typically perceives two actors pretending to duel and imagines the Battle of Bosworth Field raging around them. In contrast, when one watches Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998), one perceives images of the actors apparently engaged in a real battle. The richness and vividness of the cinematic imagery is so great that very little is left to the imagination, and one seems to perceive precisely the sights and sounds of Omaha Beach on D-Day.51 My thesis is that the experiential affirmation in Memento is a function of cinematic depiction, but as cinematic depiction is not unique to the film, the question of whether other films can do philosophy by means of experiential affirmation arises. I discuss this possibility briefly in Section V.
The element of cinematic depiction which plays the most significant role in experiential affirmation in Memento is the anthropomorphic representation of time, specifically work temporarily. The complexity of the narration makes it appear as if the viewer’s memory—like Leonard’s—is unreliable. This experience is exacerbated by the fact that one finds oneself in the same position as Leonard with each successive color scene: where Leonard has forgotten what has just happened, the viewer has not yet seen that part of the film due to the reversed chronology. Leonard’s confusion is thus mirrored by one’s own, and one learns (or is reminded) that memory for Leonard and knowledge of what has occurred previously for the viewer are necessary for understanding. Perhaps this experiential affirmation could be achieved by any work which was experimentally temporal and had a sufficiently complex narration, for example, a novelization of Memento, and is not therefore a feature of cinematic depiction.52
There are three problems with this view. First, the experiential temporarily of novels is such that they are (usually) not intended to be read in a single sitting. The time it would take to read the novel from first page to last, generally a dozen or more hours spread over one or more days, would alter the effect that the narration has on the viewer. Typically, if one comes back to a novel after a few days’ absence, one does not remember all the salient points and flicks back to refresh one’s memory. The affirmation that memory is un- reliable is diluted and diminished. Although one could flick back and forth for clarification in Memento, the film is intended to be watched in one sitting, from the first second to the last. One experiences affirmation that one’s own memory is unreliable because one cannot remember what has happened an hour ago—or, more likely, what has happened a few minutes beforehand. Work temporarily is thus a crucial element of the experiential affirmation. Second, there are elements of the film which could not be represented—at least as effectively—in another art form. Aside from the standard flashbacks in Memento, there are several very quick flashes which may or may not be accurate memories of Leonard’s: one shot shows him in a mental institution, another suggests his wife was diabetic, another suggests he may have killed her violently.53 It is difficult to imagine how the effects of these brief shots, appearing in the manner in which they do in the film, could be replicated in a non cinematic narrative representation.
Finally, I think that the ease of engaging with the cinematic depiction allows the viewer to focus on the complexity of the narration. The film has been created so as to reward attention to the artistic properties of its narration in a particular manner. Lengthy descriptions of the people, places, and events would interfere with the complexity of the presentation of the sequence of events, but without detailed descriptions the reader could not be expected to make sense of the story. When one watches the film, and here it is significant that the central story—the “present” of forty-eight-odd hours which is shown in scenes with reversed chronological order—is in color, the perceptual realism means that one is able to instantly absorb a large amount of audiovisual information about the characters, setting, and action. No lengthy descriptions are required, as sufficient information is presented for the viewer to follow the narrative (albeit with great difficulty). The color scenes comprise just over three-quarters of the film, and—for the reasons outlined above— require less decoding; they are more like real perception than the black-and-white scenes, and the audience can focus on attempting to make sense of the plot while experiencing the affirmation that memory is essential to understanding. My claim is thus that the experiential affirmation by means of which Memento contributes to philosophical knowledge is a paradigmatic ally cinematic means, as it is a function of the deceptive representation peculiar to cinema. Memento therefore meets the results and means conditions of the bold the- sis. I shall now consider two objections to my argument.
typically perceives two actors pretending to duel and imagines the Battle of Bosworth Field raging around them. In contrast, when one watches Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998), one perceives images of the actors apparently engaged in a real battle. The richness and vividness of the cinematic imagery is so great that very little is left to the imagination, and one seems to perceive precisely the sights and sounds of Omaha Beach on D-Day.51 My thesis is that the experiential affirmation in Memento is a function of cinematic depiction, but as cinematic depiction is not unique to the film, the question of whether other films can do philosophy by means of experiential affirmation arises. I discuss this possibility briefly in Section V.
The element of cinematic depiction which plays the most significant role in experiential affirmation in Memento is the anthropomorphic representation of time, specifically work temporarily. The complexity of the narration makes it appear as if the viewer’s memory—like Leonard’s—is unreliable. This experience is exacerbated by the fact that one finds oneself in the same position as Leonard with each successive color scene: where Leonard has forgotten what has just happened, the viewer has not yet seen that part of the film due to the reversed chronology. Leonard’s confusion is thus mirrored by one’s own, and one learns (or is reminded) that memory for Leonard and knowledge of what has occurred previously for the viewer are necessary for understanding. Perhaps this experiential affirmation could be achieved by any work which was experimentally temporal and had a sufficiently complex narration, for example, a novelization of Memento, and is not therefore a feature of cinematic depiction.52
There are three problems with this view. First, the experiential temporarily of novels is such that they are (usually) not intended to be read in a single sitting. The time it would take to read the novel from first page to last, generally a dozen or more hours spread over one or more days, would alter the effect that the narration has on the viewer. Typically, if one comes back to a novel after a few days’ absence, one does not remember all the salient points and flicks back to refresh one’s memory. The affirmation that memory is un- reliable is diluted and diminished. Although one could flick back and forth for clarification in Memento, the film is intended to be watched in one sitting, from the first second to the last. One experiences affirmation that one’s own memory is unreliable because one cannot remember what has happened an hour ago—or, more likely, what has happened a few minutes beforehand. Work temporarily is thus a crucial element of the experiential affirmation. Second, there are elements of the film which could not be represented—at least as effectively—in another art form. Aside from the standard flashbacks in Memento, there are several very quick flashes which may or may not be accurate memories of Leonard’s: one shot shows him in a mental institution, another suggests his wife was diabetic, another suggests he may have killed her violently.53 It is difficult to imagine how the effects of these brief shots, appearing in the manner in which they do in the film, could be replicated in a non cinematic narrative representation.
Finally, I think that the ease of engaging with the cinematic depiction allows the viewer to focus on the complexity of the narration. The film has been created so as to reward attention to the artistic properties of its narration in a particular manner. Lengthy descriptions of the people, places, and events would interfere with the complexity of the presentation of the sequence of events, but without detailed descriptions the reader could not be expected to make sense of the story. When one watches the film, and here it is significant that the central story—the “present” of forty-eight-odd hours which is shown in scenes with reversed chronological order—is in color, the perceptual realism means that one is able to instantly absorb a large amount of audiovisual information about the characters, setting, and action. No lengthy descriptions are required, as sufficient information is presented for the viewer to follow the narrative (albeit with great difficulty). The color scenes comprise just over three-quarters of the film, and—for the reasons outlined above— require less decoding; they are more like real perception than the black-and-white scenes, and the audience can focus on attempting to make sense of the plot while experiencing the affirmation that memory is essential to understanding. My claim is thus that the experiential affirmation by means of which Memento contributes to philosophical knowledge is a paradigmatic ally cinematic means, as it is a function of the deceptive representation peculiar to cinema. Memento therefore meets the results and means conditions of the bold the- sis. I shall now consider two objections to my argument.
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