Film practice

Reflections on my film practice

As I intended in my film Memories Of Shiqi I wanted the audience to accept this film was a true story but leave them with questions, what is the real story?

Fargo: Director Ethan Coen first explained why the pair added the “true story” disclaimer to the film, saying, “We wanted to make a movie just in the genre of a true story movie. You don’t have to have a true story to make a true story movie.” (Bradley, 2016)

In my film, there are visual clues that indicate that Shiqi’s death may have been a possible outcome. Was this just to shock the audience with the main protagonist’s death or do the dates just signify the historical period that the film is concerned with? As an experimental filmmaker this is just one of my intentions, to create this uncertainty to leave the audience with a puzzle, is my film effectively an obituary? The film has a non-linear timeline, time is relative in my films there is a beginning and an end, but the sequence of the film is not a linear time sequence the visuals are not sequenced in a rigid order but the images are sometimes matched visually or by action or indeed location. Rees argues that “The notion of film as primarily a time-based art is central to the avant-garde, even though the shaping of time is common to all cinemas. But the experimental tradition puts film time at the core of its project.” (Rees, 2011: 6).

On reflection on my film practice  “Memories Of Shiqi “, is a product of both the combination of the different film capture technologies employed, analogue film and digital film and the editing processes. Context is not a major consideration with scenes of childhood revealed through the montage sequence is interspersed before and after with adult scenes, I am not attempting to create a linear time sequence. Locations also have meaning in the film but are not sequenced together juxtaposed between locations in Wuhan, China, and Lancaster, England. The images are linked through matching shots, making comparisons between time, the locations, and through the montage of images. However, I wanted to specifically match some of the visuals together so I would be able to juxtapose archival footage next to contemporary footage through actions. For example, the sequences of Shiqi skateboarding in the hallway of her home in Wuhan and sliding down the hallway of her temporary home in Lancaster. In another scene we see Shiqi walking, shielding her eyes from the sun using a hat, in editing using a vertical mask dividing the screen equally into two halves, the images are separated but combined on the screen, together each form one half of the screen a flashback of the other combined with a matching shot but separated by both the years and by locations.

Some of these editing processes were influenced by Soderbergh’s film The Limey (1999), with its discontinuous editing and manipulation of the timeline, and the reversal of the opening scenes and the end scenes. My film parallels this, the opening scene at the station is of Shiqi’s departure, she is shown waiting for a train at Lancaster station, yet later scenes show her at the Castle’s entrance. The audience may be confused and possibly incorrectly decides this opening scene is where Shiqi arrives, but there are no visuals of Shiqi arriving on a train only those of her and her suitcase on the station’s platform seemingly waiting for a train to depart. I originally had train sequences both at the beginning and end of the film, a conventional beginning, and a conventional end but I removed the train’s departure visuals intended as the end sequence and replaced it with a scene set in a hospital. The hospital scene is another possible ending to the film, the mise-en-scene, a typical hospital bed, medical instruments, and Shiqi wearing a gown, she appears to have breathing problems and she struggles to breathe with the aid of an oxygen mask, she also appears to die. This is a misdirection leading the audience to believe this is the actual ending of the film and at the same time reinforces the original misdirection attached to the dates in the opening credits, “A True Story”. I have assumed that the spectator watches my film in sequence, from the perspective of a linear timeline, there is a beginning and an end, a resolution, a classic Hollywood narrative but as Hayward states that

“In terms of perception, the movement-image is our linear experience of the film’s narrative. But, as we can also gather, this experience is not a passive one; the spectator enjoys multiple points of view; perception is thereby multiple, even though we have followed an essentially straightforward narrative (based on the principle of ‘what happens next?’).” (Hayward, 2018: 265).

As I have stated, my film does not truly follow the principles of the classic Hollywood narrative there is no true beginning or end, the film starts and finishes but there is no narrative just a non-linear sequence of visuals that inform. My intention was to create a montage of visuals elements for the spectator to assemble in order and determined from their unique perspective, effectively creating their own narrative and memory of the film. This by using the basis of collective memory and the acceptance that each social group forms a different memory based on their viewing experience. Bordwell argues that a montage is a form of narrative,

“One type of scene, no matter where it occurs in the film, is a highly overt mark of narration: the montage sequence. Its main purpose was to condense a large-scale process or an extensive passage of time so that a trip could be shown through a montage of travel stickers pasted onto a suitcase, or a trial rendered by a cascade of newspaper headlines.” (Bordwell, 2006: 49).

In Memories Of Shiqi montage is used to condense the passage of time with its sequence of childhood photographs covering the early years. Montage is also used to jump locations, between continents with video sequences from China, Europe, and the United Kingdom featuring in the film’s timeline matching shots, actions, and juxtaposing locations.

Film Practice contimues

Bibliography

Bloom, H. (2004) Christina Rossetti: Comprehensive Research and Study Guide (Bloom’s Major Poets). Chelsea House Pub (L).
Bordwell, D. (2006) The Way Hollywood Tells It. University of California Press.
Bordwell, D. (2017) Reinventing Hollywood: How 1940s Filmmakers Changed Movie Storytelling.
Bordwell, D., Thompson, K. and Smith, J. (2016) Film Art: Creativity, Technology, and Business, Film Art: An Introduction.
Bradley, B. (2016) The Coen Brothers Reveal ‘Fargo’ Is Based On A True Story After All | HuffPost UK Entertainment. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/coen-brothers-fargo-true-story_n_56de2c53e4b0ffe6f8ea78c4 (Accessed: 1 December 2021).
Colman, F. (2012) Film, theory and philosophy: The key thinkers, Film, Theory and Philosophy: The Key Thinkers. doi: 10.5860/choice.48-0157.
Daniels, G. (2014) ‘Memory, Place and Subjectivity : Experiments in Independent Documentary Filmmaking’, (May), p. 235.
Halbwachs, M. (1992) On collective memory. Edited by L. A. Coser. University of Chicago Press (Heritage of sociology).
Hayward, S. (2018) Cinema Studies The Key Concepts. Fitth, Book. Fitth.
Hielscher, Eva; Jacobs, Steven; Kinik, A. (2019) The City Symphony Phenomenon: cinema, art, and urban modernity between the wars. Routledge.
Hutchinson, P. (2017) Where to begin with city symphonies | BFI, BFI. Available at: https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/where-begin-city-symphonies (Accessed: 14 March 2022).
Keating, Patrick (2014) Cinematography. Edited by P. Keating. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press (Behind the Silver Screen ; 3).
Pramaggiore, M. (2008) Film : a critical introduction. 2nd ed. Edited by T. Wallis. London: Laurence King.
Rees, A. L. (2011) A History of Experimental Film and Video, A History of Experimental Film and Video. doi: 10.5040/9781838710637.
Sitney, P. A. (2002) Visionary Film The American Avant-garde, 1943-2000, Film. Oxford University Press.

