MEMENTOPOSTMODERN TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

PRODUCTION DETAILS• RELEASE DATE: MARCH 16, 2001• GENRE: THRILLER• PRODUCTION BUDGET: $9 MILLION• GENRE DISCUSSION: MEMORY

LOSS/AMNESIA, MINDBENDER, NEO-NOIR (POST-NOIR)• MPAA RATED R (UNDER 17 REQUIRES

ACCOMPANYING PARENT OR ADULT GUARDIAN)

PRODUCTION DETAILS• DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

(DIRECTOR OF INTERSTELLAR AND INCEPTION)• DISTRIBUTED BY NEWMARKET FILMS -

ALSO DISTRIBUTORS OF ‘DONNIE DARKO’ AND ‘THE PASSION OF CHRIST’

• PRODUCED BY SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT (PRODUCERS OF THE TWILIGHT SERIES) AND TEAM TODD (PRODUCER OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND )

FINANCIAL SUCCESS

Total Lifetime GrossesDomestic $25,544,867+ Foreign $14,178,229= Worldwide $39,723,096

Domestic SummaryOpening Weekend -11 Theatres, #27 rank

$235,488

Widest Release 531 Theatres

Domestic SummaryBudget $9 MILLION

CRITICAL RECEPTION• MEMENTO WAS MET WITH CRITICAL ACCLAIM:

• 92% RATING ON ROTTEN TOMATOES

• JAMES BERARDINELLI 4/4, #1 ON HIS YEAR-END TOP TEN LIST, #63 ON HIS ALL-TIME TOP 100 FILMS. "ENDLESSLY FASCINATING, WONDERFULLY OPEN-ENDED MOTION PICTURE [THAT] WILL BE REMEMBERED BY MANY WHO SEE IT AS ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR".

• BERARDINELLI: "WHAT REALLY DISTINGUISHES THIS FILM IS ITS BRILLIANT, INNOVATIVE STRUCTURE", GUY PEARCE GIVES AN "ASTOUNDING...TIGHT, AND THOROUGHLY CONVINCING PERFORMANCE". IN 2009, BERARDINELLI CHOSE MEMENTO AS HIS #3 BEST MOVIE OF THE DECADE.

• WILLIAM ARNOLD OF THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER : A "DELICIOUS ONE-TIME TREAT", AND EMPHASIZES THAT DIRECTOR CHRISTOPHER NOLAN "NOT ONLY MAKES MEMENTO  WORK AS A NON-LINEAR PUZZLE FILM, BUT AS A TENSE, ATMOSPHERIC THRILLER".

• ROB BLACKWELDER: "NOLAN HAS A CRACKERJACK COMMAND OVER THE INTRICACIES OF THIS STORY. HE MAKES EVERY SINGLE ELEMENT OF THE FILM A CLUE TO THE LARGER PICTURE...AS THE STORY EDGES BACK TOWARD THE ORIGINS OF [LEONARD'S] QUEST".

CRITICAL RECEPTION• NOT ALL CRITICS WERE IMPRESSED WITH THE FILM'S STRUCTURE:

• MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN WROTE, "IN FORWARD PROGRESSION, THE NARRATIVE WOULD GARNER LITTLE INTEREST, THUS MAKING THE REVERSE STORYTELLING A FILMMAKER'S CONCEIT.“

• SEAN BURNS OF THE PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY COMMENTED THAT "FOR ALL ITS FORMAL WIZARDRY, MEMENTO IS ULTIMATELY AN ICE-COLD FEAT OF INTELLECTUAL GAMESMANSHIP. ONCE THE VISCERAL THRILL OF THE PUZZLE STRUCTURE BEGINS TO WEAR OFF, THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO HANG ONTO. THE FILM ITSELF FADES LIKE ONE OF LEONARD'S TEMPORARY MEMORIES.“

• WHILE ROGER EBERT GAVE THE FILM A FAVORABLE THREE OUT OF FOUR STARS, HE DID NOT THINK IT WARRANTED MULTIPLE VIEWINGS. AFTER WATCHING MEMENTO TWICE, HE CONCLUDED THAT "GREATER UNDERSTANDING HELPED ON THE PLOT LEVEL, BUT DIDN'T ENRICH THE VIEWING EXPERIENCE. CONFUSION IS THE STATE WE ARE INTENDED TO BE IN.“

• JONATHAN ROSENBAUM DISLIKED THE FILM, AND COMMENTED IN HIS REVIEW OF ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND THAT MEMENTO IS A "GIMMICKY AND UNPOETIC COUNTERFEIT" OF ALAIN RESNAIS'S 1968 FILM JE T'AIME, JE T'AIME.[58]

• IN 2005, THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA RANKED THE SCREENPLAY #100 ON ITS LIST OF 101 GREATEST SCREENPLAYS EVER WRITTEN.

