The Fallacy of Truth: Analysis of Memento. form new memories. He uses an organized system of notes to keep things in order.

Transcription

1 Holland 1 Henry Holland Ms. Henry ENGL March 18, 2010 The Fallacy of Truth: Analysis of Memento In the movie Memento, Leonard is suffering from a type of amnesia that does not allow him to form new memories. He uses an organized system of notes to keep things in order. Tattoos are used to convey the most important notes, or Facts. Because of a tattoo that said JOHN G RAPED AND MURDERED MY WIFE, he is seeking revenge. Although he holds the notes as fact, much of the truth is lost because he cannot remember the information that accompanies the note. He is forced to rely on what he can gather from the present to create the reality in which he operates; all the while, he can only recall the incomplete memories of the time before he was injured. Although Leonard does say that memories can t be trusted and that his notes are the only facts he believes, one must realize that his notes are based on memory. In the articles The Use of Hypnosis to Enhance Recall and Recovering Memories of Trauma: A View from the Laboratory, increased effort to recall repressed memories may yield more memories, but that also yields more erroneous and false memories as well (Dywan and Bowers 184; McNally 32). Although one may think that those suffering trauma may be more able to forget, these persons are actually more able to create false memories (McNally 32). A study showed that child sexual abuse survivors with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder showed a greater ability in remembering the trauma words than recalling the positive or neutral words show to them in slides, even when they were instructed to forget some of them. This is strange because these persons disengage attention from threatening cues (McNally 33). Another study showed that over time, one is less able to recall accurately (Dywan and Bowers 184). The study also showed that even though those who can be hypnotized can remember more, only a third of the new

2 Holland 2 memories were correct (Dywan and Bowers 185). Since memory truly is flawed, the notes must also hold some flaw since they are based on memory. The flaw is that Leonard isn't chasing John G or revenge; he is running from the pain of reality through the use of distorted reality aided by lack of memory. It is important that one understands that this lack of memory is not from the amnesia. Leonard's greatest factor in his loss of memory is his desire to repress the past. Freudian psychology states that in order to protect one self, various tools are used to cope ( Ego Defense Mechanisms ). Many may be obviously aware of denial as a tool, but Leonard goes deeper into his unconscious to safeguard himself. The mechanisms that Leonard employs the most are: rationalization, projection, and repression; rationalization being chief among them. He begins by repressing the original memories of the incident, pushing them deep into his unconscious mind. He then projects his flaws onto Sammy Jankis and John G. He uses Sammy Jankis as an antithetical example of how he should live ( Projection ; Ego Defense Mechanisms ); he also puts the reality of his inability to cope after the incident onto Sammy as well. He remembers that Sammy killed his wife by not keeping organized with his notes, subsequently causes her overdose. John G becomes the object of rage and revenge, taking on the crime of killing his wife. The rationalization is what plays biggest part in the distortion. He is not able to feel real emotion or draw correct conclusions because he cannot remember, so he uses logic to ease the constant pain of not knowing the truth. Because he uses Sammy as an negative example, he is able to rationalize that organization through good note taking will keep him on track, later backing it up with the example of police investigation( Rationalization ; Ego Defense Mechanisms ). He uses this model of investigation and deductive reasoning to allow the written notes to be justified and correct, whether or not they are truly correct. The best example is the tattoo that says JOHN G RAPED AND MURDERD MY WIFE. Because he has successfully repressed and projected, the rationalization allows him to put

3 Holland 3 this fallacy on his chest. He has created a separate reality, and it finds its foundation in this tattoo. Because Leonard is unconsciously living in this reality, he needs to perpetuate it. This takes the form in the seemingly manipulative relationship with Teddy. Because of the reverse chronology of the movie, it is hard to distinguish the true nature of what s going on. By movie s end, we find out that Teddy is John Gammell, a John G. He tells Leonard the truth of the situation. He reveals that Leonard already killed the original criminal and others while he was in cooperation with Teddy in other towns. Leonard also had made up the memories about Sammy Jankis, and Sammy was a conman trying to cash in on his insurance. In the scenes leading up to that moment, Leonard is seen killing Jimmy, Natalie's boyfriend, believing he was John G. It is understood that Leonard believes he is out for revenge on John G for killing his wife, but this revelation of his previous murders say otherwise. Although some would refute that because the picture of Jimmy's dead body was destroyed by Teddy, he moved on to Teddy in revenge. However this is not complete. In the first scene and in the scene in which Teddy sneaks into Leonard's car, we see that Leonard could easily overpower Teddy. We can even see that his so called desire to preserve truth is not so strong in that he was the one who took the pages out of the police report, as revealed in the last scene of the movie. His true desire seems to be preserving the chase. Freud presented a theory that separated the mind between the id, ego and superego (Stevenson; Freud s Structural and Topographical Model ). The id (or unconscious) is our base desires, wanting to experience pleasure at all times. The base desires come from a life drive and a death drive; the former being the desire to preserve life and the latter being the desire to return to an inanimate state. These drives compete yet change into each other in different ways such as when one eats, it preserves life but destroys that which is eaten ( Life and death drives ). The ego (conscious) is the skills acquired by fulfilling those desires, including reasoning and problem solving. The superego (preconscious) is our morals, and it is what holds the id responsible using memory of punishments and helps to govern how