• Experimental Film Practice – Memories Of Shiqi et al
• Avant-Garde and the Experimental Film

 

Chapter 3 Draft 1.1a
Collective Memory (include Cultural Memory?)
Chapter Introduction (Draft)

The previous chapter defined prosthetic memory and through case studies expanded upon the memory concept of prosthetic memory in film. In this chapter on collective memory, I will expand upon the definition of collective memory and how this relates to prosthetic memory. Collective memory is important as many of our memories are shared memories of events that we may have directly experienced in groups or as prosthetic memories, prosthetic memories not directly experienced but also gained through a shared experience in groups. The effect of mass media recounting events in history and shared in for example films and Cinema.
Halbwachs considered how we remember; he states that remembrance, how we remember is through other people who recall these events to us. He goes onto say “Even in those instances when others are not physically present and we evoke an event that had a place in the life of our group, it might be granted that we can speak of collective memory because we once envisaged
that event, as we still do now in the moment we recall it, from the viewpoint of this group.” (Halbwachs, 1980: 16)

Collective memory is narrational: Memory must be structured within a familiar cultural pattern. In most cases, it takes the well-known narrative form, including a storyline featuring a beginning, a chain of developing events, and an ending, as well as protagonists who are called upon to overcome obstacles and so forth. Moreover, the adoption of a narrative structure enables creators of accounts that address the past to charge these tales with lessons and morals that guide and instruct mnemonic communities in the present. (Neiger, Meyers and Zandberg, 2011)

Collective memory can be defined as a memory that is a shared memory with others, family groups, unrelated by this I mean social groups for example a cinema audience formed of people. This audience could be of any size including a national and international audience of events that people have experienced either directly or not directly (as a prosthetic memory). However, this definition needs to be expanded upon.
Halbwachs was, without doubt, the first sociologist who stressed that
our conceptions of the past are affected by the mental images we employ to solve present problems, so that collective memory is essentially a reconstruction of the past in the light of the present. (Levine and Janowitz, 1992: 34)

Halbwachs argues that the individual calls recollections to mind by relying on the frameworks of social memory. In other words, the various groups that compose society are capable at every moment of reconstructing their past. (Levine and Janowitz, ed, 1992: 182) This quotation appears to tie in closely with my previous statement by Halbwachs of how people remember events through the recall, retelling of their memories of events from a group within society.
Maurice Halbwachs is generally recognized as the father of collective memory research. Halbwachs developed the concept of collective memory, arguing that individual memories are only understood within the context of a group, unifying the nation or community through time and space. (García-Gavilanes et al., 2017: 1)

Maurice Halbwachs was a sociologist, and a student of Durkheim, in his book “On Collective Memory” (Halbwachs, 1992). He argues that all our personal memories are recorded through the filter of our collective and social memories. This implies that our collective memories are remembered in the form of a narrative and therefore may be inaccurately remembered and as such, unreliable. Consider how collective memories may be unreliable collective memories because these memories may be formed as a narrative, sourced from multiple sources, for example, the media; indirectly passed on from multiple sources, augmented, embellished, and forwarded on essentially as truth.
In contemporary memory studies, the focus falls not only on individual, private memory, but on historical, social, cultural, and popular memory, too. Theorists speak with apparent ease indeed, of the collective or social domains of memory. (Radstone and Hodgkin, 2003: 2)

Radstone argues this concept of collective memory as a collection of memories formed by individuals, cultures and within the social domains of the people this memory by this I mean a collective memory may be formed from a cultural and nationalistic viewpoint, for example, the winners of a war get to write the history. Cinema has a special place in the formation of collective memories as I have previously argued, cinema enjoys a privileged position with regards to memory. The spectator watches a film, a non-fictional account of an event, or even a dramatisation of a past or cultural event, but cinema can represent all of these presented and perceived as reality. The Cinema environment specialises in the representation of fiction as reality with the suspension of disbelief one of its prime aims, encouraging the audience to believe in its own version of reality. Halbwachs developed the concept of collective memory influenced by the French sociologist, Emile Durkheim. Durkheim developed his theories of “collective effervescence” and social memory, and while these theories are not directly attributed to the notion of collective memory Durkheim did subscribe indirectly to the concept of Cinema and its influence in stating that “… that history does not consist of a series of discrete snapshots, but rather of a continuous film in which, even though other images usually appear, the shots hang together and form a continuous stream of images…” (Levine and Janowitz, 1992: 26) This appears to tie in with the argument that Cinema through the many versions of films can represent many versions of past events, for example, consider the Western genre the films a fantastical setting and retelling of myths. In the early westerns, Hollywood studios typically present the good and the bad, but where good always wins. While this worked for early western films, in contemporary Westerns, which tend to have a grittier feel, and reveal a life of hard work and where the good do not always win, a more realistic version of life is depicted. However, each version regardless of which decade they are produced adds to the collective memory of the historical/mythical events represented in these films. Neither version is probably accurate and has any relationship to reality, yet people form collective memories of America and the wild west from the scenes and scenarios depicted in these films. As in most of these historical events, no one is alive from these times and there can be no direct experience, no direct memory, just a combination of historical records, and fictional narratives which can over time be far from reality, and difficult to reconcile with the limited factual records. Collective memory by definition means a shared memory of events, but this memory is independent of truth or reality, it is just a shared memory of an event or events either experienced directly or not in social groups.
“Just as prosthetic memories blur the boundary between individual and collective memory, they also complicate the distinction between memory and history.” (Landsberg, 2004)

Collective memory and prosthetic memory are directly related to each other as collective memories can be formed from prosthetic memories. Landsberg argues that memory and history and the distinction between them is complicated by how we remember. History is recorded through the multiple forms of mass media in the same way that prosthetic memories are formed. When it is impossible to have lived these historic events, the memories of these events can be formed from a variety of historical sources including films, documentary and film dramatisations, photographs, and written accounts. In the case of our collective memory of these historic events, these are also formed through the consumption of these historic records, for example, formulated from archival film and film dramatisations. This appears to tie in with as I argued in the previous chapter on prosthetic memory, memories of past events are formed from mass media and other sources, for example, television and cinema. These forms of media, which reach thousands indeed millions, these mass audiences will form collective memories of these events regardless of truth and reality depicted through televised programs and film. Cinema as I previously stated can promote fiction as reality using the combination of imagery and narrative, projected to the screen in this unique environment, films of historic events through dramatisation. From this a Cinema audience will form a collective memory of events some will remember this as a recounting of reality and others a narrative of possible events, half-truths, and pure fiction, from this viewpoint it should be made clear that as individuals they may not have the exact same memories even though they were collectively consumed.
Cinema, in effect, seems to evoke the emotional certitude we associate with memory for, like memory, the film is now, to a greater extent than before, associated with the body; it engages the viewer at the somatic level, immersing the spectator in experiences and impressions that, like memories, seem to be burned in. (Grainge, 2018: 223)