PLOT SUMMARYMemento tells the story of a widower protagonist seeking revenge after his wife was raped and brutally murdered. Due to his ‘condition’, anterograde amnesia, he is incapable of forming new memories since the moment this happened to his wife. This creates a great deal of issues for him when he is trying to uncover new information everyday about who the killer is, and so he resorts to tattooing key facts to his body and photographing important people and places in order to keep them in his head.

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS•Memento’s narrative structure is non-linear and features multiple plot layers. Two types of scene are presented to the audience throughout: one set in colour, the other monochromatic and high in contrast. These two types of scene represent either objective or subjective truth for the protagonist. For example, when the scene is black and white and the character in the motel room, the audience is only given objective facts about the character’s state, such as his location, “so where are you? You're in some motel room. You just - you just wake up and you're in - in a motel room. There's the key. It feels like maybe it's just the first time you've been there, but perhaps you've been there for a week, three months. It's - it's kind of hard to say. I don't - I don't know. It's just an anonymous room.” . Effectively the audience is in the position of an outsider during these scenes, not experiencing things from his point of view, but instead the objective facts as they literally are.

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS•Alternatively, when the scenes are in colour, we as an audience follow Leonard’s story alongside him. We feel as though we are in his mind, interpreting things as he does. This represents the subjective, or relative, truths.•Choosing this narrative structure creates a sense of confusion and disorientation for the audience. This narrative retardation is important as it emulates the same lack of understanding that the protagonist experiences due to his amnesia, effectively putting the audience directly in his position and frame of mind allowing for greater engagement with the text.•It is clear why many critics have labelled the film mind-bending and have at times challenged the validity of such an unconventional narrative format.

NARRATIVE STRUCTUREIn the embedded video, Director Christopher Nolan explains the complex and unique narrative structure of Memento.

The film explores bridging the gap between objective (absolute) and subjective (relative) knowledge. As an audience we feel a similar confusion due to the lack of information to the main character with anterograde amnesia.

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

TO THE RIGHT IS A DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE FILM’S COMPLEX NARRATIVE STRUCTURE, WITH THE INITIALLY SEEMINGLY UNRELATED COLOUR AND BLACK AND WHITE SCENES RUNNING CONSECUTIVELY.

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSISThrough the editing and mise en scene, using colour manipulation to separate the full colour scenes from those in high contrast black and white, the producers created a clear distinction between elements and timings of the narrative. This has also helped to distinguish the objective and subjective truths, an internal battle felt by the protagonist.

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSISThe film fits clearly into the thriller genre through its featuring of plot twists, such as the scene in which we discover that the suspected killer is actually a potentially corrupt police officer. Also through featuring menacing women, such as in the scene embedded in which the female is taking advantage out of the protagonist’s condition for personal gain. High contrast strong directional lighting is iconic of the thriller genre for creating suspense and drama, exciting the audience and putting them on the edge of their seats. Finally, through exploring themes such as violence, mental illness and also a sense of confusion over time and reality, this movie has a clear link to other films in the thriller genre.

MEDIA CONCEPTS – IS MEMENTO POSTMODERN?

• WHY IT IS POSTMODERN ACCORDING TO MEDIA CONCEPTS:

• IDEOLOGY: The police are typically represented in the media as a strong, reliable force which is strictly governed and not usually corrupt. However the corruption of the police officer in the film is suggested through the idea that he is using the protagonist’s condition to his own advantage, using him to find and kill drug related criminals through convincing him that they are responsible for his wife’s murder and rape. For this reason, Memento is postmodern as it challenges the stereotypical ideology surrounding the nature of the police force.

• NARRATIVE: The narrative structure of Memento is postmodern due to its non-linear nature and its ambiguity over time and place. Narratives are typically linear with a distinct beginning, middle and end. However, this narrative takes a story with a beginning, middle and end and effectively tells it backwards. For this reason Memento is postmodern in its use of media concepts.

MEDIA CONCEPTS – IS MEMENTO POSTMODERN?

• WHY IT IS NOT POSTMODERN ACCORDING TO MEDIA CONCEPTS:

• GENRE: As previously mentioned, Memento shares various narrative, conceptual and thematic elements with other films in the thriller genre. This includes, violence, themes such as crime and mental illness, ‘mind-bending’ narrative structures and also the use of menacing women - the movie even manages to fit in a chase scene. For this reason, it is arguable that Memento is not post-modern as it features the convention generic elements of thriller films.

