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Philosophy in Film:

Essay by Kyle Abram, Lindenwood University

Christopher Nolan’s “Memento” proves to be a psychological thriller like few, if any, others have managed to be. Throughout the telling of this film noir detective story the topics of memory, identity and truth are discussed. The premise behind the film is a man, Leonard Shelby, without the ability to form new memories searches for the man, John G., who raped and murdered his wife. His only information retained after the incident, in which he as well was injured causing his condition, are notes, Polaroid photos, and an assortment of odd tattoos. Everyday he awakes as though he had just witnessed his wife’s last breath as she died before him, only to become confused as to his location. He first notices a tattoo on his hand telling him to “remember Sammy Jankis”, who was a man he knew before the incident that also had this condition. This reminds him that he too has this condition.

Once he looks in the mirror he sees the mirrored tattoo that reads, ”John G. raped and murdered my wife.” This tattoo reminds him of his goal, to find and kill whomever it was that harmed his wife. This happens each day, he wakes up as though it was right after her death and he chooses to find and murder the culprit. Every day he must relearn whom he has met and what he has learned since the incident. He uses Polaroid photos with notes written underneath and on the back with names, phone numbers, and other information to learn who he is dealing with and whether he should trust them or not. Living like this is nearly impossible, let alone finding the murderer. His particular condition is not complete amnesia though, which is better than it could be.

Leonard remembers everything up until the point of injury; how to drive, how to use a telephone, his name, his occupation, his past, and his identity, or so he thinks. Some say identity is formed out of “sameness of substance”, that in order to have identity over time something must contain identical substance as it always had. However, cells die and are replaced in humans as well as other organisms, so this definition of identity is flawed at best. John Locke believed that identity was not in substance but in “sameness of consciousness” or memory. Identity of a person over time to Locke as Shoemaker states, ”consists in facts about memory and the capacity to remember.” Technically Leonard has facts about memory, but he lacks the capacity to remember.

Yes, he remembers the distant past, but his actions and feelings of the present slip away into nothingness for he can’t remember them. Thomas Reid uses forgetfulness as an objection to Locke’s thesis. He uses an example of a man in his old age recounting heroic deeds but forgetting his childhood floggings. If in order to establish identity over time memory were required, the old man would not have the same identity as the boy, thus the objection. Shoemaker defends Locke by stating, ”...for identity with a ‘past self’ is not that one remember the actions and experiences of that past self but that one have ‘memory continuity’ with that past self.” An example from the film “Waking Life” were a woman discusses how in order to say that a baby picture of you is truly you a story must be told to link the two together, illustrates what Shoemaker is saying. Linking together events or what he dubs “personal-stages” is the basis for memory continuity.

Leonard’s character can build memory continuity from his first conscious memory to the murder, but nothing thereafter. Since he lacks the continuity of memory for all his actions and experiences after his injury, according to Shoemaker’s account of identity, Leonard of the present has a separate identity from the past Leonard. However, how altered can his identity truly become. If he does not remember any of his actions after the incident, they cannot affect his mannerisms, tastes, personality or character. This meaning that he is influenced in these areas by his previous memories before the loss of his short-term memory. Based on this, Leonard could be argued to hold the same identity due to Shoemaker’s revision including psychological continuity, ”...two person-stages will be directly connected psychologically, if the latter of them contains psychological state (a memory impression, personality trait, etc.) which stands in the appropriate relation of casual dependence to the state contained in the earlier one.”

This argument may not hold true though, because it could also be argued that although Leonard cannot be obviously influenced by his actions, he has changed his personality. When comparing the Leonard of the past with the present Leonard stark contrasts can be seen. He went from being a button down, neatly parted insurance investigator, to an unkempt, loosely dressed vigilante. He previously had an occupation that involved seeing through lies. Now those skills are useful in protecting himself from others, but he cannot see through his own lies. Leonard is able to write himself a note knowing it is a lie and read it later believing it as absolute truth. Since he is dependent on his “facts” he writes down, he acts upon these lies without any conflict of conscience.

When a man, Teddy, helping him find the killer/rapist tells him that the real attacker was found years ago but Leonard did not remember killing him, Leonard is stunned into disbelief. He is furthermore when his memory of his wife dying was revealed false, because his wife survived the attack. When confronted with the possibility that memories he believed were real were challenged, Leonard intentionally left himself notes that would later lead him to believe that Teddy was the real killer. He even admits to himself that he is lying to cause his own happiness. While this statement will fade in Leonard’s mind, it does show a change in his character. He can no longer be seen as the hero avenging his wife, but as a man on an imaginary quest designed merely to occupy his otherwise meaningless life.

Shoemaker acknowledges that there can be false memories or as he called them memory illusions. Leonard basing all his “facts” on intuition or hearsay (from others or himself) forges false memories constantly. In addressing why memory illusions cannot be used as a basis for personal identity Shoemaker says, “...it is a necessary condition of a person’s remembering a past event that his apparent memory of that event should be caused, in an appropriate way, by that event itself.” By this he means events read about in books or on little Polaroid picture notes do not constitute real memories of an event. Shoemaker believes that identity through memory can only be established by “remembering from the inside.” This means that the memory is that of actually doing or having something oneself. Since Leonard is incapable of forming memories in his mind, he is thus unable to remember from the inside. Due to the fact that he can not establish a link psychologically or in memory to his past, his identity can never truly be established either.

Since no identity can be established, it is impossible, according to Lockean thought, for Leonard to bear any responsibility for his actions. Therefore, the three (or arguably four) murders committed by him during the film should not be bound to him morally. Lock wrote of one personality leaving a body and entering another using a prince and cobbler as example. Towards the question of moral responsibility Locke stated, “...everyone sees [the cobbler] would be the same person with the prince, accountable only for the prince’s actions.” Since based on the definition of identity offered by Shoemaker Leonard is vacuous of identity; he is to be held accountable for no ones actions. Since this poses a moral loophole too great to ignore, it could be argued that identity is not so determined by memory and psychological continuity. If that is the case, what does establish identity? Perhaps, it is the spirit or some other immaterial source that establishes identity. In the case of Leonard Shelby, the issue of memory and identity lead to virtually nowhere, but in the search for the answers a wealth of knowledge can be gained.

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