Emotional response to collective memory is important, we are inclined to believe where we emotionally have some investment and attachment to an event, an example would be a positive representation of an event in history from a unique cultural viewpoint. This could be represented in a War film where the army of your own nation wins the battle and/or succeeds in their challenge. Annette Kuhn discusses collective memory and cinema in the journal “Memories of cinemagoing and film experience” which includes research by Annamaria Dutceac Segesten and Jenny Wüstenberg (2016: 9) which identifies film, media, and communication studies as among the ‘prominent fields’ within the discipline. This is not surprising, given that over the past century collective memory has been crucially informed by all forms of mass media, including and perhaps especially audio-visual media like cinema and now includes social media and video hosting platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. She states that “Memory studies is a multi- and at times the interdisciplinary area of inquiry that takes as its objects the processes by which collective memory is shaped in different cultures; the ways in which societies institutionalize collective memory through commemorations of the past in museums, festivals, and so on; and the part played by these activities in producing various forms of social and cultural identity.” (Kuhn, Biltereyst and Meers, 2017: 3-4). This links into the concept of cultural memory where the cultural perspective and associated collective memory may well differ from the cultural perspective. For example, in war films, for example, the German cultural perspective in the film Das Boot (1981) and Cross of Iron (1977). The despair depicted in these film examples as Germany begins to lose the submarine war in the Atlantic and its armies defeat in Russia. This compared with the positive viewpoint depicted in films such as, In Which We Serve (1942) and Dunkirk (2017) from the British perspective. However ironically in both British films, defeat is shown in from a positive cultural aspect, the warship In Which We Serve is sunk by a German submarine and its crew in flashback relive the commissioning of the ship and their survival to fight again, while the film Dunkirk depicts the desperate evacuation of the British army from its defeat by the German army in France only to live and fight again.

Bibliography

García-Gavilanes, R. et al. (2017) ‘The memory remains: Understanding collective memory in the digital age’, Science Advances. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 3(4). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1602368.
Grainge, P. (2018) ‘Memory and popular film’, in Memory and popular film. doi: 10.1111/j.1537-4726.2004.141_16.x.
Halbwachs, M. (1980) The Collective Memory. Harper & Row.
Halbwachs, M. (1992) On collective memory. Edited by L. A. Coser. University of Chicago Press (Heritage of sociology).
Kuhn, A., Biltereyst, D. and Meers, P. (2017) ‘Memories of cinemagoing and film experience: An introduction’, Memory Studies, 10(1), pp. 3–16. doi: 10.1177/1750698016670783.
Landsberg, A. (2004) Prosthetic Memory : The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=107227&site=ehost-live&authtype=ip,shib&user=s1523151.
Levine, D. N. and Janowitz, M. (1992) Collective memory, Library and Information Science Research. Edited by D. N. Levine and M. Janowitz. Chicago Press. doi: 10.1016/j.lisr.2016.08.010.
Neiger, M., Meyers, O. and Zandberg, E. (2011) ‘On Media Memory: Editors’ Introduction’, On Media Memory, pp. 1–24. doi: 10.1057/9780230307070_1.
Radstone, S. and Hodgkin, K. (2003) Regimes of memory, Regimes of Memory. doi: 10.4324/9780203391532.

 

 

An experimental film. Exploring the different textures between film and digital video. The film was shot on a Super 8 clockwork 1960s vintage camera and the archival footage was shot on a variety of mobile phones from over the preceding 2 decades.

Prosthetic Memory

Prosthetic Memory, one of the most important concepts of memory is the acceptance that memory is mediated, we construct memories rather than recall a past event inexactitude. These memories are constructed from our senses, like looking back to the past by watching a blurred and silent Super 8 movie. As Sprengnether the poet, memoirist, and literary critic quotes Freud by arguing that memory is constructed. In reference to Freud’s “Screen Memories “, “Memory, according to both Freud and Schacter, Is a shapeshifter, constantly revising itself under the pressures of self-censorship (Freud) and/or the changing ground of life experience (Schacter)”. (Sprengnether, 2012: 232)

As my research progresses deeper into the conceptualisation of memory in film, I explored the idea of prosthetic memories as memories of events not directly experienced by the individual but obtained using mass media. I determined that there were many forms of mass media that could create prosthetic memories for example novels and photographs, but primarily concentrated my research on the mass media, cinema, and film. Considering the case studies, across different film genres it becomes apparent that the terminology used for memory was insufficient and needed to be expanded upon to define the variances of memory conceptualisation in films. For example, the term false memories definition was expanded upon to integrate the concept for the imprinting of memories using brainwashing techniques. Genetic memory while still, an open point of debate in the medical world appeared to perfectly describe the transfer and eventual emergence of memories from a human host to a bioengineered lifeform that is cloned.

Examples of bioengineered lifeforms becoming functionally aware with memories of the genetic material donor, developing abilities to do things without knowing where these memories and life experiences were coming from. Then the term synthetic memories seemed to appropriately describe manufactured memories used to imprint the memories in replicants as in the films Blade Runner, and prosthetic memories of life experiences not lived, for example, a memory of a vacation on Mars in Total Recall. The discussion around prosthetic memories then introduced second-order memories where the protagonist wore two sets of memories and therefore two separate identities. The spy with the second set of memories could be triggered by a key phrase switching to the second level memories and the false identity created through brainwashing.

There’s still an unresolved issue with the use of audio and visual images of the protagonist who is revealed engaged in events set in the past but who has no memory of. This event from the past is shown through a visual recording of the protagonist talking to a future version of themselves. The term visual memories do not truly define this concept, however, the term visual recorded memories appear closer to a true description of this form of memory recall.

The concept of prosthetic memory feeds directly into the next chapter on collective memory. The use of mass media to form memories in a collective audience, while not all will have the same experience or memory they will acquire memories, the collective memory of events delivered through the uniqueness and privileged environment of the cinema.