STRINATI – IS MEMENTO POSTMODERN?

• WHY IT IS POSTMODERN ACCORDING TO STRINATI:• THE DECLINE OF META-NARRATIVES: The police are typically represented in the media as a strong, reliable force

which is strictly governed and not usually corrupt. However the corruption of the police officer in the film is suggested through the idea that he is using the protagonist’s condition to his own advantage, using him to find and kill drug related criminals through convincing him that they are responsible for his wife’s murder and rape. For this reason, Memento is postmodern as it challenges the stereotypical ‘meta-narrative’ surrounding the nature of the police force.• CONFUSION OVER TIME AND SPACE: The narrative structure of Memento is postmodern due to its non-linear

nature and its ambiguity over time and space which it creates for the audience. Narratives are typically linear with a distinct beginning, middle and end. However, this narrative takes a story with a beginning, middle and end and effectively tells it backwards. For this reason Memento is postmodern according to Strinati through creating confusion over space and time.

STRINATI – IS MEMENTO POSTMODERN?

Why it is not postmodern according to

Strinati:

There is no clear emphasis on style at the expense of

substance with Memento. Nor is a breakdown in the distinction

between culture and society clear in this film. There

is finally no apparent

reference to high/popular

culture.

BAUDRILLARD – IS MEMENTO POSTMODERN?

• WHY IT IS POSTMODERN ACCORDING TO BAUDRILLARD:• REJECTS ‘TRUTH’: The police are typically represented in the media as a strong, reliable force which is strictly

governed and not usually corrupt. However the corruption of the police officer in the film is suggested through the idea that he is using the protagonist’s condition to his own advantage, using him to find and kill drug related criminals through convincing him that they are responsible for his wife’s murder and rape. For this reason, Memento is postmodern as it challenges the stereotypical shared ‘truth’ surrounding the nature of the police force.• To some extent, this film is also compatible, and thus post-modern, according to the idea of hyperreality. This is

because it accepts the idea that society are unaware of the deeper reality, such as the idea of corrupt cops, or even the idea that a great deal of our reality is merely subjective knowledge. There is very little we should accept as truth/reality. Therefore the movie is postmodern in its belief that society is distracted by the hyperreal/by simulacrum and unaware, or blind, to the underlying truths.

BAUDRILLARD – IS MEMENTO POSTMODERN?

• WHY IT IS POSTMODERN ACCORDING TO BAUDRILLARD:• With Baudrillard, it is difficult to identify how Memento might not be

described as postmodern as it fits in with both his key ideas of truth and the hyperreal.

LYOTARD – IS MEMENTO POSTMODERN?

• GRAND NARRATIVES: The police are typically represented in the media as a strong, reliable force which is strictly governed and not usually corrupt. However the corruption of the police officer in the film is suggested through the idea that he is using the protagonist’s condition to his own advantage, using him to find and kill drug related criminals through convincing him that they are responsible for his wife’s murder and rape. For this reason, Memento is postmodern as it challenges the stereotypical ideology surrounding the nature of the police force.

IS MEMENTO POSTMODERN?• OVERALL, IT IS CLEAR THAT MEMENTO IS A POSTMODERN TEXT DUE TO ITS UNIQUE, NON-LINEAR

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE WHICH FORCES THE AUDIENCE TO QUESTION THE CONVENTION STRUCTURE OF A FILM IN ORDER TO BEGIN TO ENGAGE WITH THE TEXT. THE CHOICE TO TELL THE STORY IN REVERSE, WITH SOME SCENES ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY AND OTHERS NOT, THE AUDIENCE IS FORCED INTO THE MIND OF THE PROTAGONIST WITH AMNESIA, TAKING NEW INFORMATION AS AND WHEN IT COMES, QUESTIONING IDEAS ABOUT TRUTH AND REALITY AT THE SAME TIME.• THE MOVIE DOES FEATURE SOME NON POSTMODERN ELEMENTS, SUCH AS ITS STRONG GENERIC

CONVENTIONS, BUT OVERALL IT IS COMPATIBLE WITH STRINATI, BAUDRILLARD AND LYOTARD’S DEFINITIONS/UNDERSTANDINGS OF WHAT CONSTITUTES A POSTMODERN TEXT AS WELL AS CHALLENGING TRADITIONAL IDEAS SURROUNDING MEDIA CONCEPTS.