Examples Of Postmodern Techniques In Memento

Revenge is a very prominent theme in the thrilling postmodern film, Memento. In the film, Lenny kills an innocent drug dealer who was set up by Teddy to make money in the progress. This is because a normal life is not possible for him, due to his short term memory loss and his wife’s death. He is eager for revenge to keep going forward each day. The fragmented items in the beginning of the movie, Lenny’s constant shifts in perspective, and his stream of consciousness depicted in black and white all solidify his eagerness for revenge. These postmodern techniques are essential to the prominence of the theme. In the beginning of the film, the scene runs backwards and in it, the audience sees an underdeveloped Polaroid with multiple glory pictures

In chronological order, the action in black and white is continuous, beginning with Lenny in the motel room and ending with the last phone call. During a suspenseful black and white scene, Lenny uncovers a new healing tattoo on his right arm which says, “Never answer the phone”. In fact, Leonard reads it while he is actually talking on the phone to an anonymous person. This anonymous person told Lenny the story of Sammy Jenkins which is very important for his identity since he is unable to make new memories since the murder of his wife. This anonymous person turns out to be Teddy manipulating Lenny in order for his revenge scheme for money to fall into place. Natalie does the same thing in the film, mentally exhausting Lenny by confronting him with the same cruel words and actions to get revenge on him for killing her boyfriend. Lenny’s condition is harshly used against him from the people closest to him. The scenes depicted in black and white can be considered a frame plot since it helps the audience to understand the things described in the colour scenes. At the end of the movie, the audience finds out that all the scenes described and shown in the black and white scenes happened before the scenes told in the colour