Monday, April 28, 2014

Does Memento mimic our own lives?

            There was one quote in Memento that really stuck out to me. Someone was talking to Leonard and confronted him about his method of taking photos to remember past events. Leonard defended himself, and questioned whether his methods were really any less accurate than those of most humans. Basically, is recalling information based on a photograph really different from recalling information from past memories?
            In high school philosophy, we talked about “rosy retrospection,” the human tendency to recall events with more fondness than they had at the time. I think this is just one way in which we as humans manipulate ourselves through our own past memories. We have already discussed the powers of manipulation that photographs hold extensively in class. I think that there are many parallels in the way that Leonard recalls memories and the way that we all do.

            To me, this indicates that the writers of Memento may be showing us as humans the ways in which we are manipulated by our own memories through the point of view of Leonard. His tangible photographs provide us with an easy way to see Leonard’s past memories, and the ways in which they manipulate him.

2 comments:

  1. I really like your connection with "rosy retrospection" because I think that Memento definitely shows us that memory is subjective and changes over time. After reading The Things They Carried, we discussed how stories are never told the same way twice and since our memories can be told as stories, memories may morph the more they are told and remembered. We can remember things fondly or angrily, and the feelings behind that memory can be strengthened. We manipulate ourselves to think in certain ways and thus our memories are manipulated by our emotions. Leonard relies on photographs to remember things, and manipulates himself into believing certain "truths" (even though they're not all "true") like we rely on our memory to remember things, but these truths can be distorted.

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  2. I think you both make great points. I agree that both individuals with neurological disorders and healthy individuals suffer from memory deficits in one way or another. For example, today in Philosophy we talked about alzheimers' patients. Because of their condition, they suffer from long-term memory loss. As a result, their personal desires change--leaving their friends and family with the difficult decision of whether to respect the wishes of the person they knew before the onset of alzheimers or to respect the wishes of the person they know now.

    This makes me wonder if individuals affected by some kind of memory loss experience a much more amplified version of what we experience in our own lives. As you both point out, our memories are completely subjective. Our recollection of our past changes the more time passes. But more than that, it's not just our memories that change with time, it's also our values that change. Because of our experiences and life circumstances, our values are constantly shifting. Leonard certainly doesn't value the exact same things he did before his amnesia. All of this leads me to believe that memory manipulation can and does occur in everyone, not only influencing how we view our past but also influencing our current values and personal identity.

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