Momento Response

When I first watched the movie, Momento, I found it incredibly exciting, but as Professor McClendon stated, extremely thin in plot line. I was fascinated with the flashing images, backwards clockwork, and shifting scenes. However, I was a bit let down by the shallowness of the characters and their additional lack of traits. It was not until this past class discussion that I realized the movie might have deeper implications in the post-modern thought of “creating” fact and ultimately creating reality. (Even after the initial class screening on Tuesday, I was unsure of why D.C. had selected this movie.)

Professor McClendon was very good at relating the movie to the postmodern thought of the unreal as real and vice versa. His example of our differences in the remembrance of history really brought the point home. How do we know that the US is the righteous, greatest nation of them all? Because we have told ourselves these things. We have created the thought of our system of government and democracy as factually being the best. The state-selective versions of history have proved not only to be debate-worthy, but have also shaped international relations and the very shape of the global society. We, as westerners, tell ourselves we have the best way of life, we create that reality. Then, we also try to impose our reality on others, however confrontational the act is, and regardless of the realities of the other countries.

One solid example of this could be our occupancy in Iraq. We feel we know what the best way of life, belief system, and ultimate “reality” is for the Iraqi people. We act as if our knowledge is fact, and is worth living and dying for. As the movie suggests though, people must create their own realities, for that is all we have, and they are the reason to live.