or action heroes, usually without their parents.
“In a sense, these movie posters will help immortalize them,” King said. “When they grow up, they can say, ‘I am an amazing human being, because look how little I was when this happened to me, and yet I got through it. I am a victor, not a victim.’ Children who lose a loved a one must grieve throughout their entire lives.”
King collaborated with a local camera shop employee to shoot digital photographs of the children and create the one-of-a-kind computer-designed and generated posters. Each child receives a framed, full-sized movie poster as a keepsake.
“These movie posters allow the children to portray themselves as the heroes and superstars they really are,” King said. “This is an art form the children can really relate to, and the posters help the children process their grief in a very personal way.”
King said she is unaware of any other children’s cancer grief programs that utilize movie posters to help children cope.
For more information, contact The JamesLine at 614-293-5066.
