A photo of photos within photos within photos within photos….
When you see this, it hits you that you can't escape the manipulation. Memento is merely a Russian nesting doll, doomed to collapse in upon multiple layers of contortion and manipulation (somewhat reminiscent of Cat's Cradle right?). But perhaps more importantly, manipulation is an inescapable fact of our way of life. In college, we're told to work hard to fill those requirements, to get an internship, to to research, to get a job. When you watch TV, this company and that brand is trying to make their product look as enticing as possible just so you can go spend your money on something you probably don't need. Even your friends try to pull you this way and that, to help them with this, to do this with them. "Oh you should go out. You're smart so you don't need to study an extra hour for that exam." "Come get diner with me. You had lots of healthy food yesterday so let loose."
Don't you see? The photos within photos? The stories within stories? We can't escape it. Manipulation is an inevitable fact of life. All we are left to do is accept it.
But that can't be it. That can't be the only thing we were meant to get out of this class. Memento has more to tell us. I keep going back to one of Teddy's lines. "You wander around playing detective. Well maybe you should start investigating yourself". Maybe that's it. We've done the detective work. We've read the books that raise our awareness of manipulation. We've seen the objects in every single one of our lives that testify to a world of manipulation. Now it's time we find ourselves in this mess. Where do we find ourselves in this sea of artifacts? Will we find anything at all? I believe that we're all in there somewhere, swimming around, trying to find our way. But at the point where all the forces cancel out, at the juncture where all things meet, you will find yourself. Thus, it is up to us as individuals to choose whether we will be the mere empirical product of those forces, a simple effect of a cause, or something more, someone more, a person with memories never to be forgotten, friends you never want to let go to, and a life lived because you chose to live it that way.
The possibilities are endless as to who we will find at that center. Just remember that our eyes were opened not just to see the tempest around us, but above all, to find ourselves amidst the chaos.
I like the idea of a Russian doll comparison, we keep opening up a new layer each time only to find ourselves only a bit closer to the 'center', whatever that may be. When it seems like everything around us is a push or pull in a certain direction, I like to think that the direction we choose to go can be inward and even internal.
ReplyDeleteActually Amelia, your mentioning of the uncertainty of that "center" brings up an interesting philosophical matter. Say we accept the notion that manipulation is all around us. In fact, it is constantly at play in our lives. Our very thoughts, perceptions, feelings, conversations, are simple effects of causes, responses to external stimuli. This is a simple physiological and biological principle: the response of our body (ex: our immune system) are simple reactions of the complex machinery of our bodies to stimuli. So say we accept this notion of constant, inevitable manipulation.
ReplyDeleteIf this is true, then we can we mind our inner "self"? Or is there even a self? Is what we label as "the self" merely a response to stimuli? At the epicenter of the forces of manipulation at play, is there even a self to be found? Perhaps the response of "the self" is just the perceived effect of one force predominating over another and we are a medium for that effect. For instance, our discussion of the self surrounded by manipulation is the direct result of Janelle's conditioning of our minds to be more aware of manipulation. This conditioning is based upon the physiology of our brains and the creation of neural pathways. It may certainly feel like we are free thinkers and therefore more in touch with our inner "self", but our way of thinking is just the manifested result of Janelle's applied force.
This an interesting and obviously complex idea to entertain, but a valid one considering what this course has led us to believe.