Bibliography

Anon (2017) Ghost in the Shell (2017) – Quotes – IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219827/quotes?ref_=tttrv_sa_3 (Accessed: 21 January 2020).
Bordwell, D. (2006) The Way Hollywood Tells It. University of California Press.
Burgoyne, R. (2003) ‘Memory, history and digital imagery in contemporary film’, in Grainge, P. (ed.) Memory and popular film.
‘Enterprise’ Similitude (TV Episode 2003) – IMDb (no date). Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0572236/?ref_=ttep_ep10 (Accessed: 7 March 2021).
Evans, J. (2011) Top 5 Sci-Fi Movies About Cloning. Available at: https://sciencefiction.com/2011/12/08/top-5-sci-fi-movies-about-cloning/ (Accessed: 7 February 2021).
Gateward, F. (2004) Genders OnLine Journal – Presenting innovative theories in art, literature, history, music, TV and film., Genders Online Journal. Available at: https://cdn.atria.nl/ezines/IAV_606661/IAV_606661_2010_51/g40_gateward.html (Accessed: 17 February 2021).
Grainge, P. (2018) ‘Memory and popular film’, in Memory and popular film. doi: 10.1111/j.1537-4726.2004.141_16.x.
Hayward, S. (2018) Cinema Studies The Key Concepts. Fitth, Book. Fitth.
Hiatt, B. (2003) Answers to ‘“Matrix Reloaded”’ burning questions | EW.com. Available at: https://ew.com/article/2003/05/23/answers-matrix-reloaded-burning-questions/ (Accessed: 6 February 2021).
Kilbourn, R. (2019) ‘RE-WRITING ” REALITY “: READING ” THE MATRIX ” Author ( s ): RUSSELL J . A . KILBOURN Source : Revue Canadienne d ’ Études cinématographiques / Canadian Journal of Film Studies , Published by : University of Toronto Press Stable URL : https://www.jstor.or’, 9(2), pp. 43–54.
Landsberg, A. (2004) Prosthetic Memory : The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=107227&site=ehost-live&authtype=ip,shib&user=s1523151.
Landsberg, A. (2016) ‘Prosthetic Memory: Total Recall and Blade Runner’, Body & society. SAGE Publications, 1(3–4), pp. 175–189. doi: 10.1177/1357034×95001003010.
Lopes, M. M., Ncc, I. and Bastos, P. B. (2019) ‘Memory ( Enhancement ) and Cinema : an exploratory creative overview’.
Lury, C. (2013) Prosthetic Culture, Prosthetic Culture. doi: 10.4324/9780203425251.
Opam, K. (2017) Ghost in the Shell review: a solid film built on a broken foundation – The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15114902/ghost-in-the-shell-review-scarlett-johansson (Accessed: 21 January 2020).
Radstone, S. (2010) ‘Cinema and memory’, in Memory: Histories, Theories, Debates. Fordham University Press, pp. 325–342.
Radstone, S. and Hodgkin, K. (2003) Regimes of memory, Regimes of Memory. doi: 10.4324/9780203391532.
Radstone, Sussanah and Schwarz, B. (2010) ‘Memory’, in Radstone, Susannah and Shwarz, B. (eds), pp. 325–342.
replicant, n. : Oxford English Dictionary (no date). Available at: https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/162877?redirectedFrom=replicant#eid (Accessed: 22 April 2020).
Rife, S. (2014) Oblivion: Trouble with Cinematic Memory – Offscreen, Offscreen. Available at: https://offscreen.com/view/oblivion-cinematic-memory (Accessed: 4 February 2021).
Ripley 8 | Alien Anthology Wiki | Fandom (no date). Available at: https://alienanthology.fandom.com/wiki/Ripley_8 (Accessed: 6 February 2021).
Schwab, G. (1987) ‘Cyborgs. Postmodern Phantasms of Body and Mind’, Discourse, 9, pp. 64–84. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41389089.
Sloat, S. (2017) False Memories in ‘Blade Runner’ Could’ve Been Solved with Science. Available at: https://www.inverse.com/article/37496-blade-runner-2049-false-memories-ryan-gosling (Accessed: 16 March 2020).
Spies Like Us: Harry Palmer, the Everyday Hero of ‘The Ipcress File’ • Cinephilia & Beyond (no date). Available at: https://cinephiliabeyond.org/spies-like-us-harry-palmer-everyday-hero-ipcress-file/ (Accessed: 1 February 2021).
Sprengnether, M. (2012) ‘Freud as memoirist: A reading of “Screen Memories”’, American Imago, 69(2), pp. 215–239. doi: 10.1353/aim.2012.0008.
Treffert, D. (2015) Genetic Memory: How We Know Things We Never Learned – Scientific American Blog Network. Available at: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/genetic-memory-how-we-know-things-we-never-learned/ (Accessed: 4 February 2021).
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Prosthetic memories and Visual Memory – Chapter 2 draft

Prosthetic Memory Chapter 2 draft Pt4

Spy Films and Brainwashing

The Ipcress File (1965) Directed by Sidney J. Furie and beautifully shot by Otto Heller, is a spy film with brainwashing as the central theme. Harry Palmer is tasked to recover a highly valued British scientist that has been kidnapped. Otto Heller makes extensive use of framing, filming through the windows of a telephone box, car windows, and doors a reflection in a car mirror alternating with Dutch angles. Bordwell in the context of film style in the 1960s and comparing with French New Wave films by Jean Luc Goddard was prompted to say that, in “[t]he Ipcress File (1965), Sidney J. Furie filmed through telephone booths and hanging lampshades, prompting Michael Caine to call him a member of the “Look, Ma, I’m directing” school”. (Bordwell, 2006: 182). These framing techniques add together to disorientate the spectator. The cinematography seemingly prepares the spectator for the disorientation that comes in the brainwashing scenes.

The Ipcress File wasn’t the first time anyone had used Dutch angles or foregrounded objects in the frame, but it’s the brilliant way Furie does it, marrying technique to atmosphere and storytelling that elevates it to such a degree . . . “ (Spies Like Us: Harry Palmer, the Everyday Hero of ‘The Ipcress File’ • Cinephilia & Beyond, no date)

The kidnapped scientist is recovered but appears to have lost the ability to recall his research, the memories have gone, a victim of the brainwashing techniques known as IPCRESS. Harry following up on a lead calls for a raid on a warehouse where he thinks the scientist may have been held and also the location of the people responsible for the kidnapping. But the warehouse is empty except for a metal frame hanging from the ceiling and a small length of audiotape marked IPCRESS. The audiotape has the words IPCRESS printed on it, it is partially burnt where the people from the warehouse were in a hurry to leave, burning everything that could be used to identify them. The audiotape recovered in the search of the warehouse is investigated and when played back in a continuous loop a recurring sound is heard, not music but a sequence of sounds appearing to be meaningless. Harry after the murder of his associate thinks he is the next target and decides to run. Harry is abducted and incarcerated in a jail seemingly situated somewhere in the Eastern Bloc, presumably behind the Iron Curtain, his only physical contact being the guards wearing Eastern European uniforms and speaking a non-English language and his interrogator speaking English but with an accent. The guards are later identified as being Albanian by one of the main protagonists and the suggestion is that Palmer is now incarcerated in Albania. Palmer after days of solitary confinement, cold and starved is removed from his cell and placed into a cube suspended from a frame above the floor similar to the one found in the empty warehouse.

The cube is formed from a translucent cinema screen type of material onto which moving images, zooming in and out are projected on the sides of the cube. This combined with a disorientating soundtrack, the same sound heard on the IPCRESS audiotapes. The effect of this audio-visual confusion is to imprint false memories, brainwashing. Harry uses pain from repeatedly forcing a nail into the palm of his hand to concentrate his mind, focussing on the pain while deceiving his interrogator, responding as if the brainwashing had been successful. Lopes considers the effect of substituting memories and states, “ . . . [f]ilms directly address the threshold of reality and fiction; a memory from first-hand experience or construction from another mediated memory. (Lopes, Ncc, and Bastos, 2019: 2).

