Arnheim’s body of theory suggests that the necessity of human intervention to implement plot, tropes, and culturally legible symbols raises a film to a higher level than a mere copy of reality, and that this interpretation and expression of meaning is “a question of feeling” or intuition on the part of the filmmaker. (“Film Theory and Criticism” 283) One consequence of effective directorial intervention is that differences in speed, stops and starts, and what would otherwise be jarring gaps in continuity can be accepted by viewers, because if the essentials of reality are present, th...
Memento is a very different kind of movie than what’s normally expected, a movie that makes you question the reality of ones memory. The movie is set in two ways: one in black and white and the other one in color, where black and white is shown chronologically and color is demonstrated in reverse order. The main character, Leonard suffers from anterograde amnesia but he is still determined to find the man who raped and killed his wife one night, as believed by Leonard. He tries to organize the world around him using notes, tattoos and Polaroid pictures. The audience tries to figure out the story through the “facts” that is given via the protagonist. We know just as much the main character is aware of. It is a movie that screws with your mind every time we come closer to the “truth” but the question is: is it really the truth or a made up memory by the character to make himself happy?
Jonathan Romney clearly summarizes Memento as an “at-heart film noir in classic 1940s vein -- the story of a man investigating his wife's death. True to form, there is a mysterious femme fatale and a sly, ambivalent character who could be friend or foe. The first twist is that the hero and narrator, Leonard, suffers from short-term amnesia and forgets things almost as soon as they happen. The second twist is that the story is told backwards -- it starts with Leonard getting his revenge and taking a Polaroid to prove it to himself.” Romney’s outline of the story describes the plot. He continues on “But his bullet returns to the gun and the photo fades, then slides back into the camera. This is something more than an echo of the reverse storytelling of Martin Amis's Time's Arrow. Here, it is as if events erase themselves the instant they occur -- which, in Leonard's mind, is exactly what happens.” Romney introduces two of the tricks that Memento uses. The first scene is the only scene of the movie that is actually backwards as Romney explains. It succeeds in establishing the mood of the movie and confusing the viewer. Writer-director Christopher Nolan draws the viewer into Leonard’s world with this confusion and the syntax of the story. Romney goes on to describe this syntax like this: “[The audience] start[s] off in [Leonard’s] position, as much in the dark as he is. But the more we learn, the more he forgets. And whenever we think we know more than he does, some new enigma comes along to redress the balance. A bizarre narrative construction keeps us shifting in and out of focus. Each section of the main story begins in mid-action, so that we do not know what is happening any more than Leonard does…To make things more complex, another strand, apparently chronological, is inter...
In conclusion, Memento is the movie that uses the great understanding of theories from all of the philosophers. Lenny is a guy that has no memories of what he does during a short period of time and the only thing left in him is the incident of his wife’s murder case. However, he notes down his fact in different kind of sources and he does not notice that he actually making memories day by day. The identity impact in this movie is memories need to be make to be able to know who we are and what we did to have the consequences in the future and it is an important factor to make up a person by their sensation, cognition and environment.
Memento is a captivating and beautifully written movie that incorporates the subject of amnesia and short term memory loss. The audience is enabled to view Leonard’s world through pieces of information he has gathered on post it notes, polaroid shots he takes of people and places, and tattoos on his body. Although the movie grasps many of the concepts of anterograde amnesia, some parts have been exaggerated and are unrealistic.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is one of the most respected and admired novels of all time. Often criticized for lacking substance and using more elaborate camera work, freely adapted films usually do not follow the original plot line. Following this cliché, Roland Joffe’s version of The Scarlet Letter received an overwhelmingly negative reception. Unrealistic plots and actions are added to the films for added drama; for example, Hester is about to be killed up on the scaffold, when Algonquin members arrive and rescue her. After close analysis, it becomes evident of the amount of work that is put into each, but one must ask, why has the director adapted their own style of depicting the story? How has the story of Hester Prynne been modified? Regarding works, major differences and similarities between the characterization, visual imagery, symbolism, narration and plot, shows how free adaptation is the correct term used.
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.
...f existence before essence is echoed when Teddy tells Leonard that he (Leonard) doesn't even know who he is: when Leonard answers he is his past self, Teddy cautions "That's who you were, not who you've become." While Leonard does not believe it, Teddy reminds him that he is responsible for his wife's death, not the men he tracks down and enjoys killing. Leonard refuses to acknowledge that he is his actions, to which Sartre would say "There is no reality except in action" (316, Existentialist Philosophy). Leonard seems to avoid responsibility for his freedom, most likely because he does see who he has become. Memento is a poignant affirmation that our actions make us who we are and that we are in fact responsible for the choices we make, whether we face our freedom, or flee from our anxiety as Leonard does. Now, where was I...?
