Intriguing

After watching the first part of Memento, I found one essential manipulative technique that the director used throughout most of the movie. As we know, the protagonist of the movie Leonard Shelby has a type of amnesia that doesn’t allow him to have any short-term memory. Throughout the movie we learn scene-by-scene backwards of what had happened. By doing so, the director manipulates the viewers to think one thing will happen but something else happens. For example, from what we have watched so far, it seemed that John Gammel is the murder of Leonard’s wife. However, we are not sure at this point if he really is the culprit of the crime. This is because, at this point, the characters in the movie have mentioned parts where Leonard might be making some assumptions that are incorrect due to his memory loss. In doing so, I now have second thoughts on John G being the actual murder of his wife. However at the same time, we are not sure who Teddy really is and why he lied to Leonard about his name. He could in fact be the murder and continues to be by Leonard’s side to try and make sure that he doesn’t remember who murdered his wife. Then comes the thought that if John G or Teddy is really the murder, why wouldn’t he kill Leonard as well and save the trouble of having to make sure he doesn’t remember. After watching the movie, I began to think about the mediaTED artifacts and associated these movies as being one of them. Quite often in movies, the director tries to have the audience think that one course of action will happen making it very predictable. However when the time comes, they twist the plot so that the audience is amazed at what actually happens.

Chaos: a vent

    This past weekend I was in Baltimore, and since my mom knew that I had some free time Saturday night, she recommended me and my friend Ben go to the Orioles game. We decided that it was too much work (were pretty lazy people and I had to be free at 10 PM, so it wasn't something we were particularly motivated to do), and it turns out we definitely made the right decision.
     For those of you that don't know, it was outside the Orioles' stadium on Saturday night that the week of protests over the death of Freddie Gray in the hands of Baltimore Police finally turned violent, leading the city to go to, to put it lightly, complete shit. Cars, stores, and homes have been set on fire, police officers have been hospitalized, and the National Guard has been called in.
     I'm not sure what my opinions are on who is in the wrong; my base instinct is that the police officers whose violence led to a young man's death and the opportunists that took a peaceful, powerful protest and turned it into personal gain at the detriment of their own neighborhoods are two good places to start.
     Several people very close to me are in the city right now, as crowds once again are taking the streets despite a curfew, and its definitely a situation that concerns me. I understand there are serious tensions in the city and there are legitimate reasons for anger on both sides, so the main reason for this post is to just get all of these thoughts out of my head and down onto the page.

Dis(at)tractions

I was going to write my blog post about Memento, because so far the movie has me completely stumped. However, while I was perusing the other post that have been made so far, I read Conor’s post. What struck me was the use of two different colors for the text throughout the post. The change from the red to blue brought my attention directly to the final line, written in a color different from every other sentence. In fact, I read that sentence first and was forced to backtrack in order to understand the significance of the last sentence.

This experience reminded me of something else that I find myself constantly guilty of. In various articles or posts throughout the internet you can find the abbreviation TL;DR appended to the end of particularly long posts. The abbreviation stands for “too long; didn’t read” and what follows those four letters is usually a summary of whatever the author had to write. The summary is usually separated, and the all-caps abbreviation attention-drawing. While reading this summary saves time (and thus, I usually do), there is a loss of comprehension that I don’t usually consider. This action probably ends up making me even less informed, however, than if I had missed the post in the first place. Rather than reading all of the information and evidence provided, I skip to the conclusion and make my own decision based on the limited information included in the brief summary. However, Conor’s post has really brought to my attention how much is truly lost in going only with the concluding line, even if it is the most eye-catching.

Notes, Memory and Trust

I really enjoy the movie Memento so far. The layers and complexity draw you in and keep you very attentive. In my neuroscience class we just learned about anterograde amnesia and it was really interesting to see this play out in the movie. The movie made me think about what I would do if I ever had amnesia and which amnesia I would prefer: retrograde or anterograde amnesia. I wouldn't want to forget all my memories from the past, all the people I've met and all the places I have visited, but it would also be extremely difficult to live everyday not being able to remember anything.