This also ties in with the idea of prosthetic memories. The false prosthetic memories that are imprinted through the brainwashing, essentially these are that Harry has betrayed his country, he is a traitor, that he has killed agents allied to his country. That he has stolen the IPCRESS file and sold it to an enemy of his country. These false memories, that is his prosthetic memories, combined with the trigger phrase words ‘now listen to me’ are used by the real traitor and double agent to control Harry’s actions, by forcing him to attempt to kill his boss. Harry who had resisted the brainwashing using pain as a distraction, shoots the real traitor instead. Other films with a similar trope are the Manchurian Candidate (1962) directed by John Frankenheimer and the remake of the same name Manchurian Candidate (2014) directed by Jonathan Demme.

Bibliography

Anon (2017) Ghost in the Shell (2017) – Quotes – IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219827/quotes?ref_=tttrv_sa_3 (Accessed: 21 January 2020).
Bordwell, D. (2006) The Way Hollywood Tells It. University of California Press.
Burgoyne, R. (2003) ‘Memory, history and digital imagery in contemporary film’, in Grainge, P. (ed.) Memory and popular film.
‘Enterprise’ Similitude (TV Episode 2003) – IMDb (no date). Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0572236/?ref_=ttep_ep10 (Accessed: 7 March 2021).
Evans, J. (2011) Top 5 Sci-Fi Movies About Cloning. Available at: https://sciencefiction.com/2011/12/08/top-5-sci-fi-movies-about-cloning/ (Accessed: 7 February 2021).
Gateward, F. (2004) Genders OnLine Journal – Presenting innovative theories in art, literature, history, music, TV and film., Genders Online Journal. Available at: https://cdn.atria.nl/ezines/IAV_606661/IAV_606661_2010_51/g40_gateward.html (Accessed: 17 February 2021).
Grainge, P. (2018) ‘Memory and popular film’, in Memory and popular film. doi: 10.1111/j.1537-4726.2004.141_16.x.
Hayward, S. (2018) Cinema Studies The Key Concepts. Fitth, Book. Fitth.
Hiatt, B. (2003) Answers to ‘“Matrix Reloaded”’ burning questions | EW.com. Available at: https://ew.com/article/2003/05/23/answers-matrix-reloaded-burning-questions/ (Accessed: 6 February 2021).
Kilbourn, R. (2019) ‘RE-WRITING ” REALITY “: READING ” THE MATRIX ” Author ( s ): RUSSELL J . A . KILBOURN Source : Revue Canadienne d ’ Études cinématographiques / Canadian Journal of Film Studies , Published by : University of Toronto Press Stable URL : https://www.jstor.or’, 9(2), pp. 43–54.
Landsberg, A. (2004) Prosthetic Memory : The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=107227&site=ehost-live&authtype=ip,shib&user=s1523151.
Landsberg, A. (2016) ‘Prosthetic Memory: Total Recall and Blade Runner’, Body & society. SAGE Publications, 1(3–4), pp. 175–189. doi: 10.1177/1357034×95001003010.
Lopes, M. M., Ncc, I. and Bastos, P. B. (2019) ‘Memory ( Enhancement ) and Cinema : an exploratory creative overview’.
Lury, C. (2013) Prosthetic Culture, Prosthetic Culture. doi: 10.4324/9780203425251.
Opam, K. (2017) Ghost in the Shell review: a solid film built on a broken foundation – The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15114902/ghost-in-the-shell-review-scarlett-johansson (Accessed: 21 January 2020).
Radstone, S. (2010) ‘Cinema and memory’, in Memory: Histories, Theories, Debates. Fordham University Press, pp. 325–342.
Radstone, S. and Hodgkin, K. (2003) Regimes of memory, Regimes of Memory. doi: 10.4324/9780203391532.
Radstone, Sussanah and Schwarz, B. (2010) ‘Memory’, in Radstone, Susannah and Shwarz, B. (eds), pp. 325–342.
replicant, n. : Oxford English Dictionary (no date). Available at: https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/162877?redirectedFrom=replicant#eid (Accessed: 22 April 2020).
Rife, S. (2014) Oblivion: Trouble with Cinematic Memory – Offscreen, Offscreen. Available at: https://offscreen.com/view/oblivion-cinematic-memory (Accessed: 4 February 2021).
Ripley 8 | Alien Anthology Wiki | Fandom (no date). Available at: https://alienanthology.fandom.com/wiki/Ripley_8 (Accessed: 6 February 2021).
Schwab, G. (1987) ‘Cyborgs. Postmodern Phantasms of Body and Mind’, Discourse, 9, pp. 64–84. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41389089.
Sloat, S. (2017) False Memories in ‘Blade Runner’ Could’ve Been Solved with Science. Available at: https://www.inverse.com/article/37496-blade-runner-2049-false-memories-ryan-gosling (Accessed: 16 March 2020).
Spies Like Us: Harry Palmer, the Everyday Hero of ‘The Ipcress File’ • Cinephilia & Beyond (no date). Available at: https://cinephiliabeyond.org/spies-like-us-harry-palmer-everyday-hero-ipcress-file/ (Accessed: 1 February 2021).
Sprengnether, M. (2012) ‘Freud as memoirist: A reading of “Screen Memories”’, American Imago, 69(2), pp. 215–239. doi: 10.1353/aim.2012.0008.
Treffert, D. (2015) Genetic Memory: How We Know Things We Never Learned – Scientific American Blog Network. Available at: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/genetic-memory-how-we-know-things-we-never-learned/ (Accessed: 4 February 2021).
Warner Brothers (2017) Blade Runner 2049 (2017) – IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 (Accessed: 5 May 2020).

 

Second order memory

Electronic or audio-visual ‘lieux de memoire’ (sites of memory) have
created a kind of second order memory system that is fast becoming
a second order reality. (Grainge, 2018: 225)

This is an interesting statement a slight deviation from the prosthetic memory argument, but somewhat aligned, the idea of a second order memory system.

One individual with two memories, one real memory one not, possibly prosthetic this suggests that such an individual would also have dual identities too. When considering films with brainwashing as a central theme, false memories are imprinted into the protagonist’s brain through the use of audio and visual methods, these prosthetic memories form a ‘second order memory’ for the subject. In effect a second identity, a dual identity this second identity usually a significant departure from the protagonist’s true identity and reality.

For example, in the film Ghost in the Shell (2017) Major’s short-term memories are prosthetic, upon activation her consciousness was derived from these memories, her imprinted memories and the role as a Sector 9 operative dominates her life and creates a false identity. This false identity created by the scientists to weaponize her, to use her abilities to uphold the law against terrorists, just like the ones that caused the drowning of her parents and almost her own death. Gradually her real memories (her genetic memory) and identity leak through the prosthetic memory imprint, her second order memories revealed in flashbacks up to now begin to take over. Her second order memories become first order memories as the memory leak takes over and Major realises her life since actuation as a cyborg is a lie.

