Essay Exam 4
What does it mean to say, I am the same person since my birth? This is an interesting topic that is brought up in the movie Memento. In this paper I will examine the story line of the movie, and examine whether psychological or physical continuity theory can be used to argue that Leonard remained the same person throughout the movie.
Memento follows the life of Leonard Shelby, an insurance investigator who is suffering from anterograde amnesia. The story is told in such a way as to alternate back and forth between the subjective and the objective perspectives. In this way the audience is denied the same information that Leonard is denied. The film is shot in both black and white and color. Everything in the color sequences
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So what is the relationship between the objective and the subject or the part and the whole? The whole can be viewed as a set of independent variables that behave independently but when viewed in a more general situation there is unity. You have a whole but the whole determines itself to behave like independent parts in many cases, but behaving like parts is determined by the whole. But because the parts are the result of analysis, only the whole is objective. I think that this film does a good job of bring up the interplay between the way we see the world individually (subjectively) and our belief in a greater objective reality. This interplay can be seen by the fact that as one action happens in the film it changes what that action represents to Leonard. In the film Leonard is able to change his interpretation of his memories to fit with his current …show more content…
Many of these ideas can be seen or at least hinted at in the movie Memento. One of these ideas is that of psychological continuity theory, which states that your identity is based off of certain psychological characteristics that have existed continuously since the time of a person’s birth. In this theory these characteristics can include memories, morals, values, consciousness, and personality. It is interesting to note that using these criteria that I do not believe that Leonard can be said to be the same person throughout the movie. Because Leonard does not have the ability to make new memories and does not keep the same morals, values, or personality as he had before the incident, it is difficult to use psychological continuity theory to justify Leonard being the same person as before. The next theory that deals with this issue is physical continuity theory, which states that a person’s identity is based off a body that has existed continuously from the time of their birth until now. I think that using this theory a strong case can be made that Leonard is still the same person. Because Leonard has since the time of his birth possessed the same body continuously, he can be said using physical continuity theory to be the same person as before the
Ken Kesey's award-winning novel, "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", was adapted into a film in 1975 written and directed by New York City native Bo Goldman and Czech director Milos Forman. Towards the end of the novel and film, Chief Bromden escapes from the ward. This scene is conveyed differently in the novel and film; however, there are evident similarities between each form of media. This scene is important to the plot because it wraps up the entire storyline. In the film and novel, similarities within Chief Bromden’s escape from the ward include the way Chief escaped, how he couldn't hear anyone in the ward due to being deaf, and how McMurphy assisted Bromden with gaining his confidence to lift the panel and throw it through the window. McMurphy essentially changed Bromden to help him break out of the asylum and back into the real world.
But this would allow for three bodies to have the same identity, which cannot be the case when talking about an identity that can belong to one and only one person. Therefore, in defense of the memory theory, memory theorists like those in Perry’s work advocate for the addition of an addendum to the original theory: person A at time point A is identical to person B at time point B if and only if there is only one person at time point B who is psychologically continuous with person A. This revision eliminates the possibility of duplication examples discrediting the memory theory as a viable answer to our questions of personal
This movie goes to show how such crucial facts and minuet evidence if not processed fully and clearly can change the outcome in such a big way. In this jury you have 12 men from all different walks of life, 12 different times, and 12 different personalities. Who have an obligation to come to one conclusion and that's whether or not the young man on trial is guilty of murdering his father or is innocent beyond a reasonable doubt. Under much frustration and lack of patience these 12 men began to get unruly and unfocused. Throughout this distraction key terms get misused, facts get turned around and more importantly emotions start to cross making it hard for these men to produce a verdict.
A character can change many times throughout a novel, or film, whether it’s good or bad. It can be a character’s willingness to change or it can be a life changing journey he or she went on that made it happen. The novel, A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, talks about characters such as Grant, Jefferson, and Paul along with the life changing journey they went through in their life in Bayonne, Louisiana. In the novel, Grant said, “we are […] all of us on this earth, a piece of drifting wood, until we […] decide to become something else” (Gaines 193). Grant’s change of mind set, Jefferson’s ability to stand up for himself, and Paul wanting to be a part of the change, shows how they went from a drifting piece of wood to something
Director Christopher Nolan′s film Memento (2000), is loosely based from the concept of a short story named Memento Mori written by his brother Jonathan. This story is about a man named Leonard Shelby who is suffering from anterograde amnesia, which is a loss of ability to create new memories after the event that caused the amnesia, leading to a partial or complete inability to recall the recent past, while long term memories from before the event remain intact. Leonard was hit over the head during an attack which resulted in his wife being raped and murdered. With the help of contact named Teddy and a bartender named Natalie, Leonard set out for revenge. Since the attack Leonard has set out to exact revenge on the man who has caused him suffering. He helps himself by writing notes, taking photographs, and tattooing himself with important notes and facts. An analysis of the film Memento reveals the use of film techniques such as editing, non-linear storytelling, symbolism, director's style, musical score, color, and cinematography that creates an intellectual stimulant that has the viewer deciphering a puzzle in a reversed chronological order.