In my everyday life, I write a very detailed schedule. I even write in what time I will wake up and work out or get lunch if I am very busy. I like to write everything down because with so much going on every day I sometimes forget to go to work or post a blog for example. I also cross everything off when I am finished. Seeing Leonard write notes in Memento made me realize how easy it is for someone to forge his writing or take away his notes. It is also very possible to forget that the notes you made were incorrect. Since I cross out all my notes when I am finished, someone could easily cross off many things without me knowing. I also think that although a tattoo is permanent and no one could remove the note, it is too risky with the possibility of tattooing false information.

Trust is a big issue in Memento. I am a very gullible person so I would be easily fooled or tricked into believing something that I did. Sometimes I cannot even trust my own memory. Although a bit unrelated, I sometimes don't remember the difference between reality and my dreams. Sometimes I think I talked to someone, but it had been in one of my dreams. Memory is so interesting because although it has so many underlying neuronal mechanisms it can also be manipulated by the environment, people and yourself.

I also really like the format of the movie and it would be interesting to see the different effect it would have if we saw all the scenes in the order of which they occurred.

Manipulation inside and out

I decided to skim through the Memento Wikipedia page before writing my blog post this week. I was curious as to how they shot the film. I discovered that Guy Pearce (Leonard), Joey Pantoliano (Teddy), and Carrie-Anne Moss (Natalie) only shot together on the first day of the 25-day shooting. It had not occurred to me until reading this that there really are not that many scenes with Leonard and Teddy, and Leonard and Natalie. Even so, Christopher Nolan was able to craft a thrilling and compelling first half of a film, and I expect the second half to continue the same way. His writing and editing manipulate the viewer to think much more footage was shot that actually was. Nolan is able to stretch a few scenes into a full-length film (at least for the first half). A fraction of the movie is interactions between the three main characters. Otherwise it has mostly been the scenes of Leonard on the phone. The nonlinear plotline manipulates us into thinking there is more happening than there actually is.

Frustrated

Today I was examined by a doctor.  My right knee was examined because I had a second knee surgery in two years for a torn lateral meniscus.  As of late I have been participating in dynamic fitness as a “requirement” for the football team.  Now my knee hurts, and I feel like I have done a full circle back to being injured.  I saw the doctor who operated on my knee twice.  He prescribed me a cortisone shot and demanded I do not participate in such strenuous athletic movements.  In other words, I am not allowed to workout with my team.

I am frustrated by this.  I am frustrated because my knee was not this sore last year after rehabbing even more this time.  I’ve rehabbed and rehabbed and rehabbed but I cannot shake this soreness and these knee problems.  I feel like after working to get back and the precision of such a surgery should warrant a healthy return, but I guess not.  I am frustrated that I felt the need to return to such athletic workouts when my knee physically was not ready to return.  I should not feel obliged to push my limits and risk my health, and my future.   I am frustrated that I am put in this scenario because I risked my physical health for a game, my team and my coaches, and then I am pressured to return to full health when I am not ready to.  This is Hamilton football.  I am not ever going to be a professional athlete.  I understand I am expected to compete at a relatively high level, but I cannot force my body to heal.  Now, I am left contemplating at what I could’ve done differently to avoid issues, and still play the game I love.

Incoherent Thoughts

I read Memento a few years ago in English class, but like a lot of things I read in high school, I forgot a lot about the plot. All I remembered was that I really liked it and it was really weird, in a good way, and that I was shocked by the ending. But I don't remember what the ending is, and it's driving me crazy, but I don't want to remember because I want the same surprise I got from the first time I read it.    Usually, people watch movies when they don't want to think much, and they just want to sit back and relax. But this movie requires you to be extremely attentive to every detail and to every flashback that occurs. Isn't that how movies should be though? So much time, money, and work goes into making a movie; it should give the audience something to think about. It should test them. What's the point in watching movies that are predictable? Why sit through those two hours when you know exactly going to end? Memento is definitely not one of those movies, and I'm excited to find out how it all resolves... again.

