ABC

Instead of being clueless as hell while watching Momento, I decided to try and invent my own endings to each scene; however, that only made me more confused. I am so used to having a story being told sequentially. A happens, followed by B, and finally C. ABC, it is easy to follow. In Momento; however, the story jumps from Z, then to M, then to W, and then to A. ZMWA, demands attention. I have been so conditioned to prefer movies that I have some idea of what is going to happen. There is this satisfaction that comes when a story ends in the way you anticipated, because we have expectations when we watch a film or read a book. It’s subtle, but there is this injustice we feel when a director or an author completely obliterates our expectations. As an audience, we subconsciously insert ourselves as powerful contributors to a film or novel, which is ridiculous because the only power we truly have is our decision of whether or not we participate.  It is this naïve and false sense of power that we have been manipulated into believing we have. I am a culprit. While watching Momento, I had a false sense of confidence. I believed that I could resolve each sequence of events, because I was convinced that I somehow knew more than I actually did. I was trying to find meaning in possibly meaningless scenes. Directors and authors are powerful when they deliberately expose this naivety and false sense of confidence. Vonnegut, O’brien, and Christopher Nolan, manipulate readers and audiences, and effectively reveal how we have been conditioned to believe that everything has some significance. We constantly try and make sense out of nonsense. I think that is largely due to the fact that films and novels, primarily fiction, satisfy our need for fantasy. Fiction brings light and unexpected adventure to our every day, monotonous lives.