This argument offers possibilities to expand the terminology for this type of memory in films. I would suggest that prosthetic memories are interchangeable with false memories in this case but with the caveat that not all prosthetic memories are false memories. When the protagonist is imprinted with false memories then as Radstone argues the link between false and prosthetic memories can be argued.

In problematising oppositions between authentic and false memories, and between real and virtual experience, theories of cinema and prosthetic memory usher in a world in which prosthetic memories can enhance understanding of others . . . “ (Radstone and Schwarz, 2016: 355)

Bibliography

Anon (2017) Ghost in the Shell (2017) – Quotes – IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219827/quotes?ref_=tttrv_sa_3 (Accessed: 21 January 2020).
Bordwell, D. (2006) The Way Hollywood Tells It. University of California Press.
Burgoyne, R. (2003) ‘Memory, history and digital imagery in contemporary film’, in Grainge, P. (ed.) Memory and popular film.
‘Enterprise’ Similitude (TV Episode 2003) – IMDb (no date). Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0572236/?ref_=ttep_ep10 (Accessed: 7 March 2021).
Evans, J. (2011) Top 5 Sci-Fi Movies About Cloning. Available at: https://sciencefiction.com/2011/12/08/top-5-sci-fi-movies-about-cloning/ (Accessed: 7 February 2021).
Gateward, F. (2004) Genders OnLine Journal – Presenting innovative theories in art, literature, history, music, TV and film., Genders Online Journal. Available at: https://cdn.atria.nl/ezines/IAV_606661/IAV_606661_2010_51/g40_gateward.html (Accessed: 17 February 2021).
Grainge, P. (2018) ‘Memory and popular film’, in Memory and popular film. doi: 10.1111/j.1537-4726.2004.141_16.x.
Hayward, S. (2018) Cinema Studies The Key Concepts. Fitth, Book. Fitth.
Hiatt, B. (2003) Answers to ‘“Matrix Reloaded”’ burning questions | EW.com. Available at: https://ew.com/article/2003/05/23/answers-matrix-reloaded-burning-questions/ (Accessed: 6 February 2021).
Kilbourn, R. (2019) ‘RE-WRITING ” REALITY “: READING ” THE MATRIX ” Author ( s ): RUSSELL J . A . KILBOURN Source : Revue Canadienne d ’ Études cinématographiques / Canadian Journal of Film Studies , Published by : University of Toronto Press Stable URL : https://www.jstor.or’, 9(2), pp. 43–54.
Landsberg, A. (2004) Prosthetic Memory : The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=107227&site=ehost-live&authtype=ip,shib&user=s1523151.
Landsberg, A. (2016) ‘Prosthetic Memory: Total Recall and Blade Runner’, Body & society. SAGE Publications, 1(3–4), pp. 175–189. doi: 10.1177/1357034×95001003010.
Lopes, M. M., Ncc, I. and Bastos, P. B. (2019) ‘Memory ( Enhancement ) and Cinema : an exploratory creative overview’.
Lury, C. (2013) Prosthetic Culture, Prosthetic Culture. doi: 10.4324/9780203425251.
Opam, K. (2017) Ghost in the Shell review: a solid film built on a broken foundation – The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15114902/ghost-in-the-shell-review-scarlett-johansson (Accessed: 21 January 2020).
Radstone, S. (2010) ‘Cinema and memory’, in Memory: Histories, Theories, Debates. Fordham University Press, pp. 325–342.
Radstone, S. and Hodgkin, K. (2003) Regimes of memory, Regimes of Memory. doi: 10.4324/9780203391532.
Radstone, Sussanah and Schwarz, B. (2010) ‘Memory’, in Radstone, Susannah and Shwarz, B. (eds), pp. 325–342.
replicant, n. : Oxford English Dictionary (no date). Available at: https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/162877?redirectedFrom=replicant#eid (Accessed: 22 April 2020).
Rife, S. (2014) Oblivion: Trouble with Cinematic Memory – Offscreen, Offscreen. Available at: https://offscreen.com/view/oblivion-cinematic-memory (Accessed: 4 February 2021).
Ripley 8 | Alien Anthology Wiki | Fandom (no date). Available at: https://alienanthology.fandom.com/wiki/Ripley_8 (Accessed: 6 February 2021).
Schwab, G. (1987) ‘Cyborgs. Postmodern Phantasms of Body and Mind’, Discourse, 9, pp. 64–84. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41389089.
Sloat, S. (2017) False Memories in ‘Blade Runner’ Could’ve Been Solved with Science. Available at: https://www.inverse.com/article/37496-blade-runner-2049-false-memories-ryan-gosling (Accessed: 16 March 2020).
Spies Like Us: Harry Palmer, the Everyday Hero of ‘The Ipcress File’ • Cinephilia & Beyond (no date). Available at: https://cinephiliabeyond.org/spies-like-us-harry-palmer-everyday-hero-ipcress-file/ (Accessed: 1 February 2021).
Sprengnether, M. (2012) ‘Freud as memoirist: A reading of “Screen Memories”’, American Imago, 69(2), pp. 215–239. doi: 10.1353/aim.2012.0008.
Treffert, D. (2015) Genetic Memory: How We Know Things We Never Learned – Scientific American Blog Network. Available at: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/genetic-memory-how-we-know-things-we-never-learned/ (Accessed: 4 February 2021).
Warner Brothers (2017) Blade Runner 2049 (2017) – IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 (Accessed: 5 May 2020).

Vampires – Memories, it’s in the Blood

Horror film sub-genre – Vampire Films

As Gateward, Professor of Media Theory argues “[t]here are so many vampire films in fact, with so many shared conventions of iconography, theme, and character, that the vampire film has become a genre in itself. And as film studies have illustrated, no genre is stagnant – they are reshaped and re-articulated by cultural circumstance”. (Gateward, 2004).

Forming part of my earlier discussion on the concept of memories contained in the genetics of a human or bioengineered human such as Cyborgs and Clones, memory is in the DNA. This concept is also readily accepted in the assumption of the power of Blood memory in vampire films. There are examples in the Horror film genre in particular the myths and film conventions surrounding Dracula and Vampires. Conventions like the aversion to religious iconology, the cross, holy water a wooden stake, and more recently a wooden arrow to the heart as in Van Helsing (2004) Directed by Stephen Summers. As the Dracula myth is constantly reinvented and expanded upon one of the still true constants is Dracula’s fatal aversion to exposure to the sun, Dracula turns to ash as do all Vampires with just a few seconds of exposure.

Vampire – Blade

Blade (1998) is different as Blade is a Daywalker, immune from the terror of the Sun’s exposure. But this is a unique example of a vampire narrative where the vampire does not burn to ash upon exposure to the Sun. Blade isn’t a pure vampire he sits somewhere between vampire and human, he has all the strengths without the weaknesses. As Gateward states in her journal, “Blade, unlike the other vampires, who must rely on sunscreen to move about in the daylight, has no such sensitivity. The vampires in the film even use the term “Daywalker” as an epithet – analogous to half-breed throughout the film”. (Gateward, 2004).