Justgirlythings

Lenny is a self-made man. Lenny reinvents himself by the minutes. Lenny lives in the moment. Lenny makes decisions and moves forward. Lenny participates in the worldwide movement of taking polaroid photos wherever he goes.

And yet how is it that Nolan could make all these tumblr-worthy, #justgirlythings qualities seem so dark-humorous, violent and claustrophobic (e.g the almost epilepsy-inducing flashbacks of a suffocating woman) ? How is it that the struggle of the main character as he copes with his psychological condition and the obvious emotional distress satirically different from, say, that of Joel from Eternal Sunshine of A Spotless Mind? Both men are made vulnerable by an incident related to their significant other. Both went through deliberate, self-manipulative courses of actions to safe-guard their emotional well-beings. Their choices are different, yes, but that alone isn’t enough to constitute the drastic tonal differences between each plot. To address the difference in artistic and creative signatures isn’t exactly any better either, unless we can figure out the reasons behind this particular case of differentiation, this representative of hundreds of other endeavours attempting to expose filmic audience of hundreds of biased and subjective considerations of mental health problems. Admittedly, a part of me thinks it’s useless to devote fully to investigate these films from this vantage point, cause let’s face it, how are the films any different from the countless commercials that ruin your Hulu experience by telling you to ask your doctor about pills and drugs to help combat your mental health? God damn it binging Blackadder doesn’t mean I’m a suicidal psychopath we cool?

In any event, to finish off this rather cynical rant, the only difference I see is they have bigger budgets and directors who happen to be better hypnotists than most. So rage against the machine with me cause we’re not letting that kickass DNA-splicing storytelling mechanics that obviously refers to Lenny’s cognitive condition blind us from the fact that it isn’t just Lenny that is self-manipulating himself. Sorry Conor I had to.

The other part of me, though, is still on the fence. It has been awhile since I last saw this film. So I need to be more observant this time (and also need to rewatch Jim Carrey again) before I could make any more arguments and back them up.

Mind's Manipulation

The psychological issues of the main character in Memento is an interesting lens to look at manipulation through. Leonard’s short term memory loss manipulates him into being forced to trust everything he is told, having no memories to use to question them. This opens doors for further manipulation of people taking advantage of his condition (like when he was charged for two rooms instead of one). His condition does not only open doors for manipulation, it also eliminates them.  Memory is itself manipulation. In my psych class we learned about perception, processing and memory and learned that memory is often unreliable. When people perceive things, they rarely process and remember everything they see. When certain information is missing in our memory we fill in the blanks using prior knowledge and experience. This leads to false memories, even when the person in question believes that its the truth. False memories manipulate and mislead people, including the person misremembering. This has real life consequences including false imprisonment from unreliable eye-witness testimonies. The human conscious is not reliable and is constantly manipulating while also manipulated. Leonard’s absence of new manipulative memories and use of facts through notes and tattoos leads him to solve his case. Although its certainly easier to follow a case with a working memory, Leonard was able to find his wife’s killer successfully from facts, notes and deduction, bypassing mind’s manipulation.

Truth, Lies, and Movies

I liked the way that Momento was filmed because it seems to trick you. You constantly feel like something is being hidden from you and that Leonard knows more than you, when really he knows nothing. You have no idea why he’s never supposed to pick up the phone, but neither does he. By showing the movie in reverse, the audience is put in the same position as Leonard. Neither of you know why you’re there or what’s about to happen. You are both forced to trust the tattoos and notes. I find it similar to Aura where it makes me feel as though I’m experiencing what’s happening as opposed to watching it. We end up being manipulated just as Leonard is. The little notes give us hints as to what people are like. For example the notes that says not to trust Teddy immediately makes us not like him. The audience doesn’t trust him even though there is no evidence of why we shouldn’t. We don’t know if this could have been false information because our main character has no idea either. We are manipulated into liking and trusting Natalie, and later we find out Leonard has been manipulated by her. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point things change again, and she went back to being trusted. I also wouldn’t be surprised if she was using Leonard to kill Teddy. Either way, the fact that we don’t know what has happened before the current scene puts us in a position where we have to be very trusting, which makes us easily manipulated. In order to stay ahead we would have to trust no one and be constantly questioning everyone in the movie and everything Leonard writes down. This style of filming is what puts us in a vulnerable position and makes the movie unique. It is the same style of manipulation that we’ve been experiencing in our books, but through a movie.

