Blog 4: Post MEMENTO paper...

Memento, as a film, probably the most accurate way to describe it, was an interesting twister. The general consensus in the class seems to be that the film did not follow traditional narrative form but, instead, deviated into an experimental area that did not jive with modern conceptions. The fact that the film begins with the ending and then circles around, (I wonder why I want to use a motion metaphor when describing this effect) and comes at the scene again.

In a very real sense, it’s as if the movie is at the end of a video tape and the director rewinds for a few seconds so that we get to see a man being unkilled by a bullet coming out of his head. Then he rewinds a bit and turns the film back on. We see the characters going through a scene leading to the shooting (which we formerly watched in reverse.) Then the movie is stopped and rewound again, dragging us to a scene that leads us just up to where the previous bit we watched began. This process is repeated until we reach the “beginning” of the film and discover why the murder at the end of the film took place.

What can we make of this? The film is not incoherent, nor is it a collection of non-sequiturs or random scenes thrown together with no apparent rhyme or reason. The different segments of the film contain nearly complete episodes and always give us another clue in the mystery of why Leonard killed Teddy (even though, when we saw the killing, we had no idea who Leonard or Teddy actually are.)

As I mentioned in my paper, I still feel that this story has a chronological structure that could be reconstructed from the fragmentary views that we get, although I don’t know if all of my classmates agree with this statement. The presentation of the story was definitely unique, but the structure was still there.

Now, I suppose, if PRESENTATION is what is meant by “narrative structure” then this story does not follow traditional conceptions of standard structure. The classical idea of a beginning, rising action, denouement, climax, etc... does not apply to this film. Nor, as we discussed in class, does it work for most stories larger than a fable or other short narrative.

I did like how one of my classmates said that the story “devolves.” Another said that the story’s cluttered ambience, Leonard’s photographs, tattoos, and less than perfect relationships with the supporting characters, was reflective of our modern world. These are both interesting points.

I really enjoyed the movie, and reading the other critics comments about the film. And, that’s it for now…