Vampire – Dracula

The myth of Dracula remains true, Dracula on exposure to full daylight turns to dust but he is able to regenerate from his ashes using blood. Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966) Directed by Terence Fisher. In the resurrection scene, Dracula’s ashes are poured into an open stone coffin. Swinging above the open coffin is the body of the blood sacrifice, with a scalpel the throat is cut and the blood flows into the coffin. Dracula reforms from his ashes under the cover of smoke until finally he climbs fully reformed, clothed complete with cape and everything down to the ring on his finger. Dracula regenerates with his memories intact. This theme is explored in alternative vampire films without Dracula central to the narrative.

In films like Underworld (2003) the Vampire elders are able to extract memories from their victims by forcefully drinking their blood. They are also able to pass their memories down through the centuries through the sharing of blood, blood sorting.

Conan the Barbarian (2011) Directed by Marcus Nispel. While not in the theme of vampire films the link to tasting blood to access memories is explored in the protagonist, Zyms daughter, Marique who inherited her mother’s witch-like powers and can extract memories of her victims by scratching them with her extended fingernails and tasting the extracted blood to see memories as visions in the quest to track down Tamara the last surviving pure blood descendent of the sorcerers of Acheron. The memory is in the blood, the genetic memory. To clarify the vampire retains the memories of the victim through the taking of the blood yet rejuvenates as themselves.

Bibliography

Anon (2017) Ghost in the Shell (2017) – Quotes – IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219827/quotes?ref_=tttrv_sa_3 (Accessed: 21 January 2020).
Bordwell, D. (2006) The Way Hollywood Tells It. University of California Press.
Burgoyne, R. (2003) ‘Memory, history and digital imagery in contemporary film’, in Grainge, P. (ed.) Memory and popular film.
‘Enterprise’ Similitude (TV Episode 2003) – IMDb (no date). Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0572236/?ref_=ttep_ep10 (Accessed: 7 March 2021).
Evans, J. (2011) Top 5 Sci-Fi Movies About Cloning. Available at: https://sciencefiction.com/2011/12/08/top-5-sci-fi-movies-about-cloning/ (Accessed: 7 February 2021).
Gateward, F. (2004) Genders OnLine Journal – Presenting innovative theories in art, literature, history, music, TV and film., Genders Online Journal. Available at: https://cdn.atria.nl/ezines/IAV_606661/IAV_606661_2010_51/g40_gateward.html (Accessed: 17 February 2021).
Grainge, P. (2018) ‘Memory and popular film’, in Memory and popular film. doi: 10.1111/j.1537-4726.2004.141_16.x.
Hayward, S. (2018) Cinema Studies The Key Concepts. Fitth, Book. Fitth.
Hiatt, B. (2003) Answers to ‘“Matrix Reloaded”’ burning questions | EW.com. Available at: https://ew.com/article/2003/05/23/answers-matrix-reloaded-burning-questions/ (Accessed: 6 February 2021).
Kilbourn, R. (2019) ‘RE-WRITING ” REALITY “: READING ” THE MATRIX ” Author ( s ): RUSSELL J . A . KILBOURN Source : Revue Canadienne d ’ Études cinématographiques / Canadian Journal of Film Studies , Published by : University of Toronto Press Stable URL : https://www.jstor.or’, 9(2), pp. 43–54.
Landsberg, A. (2004) Prosthetic Memory : The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=107227&site=ehost-live&authtype=ip,shib&user=s1523151.
Landsberg, A. (2016) ‘Prosthetic Memory: Total Recall and Blade Runner’, Body & society. SAGE Publications, 1(3–4), pp. 175–189. doi: 10.1177/1357034×95001003010.
Lopes, M. M., Ncc, I. and Bastos, P. B. (2019) ‘Memory ( Enhancement ) and Cinema : an exploratory creative overview’.
Lury, C. (2013) Prosthetic Culture, Prosthetic Culture. doi: 10.4324/9780203425251.
Opam, K. (2017) Ghost in the Shell review: a solid film built on a broken foundation – The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15114902/ghost-in-the-shell-review-scarlett-johansson (Accessed: 21 January 2020).
Radstone, S. (2010) ‘Cinema and memory’, in Memory: Histories, Theories, Debates. Fordham University Press, pp. 325–342.
Radstone, S. and Hodgkin, K. (2003) Regimes of memory, Regimes of Memory. doi: 10.4324/9780203391532.
Radstone, Sussanah and Schwarz, B. (2010) ‘Memory’, in Radstone, Susannah and Shwarz, B. (eds), pp. 325–342.
replicant, n. : Oxford English Dictionary (no date). Available at: https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/162877?redirectedFrom=replicant#eid (Accessed: 22 April 2020).
Rife, S. (2014) Oblivion: Trouble with Cinematic Memory – Offscreen, Offscreen. Available at: https://offscreen.com/view/oblivion-cinematic-memory (Accessed: 4 February 2021).
Ripley 8 | Alien Anthology Wiki | Fandom (no date). Available at: https://alienanthology.fandom.com/wiki/Ripley_8 (Accessed: 6 February 2021).
Schwab, G. (1987) ‘Cyborgs. Postmodern Phantasms of Body and Mind’, Discourse, 9, pp. 64–84. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41389089.
Sloat, S. (2017) False Memories in ‘Blade Runner’ Could’ve Been Solved with Science. Available at: https://www.inverse.com/article/37496-blade-runner-2049-false-memories-ryan-gosling (Accessed: 16 March 2020).
Spies Like Us: Harry Palmer, the Everyday Hero of ‘The Ipcress File’ • Cinephilia & Beyond (no date). Available at: https://cinephiliabeyond.org/spies-like-us-harry-palmer-everyday-hero-ipcress-file/ (Accessed: 1 February 2021).
Sprengnether, M. (2012) ‘Freud as memoirist: A reading of “Screen Memories”’, American Imago, 69(2), pp. 215–239. doi: 10.1353/aim.2012.0008.
Treffert, D. (2015) Genetic Memory: How We Know Things We Never Learned – Scientific American Blog Network. Available at: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/genetic-memory-how-we-know-things-we-never-learned/ (Accessed: 4 February 2021).
Warner Brothers (2017) Blade Runner 2049 (2017) – IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 (Accessed: 5 May 2020).

 

Prosthetic memories and Visual Memory – Chapter 2 draft

Clones and Genetic Memories – Chapter 2 draft

Prosthetic memories and Visual Memory

The Maze Runner (2014) a science fiction sub-genre of the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic science fiction, is an example of how a prosthetic memory can change the direction of the narrative. How a false memory created through the use of a visual recording, a message from a past that the main protagonists did not live reveals and enlightens both the protagonists and spectators. The film opens with the main protagonist transferring to the surface from a subterranean location. The main protagonist, Thomas arrives with no memory alluding to his identity which in a few days he partially regains some memories limited to his name only. His memory has been wiped selectively, his name the only memory and identity that he knows, just like all the others. They do not know where they are in the world or the reason for their incarceration in this artificial environment, the Glade. They are determined to escape and so each day a team (the runners) explores the maze outside of the Glade, the aim to identify a route out of The Glade and escape back to the real world. Eventually, they escape only to find themselves in the laboratory, everyone appears to be dead, and the laboratory shows damage from a battle between the scientists and an unknown armed group. It is at this point when a visual recording starts to play. In the visual recording the scientist reveals that they have been the subjects of an experiment, the world is a ruin, destroyed by Sun flares and an unknown plague called the Flare, as the visual recording plays an armed battle is revealed playing out in the background. As the battle reaches a climax the scientist commits suicide in front of the camera rather than be captured.

