In the movie, Leonard has to deal with a severe case of short-term memory loss that inhibits him from remember in people places and events that happened hours to minutes ago. Despite this type disability, Leonard still attempts to track down his wife's murderer in order to get his revenge. The biggest point that makes this story unique to the other stories read this year is the that we, as the audience, have the intellectual high point on Leonard. Because of his disability we are able to realize and remember the things that he can not. This allow us to have an intellectual advantage on the character at whatever point in the movie. We are able to see the manipulation that Leonard is subject to through all the characters that he comes into contact with, but doesn't remember. This makes us believe that we are in control of the manipulation, that we can see and recognize it because we are not the "weakest" person who is thus being targeted. This is where we fail to truly see the real manipulation. We are so caught up in the character that we forget the larger force that really holds the power of manipulation over Leonard and the audience. The director, writer, editor and others are the true manipulators in this situation. Being able to show us what they want to from Leonard's past, in the way that they do it, allows them to put us (the audience) in a situation somewhat similar to Leonard's. We are at their control, at their manipulation.
So even through a text that seems to promise power to the audience over the character, we are still misguided, in that we don't at first see the manipulation that is occurring all around us.
I could not agree more.
ReplyDeleteIn this class I feel like one of the most important lessons we've been taught is how essential it is to be aware as possible of the manipulations placed upon us. Certainly that seemed to be what the Mediated Artifact discussion was about. When we take things for granted and fail to think about the implications of slogans, images and wording, we give up some of the power that we might possibly have over our own thoughts.
In this case, the privileged position over Leonard in which the movie places the viewer draws the viewer's focus from the way they themselves do not have information. Recognizing that we do not know answers does not suddenly give such answers to us; Failing to recognize that we do not know answers, however, allows our perceptions to be guided without protest to certain conclusions with a false clue here and there.
For entertainment value, sometimes viewers like setting themselves up to be tricked in such a way. In our daily world, however, it it more of a cautionary tale... "Do not get cocky about your sense of control."
But aren't you reminded of the director's control and manipulation whenever the scene changes from black and white to color? Or in the beginning sequence when things are reversed? I get caught up in the complexity of the plot and the rush from watching actors perform with intensity, and in those moments, I do forget that it's a movie, that it's all fictional. The use of camera angles and editing may add another dimension to the plot and aesthetics, but they also are intrusive reminders that we are being manipulated.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, since Christopher Nolan was inspired and used his brother, Jonathon Nolan's short story, "Momento Mori," as the basis of the movie, I wonder who is more responsible for the manipulation.
If you're curious, "Momento Mori" is available online, but I'm not going to read it or link it until we finish the film.
I really like this idea of a sort of a “knowledge hierarchy” based on manipulation. Leonard does seem to be at the bottom, knowing very little about his own current life, especially the possibility that others can manipulate facts he may think he has. As Kurt said, as viewers of the movie, we seem to be towards the bottom, but we may be even lower than we initially thought. Yes, we’re still above Leonard in this hierarchy in that we can remember other characters and the story line, but like Leonard, we have very little sense of the past. The way the film is presented, the audience has no sense of the past, as we are given snapshot scenes in a backward order. We know from previous class discussions that the past influences the present, so as viewers with no sense of past events, we have trouble fully understanding the implications of the present. Like the second person point of view in Aura, or the first person in Kindred, the writer and producers have manipulated us in such a way that we can easily identify with the main character due to this displaced sense of time.
ReplyDeleteSo, as the original post and comments have said, there is higher level of knowledge that comes from the writers and producers. This knowledge allows them to manipulate the audience, to emphasize certain parts of the film, such as the black and white or color scenes that Sabrina mentioned. But another thing we must consider: aren’t the writers and filmmakers being manipulated too? Sabrina mentioned the origin of the movie’s storyline, but doesn’t an audience manipulate filmmakers as well? Filmmaking is an industry, and just like any other industry, they seek profits. The way they become financially successful is by the popularity of movies. Therefore, to decide whether a film is worth producing or not, people in this industry must analyze target audience. Will people go see it? Will they enjoy it? In this way, as viewers, we have the power to manipulate filmmakers as well.
So this track of manipulations is not as linear or symmetrical as we might expect. Instead, it seems messy and sometimes unclear. We know that everyone manipulates everyone else, both within the story and out permanent physical reality. The extent to which we recognize all of the intertwined manipulations can influence what we retain from films such as Memento.