4 Holland 4 the ego will go about fulfilling the desires. Since Leonard has lost or repressed many memories, the superego is weakened, but it still attempts to regulate the id. The famous idea of the end justifies the means helps illustrate the situation. The ego is able to fulfill the id's desires by projecting the crimes onto others and rationalizes all of it to the superego, which wants to holds those guilty accountable and punish them. In context, he is killing John G so that he does not have to kill himself. One could pose the idea that he is a psychopath, not being able to distinguish good from evil, who murders because he feels it is right; that is not the case. He isn't trying to kill John G because it is right; it is to pass blame on to John G and absolve himself. The act of projecting the murder of his wife onto John G and having to rationalize the situation actually holds firm that he does know good from evil and is trying to skirt the consequences. He feels morally convicted to punish, but the repression of memory assisted by his amnesia precludes him from truly punishing himself. We can see that he feels that he has to punish himself in his blame of Sammy, the one onto which he projected himself, for killing his wife, and not Sammy's condition. He says that because Sammy did not keep organized he went on to induce the overdose. Although he feels deeply convicted, his ego s defense mechanisms effectively acquit him of his crimes to himself. The fact still remains that superego demands the blame falls on someone s head. We can see clearly now that the real dilemma is escaping. This is perfectly illustrated in the scene in which he is running from Dodd. He shows up thinking he is going to punish Dodd. The situation then unfolds quite quickly into Dodd chasing Leonard. For a moment, in the middle of the chase, Leonard forgets and thinks he is chasing Dodd again, but when Dodd shoots at him, he then realizes again that he is running from Dodd. Dodd represents reality, real and distorted. Leonard thinks in the beginning that he is chasing reality, the truth, but when that truth proves dangerous, he runs for safety. He finds it temporarily when he thinks he is chasing the truth again after repressing his memories, but it again proves dangerous, so he runs and hides. When he is in Dodd's bathroom

5 Holland 5 rationalizing how he got in there and why he has the bottle, it is also indicative of his struggle. With the truth out of the way, he goes about trying to figure things out with rationale, showering in the bathroom of the man trying to kill him. When Dodd comes into the bathroom, Leonard attacks him and ties him up in a closet. Leonard gets very close to the truth, but unconsciously he recognizes it as a threat, even when he is not being threatened by it. Putting Dodd in the closet was much like how he repressed his own memories, taking the picture of the bloodied yet alive Dodd and later assuming he killed him. This is like the assault of his wife; distorting the murder of his wife in the uncertain past to protect himself in his flawed present. Leonard killed Teddy because he brought the real truth to Leonard s attention. The truth disrupts the system, disabling Leonard from projecting and repressing, thus destroying his logic. This would put Leonard at fault for the crime which he swore to kill John G, morally forcing him to kill himself. This cannot be allowed. He kills Teddy because he is unconsciously aware that Teddy is a threat to the system. He takes the notes, his license plate and physical description, and has them tattooed, he also writes don't believe his lies on the photo of Teddy, this time fully aware that his amnesia will prove effective in allowing him to negate any further revelations that could prove detrimental to the system. Teddy did not threaten Leonard s morals or the law; he was using Leonard to do police work. It was when Leonard s reality was threatened that he felt the need to kill Teddy. Memento is not a story of manipulation and intrigue. It is not a story about revenge and murder. It is the story of a man who could not face himself. His condition was not amnesia and lack of memory, his condition was that he denied the truth. He killed not to claim his vengeance, but to claim freedom from his despair and guilt. His inability to cope led to dependence on logic, to the point in which he stepped into the illogical. At first he seemed like a dog chasing its tail, biting and snarling, assumed to be overtaken and mad. But he was actually a child, afraid of the dark, cowering at the shadows that he himself cast on the wall.

6 Holland 6 Works Cited Dywan, Jane, and Kenneth Bowers. "The Use of Hypnosis to Enhance Recall." Science (1983): Web. 18 Mar < "Ego Defense Mechanisms." AllPsychOnline. Heffner Media Group, Inc., March 21, Web. 18 Mar < "Freud's Structural and Topographical Model."AllPsychOnline. Heffner Media Group, Inc., March 21, Web. 18 Mar < "Life and death drives." Changing Minds.org. Syque, n.d. Web. 18 Mar ts/life_death_dri ves.htm>. McNally, Richard. "Recovering Memories of Trauma: A View from the Laboratory." Current Directions in Psychological Science 12.1 (2003): Web. 18 Mar < "Projection." Changing Minds.org. Syque, n.d. Web. 18 Mar < "Rationalization." Changing Minds.org. Syque, n.d. Web. 18 Mar < Stevenson, David. "Freud's Division of the Mind." The Victorian Web. N.p., Web. 18 Mar <