Memento Movie Analysis

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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 …show more content…

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

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