 

Untrustworthy Notes

I found Memento disorienting and confusing to watch. Part of the time the story is told in chronological order, with Leonard talking on the phone, but we don’t even know who he’s talking to. The other part of the time the story is told backwards, starting with Leonard killing Teddy. I think it’s told this way to kind of mirror the ‘condition’ that Leonard has. We only get fragments of the whole story and it’s slowly being built backwards for us. It really made me empathize with Leonard.

            In the beginning when Leonard reads the note off the picture of Teddy that says not to trust his lies, I assumed the note was trustworthy. But as the movie went on and I realized how he writes the notes and how easily he could misplace them or get them confused, I realized that they are not trustworthy at all. In one scene, Natalie takes one of Leonard’s pictures of Dodd so that he won’t remember that incident ever happening. And just like that the memory is erased. It made me wonder how many times that’s happened before.

At one part Teddy tells Leonard not to trust Natalie, but at that point Leonard has already written that he can’t trust Teddy’s lies. So Leonard chooses to believe his notes. But we don’t know yet when Leonard wrote that, or what context, or if Natalie somehow made him write that to turn him against Teddy. As the movie went on I thought it seemed like Teddy was more of a friend to Leonard, and Natalie was only using him. The whole situation was very confusing and just like Leonard; I didn’t know who to believe. But unlike Leonard, I really didn’t trust his notes, even if they were written in his own writing.

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.  

Memento & One Tree Hill

              I really like Memento so far. I’m trying to stay very wary of my expectations that I have or my guesses as to who the killer is. It seems pretty obvious to me who did it right now but I know that the obvious answer will not be the case and I’m just going to be blown away and tricked at the end. Since I’ve learned in this class to not be so gullible and to be aware of manipulation around me, I am trying to keep an open mind and think of all the possibilities as to who the killer is in the movie.

            On another note, I’m not sure whether I like the constant changing of timing in the movie- like how they show one scene and then go back and reveal how they got there. I recently started watching One Tree Hill, and yesterday during a binge-watching session I watched the season 1 finale episode. In this episode, they did a very similar thing to Memento where they would show a scene and then show what happened before that and keep doing that throughout the whole episode. With One Tree Hill, it was clearer than in Memento as to the order of events (probably because they aren’t trying to trick you). I typically enjoy shows or movies where in the beginning they show the final scene and then they spend the whole rest of the time showing how they got up to that point. However, I don’t really like how they keep repeating this sequence in Memento. Although, I do see how it’s very clever in the context of the movie and the artistic expression.

wtf is an "A"?

Two minutes ago, I was staring at a blank page that had my name, the title of this course, and the words "Blog Self-Evaluation and Grade" written across the top. Those ten words were the only words I had written in twenty minutes. I know this problem can be solved by simply writing, "I deserve an A on my blog posts," and in the midst of finals, three papers, a lab, a presentation, a concert, and an oral report, writing one sentence sounds like an alleluia chorus. But do I deserve an A? The standards of what "A" work is has changed every time I have experienced a new professor. The effort and time I put into my work, however, always has been in my hands. I know I would feel guilty if I took the easy path of getting an A, but then again, I was only late on two comments and one blog post (the dates determined by me), so although not perfect, it is commendable.

Interestingly enough, I think writing out my dilemma has helped me decide what to write on my self evaluation. I will write a paragraph about my work ethic towards the blog, and then determine a grade based off of that.