If an individual loses his past self, would he still be the same individual? According to the personal identity memory theory by John Locke, as long as a person is the same self, the personal identity of that person is the same. But for Leonard Shelby who is the main character if the Memento film, this does not apply after he suffered a condition that hinders him from creating new memories. This paper addresses the topic of the truth of John Locke’s perception of personal identity which follows that Leonard does not have a personal identity. The paper reviews the Memento film which is a psychological thriller which presents two different personal identities of Leonard Shelby after suffering from a memory condition. The paper
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.”
The title of the film, Memento, is very appropriately titled. Leonard has to constantly keep reminders or mementos to remind him to do important things. He carries around a Polaroid camera to take pictures of places and people to remind him of who, what, or where they are located. One example would be the pictures he carries of Teddy, who is known as John Edward Gammell, and Natalie. He write note on the back of the pictures to remember important information about them. One of Leonard’s more extreme methods to remembering includes permanently tattooing facts that he finds important facts on himself. A retrieval cue is used to access information stored in our memories with the help of a hint. As stated before Leonard cannot form new memories and use retrieval cues is the traditional way that we use them, but he use the tattoos, notes, and photos to notify himself of information that he did not want to in essence “forget”. He could not recall fresh memories on his own, but he had a great method that would allow him access to bit of information that he could
Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.
The movie Memento, offers the perspective of the world from the eyes of a severe anterograde amnesiac named Leonard Shelby. Due to a traumatic brain injury (TBI) he suffered after killing the man who raped and strangled his wife when he was clubbed by a second person who escaped, Leonard consequently lost his ability to form any new explicit memories. Usually, anterograde amnesia is the result of a lesion of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) or damage to the hippocampus, which results in a person’s inability doesn’t to transfer new information from his short-term memory (STM) to his long-term memory (LTM). However, Leonard’s memories from his life prior to the TBI still remain intact within his LTM, which enables him to retrieve personal memories about his life up until he was hit in the head. For example, Leonard was able to perform intricate tasks if he had learned such skills in his life prior to the assault. Momento did a good job of capturing the daily challenges faced by Leonard and a few other patients he interacts with, as was illustrated by the constant rituals that an anterograde amnesiac must learn to accept and cope with everyday. However, Leonard discovers that he can begin to “remember” new explicit memories by writing personal notes, tattooing himself, or taking Polaroid photos, all of which he hides for himself to eventually discover in the future. Leonard was able to somewhat mimic the retrieval of memories from LTM in the brain by using his system of messages to remind himself of where he needs to go, who he can trust, what he needs to get done that day, etc.
It’s pretty clear that film and literature are very different mediums and when you try to make one into the other, such as an adaptation, you’re going to have some things that are lost in translation and seen in a different light. When an original work is made into a movie, I think they’re kind of at a disadvantage because they only have a few hours to get the whole story across while also keeping the viewer intrigued by what is taking place on the screen right in front of their eyes. Movies are able to contain special effects, visuals, and music though which can impact a viewer and make a scene stay in their mind longer which is a plus side to being able to view something. Literature on the other hand, has a greater advantage. They can keep the reader entertained for a considerably long time and you’re able to get more information about people and events such as what a character is thinking or what is happening behind the scenes during a specific event. I understand that people are going to have different opinions when it comes to whether a book or film adaptation of a work is the best and it is not always going to be the same for each and every piece of work. One thing I think though, is that The Namesake in both the film and the movie, they’re both accurate and concise in the way that they relate to one another.
The first chapter of George Bluestone’s book Novels into Film starts to point out the basic differences that exist between the written word and the visual picture. It is in the chapter "Limits of the Novel and Limits of the Film," that Bluestone attempts to theorize on the things that shape the movie/film from a work of literature. Film and literature appear to share so much, but in the process of changing a work into film, he states important changes are unavoidable. It is the reasoning behind these changes that Bluestone directs his focus, which is the basis behind the change. He starts to look at the nature of film and literature, as a crucial part in the breakdown of this problem. It is only through a discussion into nature of each of these, that Bluestone can discover where film and literature seperate, and also develop a close to accurate theory on the laws that direct the course of change from novel to film.