Many people enjoy a good film and at the end, they have the potential to judge the film by the content and delivery it had provided. In some films, the screenwriter chooses to portray one of the many psychological disorders. The audience of the film will try to focus on how well the disorder was portrayed and how well the movie played out. Whether the intention of the film maker was trying to expose the public about such psychological disorder or choosing to make a film based on the disorder, some viewers will argue if the film has portrayed the disorder accurately and whether the public has taken notice to the disorder. Screenwriter, Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, portrayed the psychological disorder, Anterograde Amnesia, in their film “Memento.”
Leonard Shelby suffers from a condition known as anterograde amnesia. This is a type of short-term memory loss that hinders a person to hold and keep new memories. Most often this type of amnesia is caused by damage to the brain. Leonard was unable to keep any his memories after the injury he sustained. There was irreparable damage to his hippocampus. The hippocampus is the part of the brain associated with the formation of new episodic memories. Episodic memories are at type of long-term memory that involved the recalling of specific events and the experiences tied to them. Anterograde amnesia basically means that a person, such as Leonard Shelby, will not be able to turn his short-term memories into long-term memories. This is why it was
I have shown throughout this essay that we can determine personal identity solely based on psychological continuity. During John Perry’s dialogue he says that there are only three ways in which we can tell a person is who they are. Those three ideas being a person is their body, a person has a continuation of memory, or a person is their immaterial soul. Through the whole of this essay we have discussed that even though bodily identity and immaterial souls are a good suggestions for determining personal identity that they really aren’t logical theories. I have argued that we can distinguish personal identity from psychological continuity.
The influence of the family is not quite clear. It takes a deeper investigation and reviewing of the film in order to take a side. I believe that family plays a big role in shaping the mind and characters involved in these famous films because we as children are shaped by what we see our parents do, they shape and mold our behavior. In this essay I evaluating my opinion by exploring the main importance of family influence in the characters’ lives in the film: The Godfather.
For example, the prosecutor managed to keep blacks off the jury. This just proved that there is no justice in the legal system of the United Sates and racism and discrimination is still prevalent. Another label in the movie when the white lawyer struggles with his own feelings about race during his preparations to stand up for this black man in an all-white jury. Racial prejudices is the main point made in the movie, when we want to believe we are not color blind based off this film proved that the characters in their prejudices determined their
Sex, love, depression, guilt, trust, all are topics presented in this remarkably well written and performed drama. The Flick, a 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning drama by Annie Baker, serves to provide a social commentary which will leave the audience deep in thought well after the curtain closes. Emporia State Universities Production of this masterpiece was a masterpiece in itself, from the stunningly genuine portrayal of the characters of Avery and Rose, to the realism found within the set, every aspect of the production was superb.
The film, Of Two Minds, is based on real life accounts of individuals living with bipolar disorder. Before watching this film, I had an idea of what bipolar disorder is , but after viewing this film I was completely mistaken. Previously, I thought being bipolar was going from a “normal” mood to an angry or sad mood in a matter of seconds and could be simply fixed by taking medicine. But my previous thoughts were completely wrong and bipolar disorder is very serious and complicated. I didn’t know the severity of this disease and I think a lot of the general public is uneducated about bipolar disorder as well as mental illness. Terri Cheney describes having bipolar disorder as, “Take the best day you ever had and multiply it by a million, it 's like a flu but one hundred times worse. It 's having flu in your mind."
Locke’s Memory Theory has been faced with a lot of criticism, but solves the philosophical problem of self-identity effortlessly and effectively. Locke shows how memories can link a person to all of the different parts of their lives. The events that take place in the course of one’s life mold one as defined by the conscious and these acquired memories and experience extend through time, allowing for an individual to retain the sense of self from all aspects and times in their life.
The movie was an interesting movie because it has the ability to make you react with many emotions. The movie follows characters that live in Los Angeles and the characters are involved in each other characters’ lives. With each character I had a first impression and I would most of the time end up with different impressions of them in the end. There are a few concepts I noticed and created after watching the film. I had a variety of emotions while watching the film, the most notable emotions were angry to hopeful. Regarding racism the action I could take is to not always rely on stereotypes.
The philosophical problem of personal identity pertains to questions that arise about ourselves by virtue of our being persons. There is no single question that will sum up the problem, but rather a multitude of questions that are loosely connected to each other. Within this essay, the four most prominent problems will be explained and addressed. One of the most familiar is the question of “Who am I?” This regards to what makes one a unique individual. Another familiar question is, “What is it to be a person?” This concerns the necessary criteria for something to count as a person as opposed to a non-person. There is also the problem of persistence, relating to personal identity over time. An example of this would be to glance upon an old photograph of a childhood class, point and say, “That's me.” The questions arises of, “What makes you that one instead of one of the others?” The last problem to be explained is the one of evidence. How do we find out who is who? There are two separate sources of evidence used often in philosophy: first-person memory, pertaining to one remembering an action or event and therefore being the person who did such, and physical continuity, where if the one who performed the action or witnessed the event looks like you, then it is you.