But the visual recording is a falsehood its intention to create prosthetic memories in the small group of survivors. As the survivors are seemingly rescued from the laboratory the next scene reveals the scientist who killed herself in the visual recording is still alive and extorting to the other scientists that they are to prepare for stage 2 of the experiment. The staging of the armed assault in the laboratory and the formulation of memories of past events in the real world are essential in preparing the survivors for the next stage of the experiment. The visual recording is intended to manipulate the memories of the survivors. These survivors who because of what we have assumed to be selective memory wipes or the loss of short-term memory as they remember their names after a few days. They are not able to make a comparison between the real and prosthetic memories that they have been told through the scientist’s visual recording. For example, Burgoyne quotes Landsberg, “Landsberg argues that prosthetic memories, especially those afforded by the cinema, ‘become part of one’s personal archive of experience’.” (Burgoyne, 2003: 224). The visual recording achieves on several levels the effects of prosthetic memory. Firstly, it influences the actions of the protagonists and secondly the understanding of the spectator, as this is the only explanation of what happened to the real world. I have problems with prosthetic memory and visual recordings which include the main protagonist, as this would conflict with the definition of prosthetic memories, but this example does not.

However, in the following two examples I do have trouble coinciding the introduction and of the use of visual recording featuring the protagonist to represent memories that they have forgotten as prosthetic memories. In each case the protagonists have actually lived these memories, that is memories of events that they have forgotten and even though they are delivered by a form of mass media, that is visual recording they still believe do not reside within the definition of prosthetic memories. I featured both films in the Flashback section as they are recordings set in the past. Total Recall (1990) directed by Paul Verhoeven. In the scene where Douglas Quaid watches a visual recording of himself telling him that all of his memories are false, he is not married and not a construction worker but instead an agent actively working against Mars’s administrator Cohaagen. My problem with this visual recording revelation is that the main protagonist Douglas lived this event as he featured in the visual recording therefore it can be argued that these memories are not prosthetic memories even though he has no memory of them. This is an area that deserves to be expanded upon as the definition of prosthetic memory advanced by Landsberg seems limited.

The other example appears in the film Still Alice (2014) Directed by Richard Glatzer. My problem with this film is the suicide visual recording that Alice records for her future self. This visual recording is created for Alice to follow when her memory deteriorates to a set point determined by her daily memory questionnaire that she checks herself against on her mobile phone.

Visual Memory

My problem with this visual recording has the same issue I have for Total Recall as the protagonist features in the visual recording of this event, a memory that she has lived and therefore does not accommodate itself within the definition of prosthetic memory. This visual recording conflicts directly with one of the key elements of the prosthetic memory definition “ ( . . . ) a memory of events they did not live ( . . . . ) “ (Landsberg, 2016). This is another example of the difficulty of defining or of even finding the exact words to describe memory in film. In this case, another name and definition should be considered for this type of memory, perhaps Visual Memory?

Bibliography

Anon (2017) Ghost in the Shell (2017) – Quotes – IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219827/quotes?ref_=tttrv_sa_3 (Accessed: 21 January 2020).
Bordwell, D. (2006) The Way Hollywood Tells It. University of California Press.
Burgoyne, R. (2003) ‘Memory, history and digital imagery in contemporary film’, in Grainge, P. (ed.) Memory and popular film.
‘Enterprise’ Similitude (TV Episode 2003) – IMDb (no date). Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0572236/?ref_=ttep_ep10 (Accessed: 7 March 2021).
Evans, J. (2011) Top 5 Sci-Fi Movies About Cloning. Available at: https://sciencefiction.com/2011/12/08/top-5-sci-fi-movies-about-cloning/ (Accessed: 7 February 2021).
Gateward, F. (2004) Genders OnLine Journal – Presenting innovative theories in art, literature, history, music, TV and film., Genders Online Journal. Available at: https://cdn.atria.nl/ezines/IAV_606661/IAV_606661_2010_51/g40_gateward.html (Accessed: 17 February 2021).
Grainge, P. (2018) ‘Memory and popular film’, in Memory and popular film. doi: 10.1111/j.1537-4726.2004.141_16.x.
Hayward, S. (2018) Cinema Studies The Key Concepts. Fitth, Book. Fitth.
Hiatt, B. (2003) Answers to ‘“Matrix Reloaded”’ burning questions | EW.com. Available at: https://ew.com/article/2003/05/23/answers-matrix-reloaded-burning-questions/ (Accessed: 6 February 2021).
Kilbourn, R. (2019) ‘RE-WRITING ” REALITY “: READING ” THE MATRIX ” Author ( s ): RUSSELL J . A . KILBOURN Source : Revue Canadienne d ’ Études cinématographiques / Canadian Journal of Film Studies , Published by : University of Toronto Press Stable URL : https://www.jstor.or’, 9(2), pp. 43–54.
Landsberg, A. (2004) Prosthetic Memory : The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=107227&site=ehost-live&authtype=ip,shib&user=s1523151.
Landsberg, A. (2016) ‘Prosthetic Memory: Total Recall and Blade Runner’, Body & society. SAGE Publications, 1(3–4), pp. 175–189. doi: 10.1177/1357034×95001003010.
Lopes, M. M., Ncc, I. and Bastos, P. B. (2019) ‘Memory ( Enhancement ) and Cinema : an exploratory creative overview’.
Lury, C. (2013) Prosthetic Culture, Prosthetic Culture. doi: 10.4324/9780203425251.
Opam, K. (2017) Ghost in the Shell review: a solid film built on a broken foundation – The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15114902/ghost-in-the-shell-review-scarlett-johansson (Accessed: 21 January 2020).
Radstone, S. (2010) ‘Cinema and memory’, in Memory: Histories, Theories, Debates. Fordham University Press, pp. 325–342.
Radstone, S. and Hodgkin, K. (2003) Regimes of memory, Regimes of Memory. doi: 10.4324/9780203391532.
Radstone, Sussanah and Schwarz, B. (2010) ‘Memory’, in Radstone, Susannah and Shwarz, B. (eds), pp. 325–342.
replicant, n. : Oxford English Dictionary (no date). Available at: https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/162877?redirectedFrom=replicant#eid (Accessed: 22 April 2020).
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• Prosthetic Memory Chapter 2 draft Pt3
• Prosthetic Memory Chapter 2 draft Pt4