Chong 1 University of British Columbia

Subject M: The Influence of Photography on Christopher Nolans Memento

Kenneth Chong English Major Thesis Professor Glenn Deer 26th October, 2012

Chong 2 In the words of Roland Barthes Camera Lucida, the Photograph is dangerous(28). It could be said that there is no other modern film that subscribes to this adage as well as Christopher Nolans psychological thriller, Memento. While those four words from Camera Lucida can be taken literally in discussing the film, it is more apt to discuss the behaviors that lead to this connection between peril and photography. In particular, I wish to argue that Memento is an exploration of photographys relationship with memory and writing. In support of my argument, I will draw upon Barthes Camera Lucida, Lorraine Yorks A Message with a Code, and Susan Sontags On Photography. While these works do not directly discuss Memento, they give great insight into the psychology and sociology behind photography, aspects which are relevant not only to this paper but to any critical study of the film. Memento revolves around the thoughts and actions of Leonard Shelby, a man who suffers from anterograde amnesia, a psychological condition that impairs the formation of new memories. In order to more effectively portray Leonards condition, the film is presented using a non-linear narrative structure, consisting of a series of sequences in monochrome that are shown chronologically, and a series of color sequences show in reverse order. In A Message with a Code, Lorraine York suggests that writers who are experimenting with fictional forms which emphasize non-linearity, find in photography a ready analogue.(17) Throughout the film, Leonard takes photographs to document his life and uses them as an imperfect substitute for his own memory. However, these photographs are limited by the fact that they can only capture a single moment in time and in Yorks words, excludes

Chong 3 the moments before and after the exposure.(17) These photographs then, are much like the color sequences that are shown in the film. Being presented in reverse chronological order, the audience is unaware of what has happened before the sequence being shown. Going beyond the assumption that a non-linear narrative more accurately portrays Leonards condition, what these sequences provide for the audience are pieces of a puzzle, one that we are hoping to solve by the end of the film. In the same sense, Leonards photographs are his personal puzzle pieces, and it is up to him to put the pieces together, to make them speak and create a narrative out of them. However, York suggests that, narrative in photographs is always implied narrative. This brings up the question of whether what Leonard has gleamed from the photographs is really the objective truth. Through the use of a non-linear narrative structure, the audience is not given an answer until the exposition of the film, creating a sense of uncertainty and allowing the audience to question and analyze the merit of photography as a form of communication and recording. However, before I discuss how photography relates to writing and memory in the film, it is important to understand how it affects Leonards vision of the world. Without the ability to create new memories, photography becomes Leonards sole form of visual memory. The images he captures with his camera are what Susan Sontag refers to as photographic seeing (88). In discussing photographic seeing, Sontag suggests that photographs are evidence not only of what's there but of what an individual sees, not just a record but an evaluation of the world (88). Without memories to draw upon, Leonard views the photos that he captures as an

Chong 4 evaluation of the world, a way for him to assign meaning to faces, places and objects. Photography for him becomes not just an enjoyable activity as Sontag puts it, but one that is necessary to his survival and pursuit for vengeance. In this sense, Memento provides the audience with a fictional, yet convincing vision of a life where photographic seeing is as important as actual sight. In the film, Leonard not only relies on photographs in his quest but also puts a certain amount of faith into the images that he captures. In Camera Lucida, Barthes suggests that the Photograph possesses an evidential force, and that its testimony bears not on the object but on time. From a phenomenological viewpoint, in the Photograph, the power of authentication exceeds the power of representation (88). It is this power of authentication that causes Leonard to have faith in his photographs and gives him a power, a sense of authority arising from the celluloid. This is made apparent early on in the film, for example, in the opening scene when he kills Teddy. As Leonard views Teddys picture just before he strikes him, his sudden calmness portrays a sense of clarity, as if the picture and its caption were an execution order. In connecting the photograph with Leonards act of murder, the audience is imparted with Leonards faith in photography and the photographs power of authentication. Besides societys authenticative view of photography, there is another rationale behind Leonards use of photography. In On Photography, Sontag suggests that despite the limitations of photographers, a photograph seems to have a more innocent, and therefore more accurate, relation to visible reality than do other mimetic objects (6). In the world of Memento, filled with characters and signs that

Chong 5 Leonard cannot trust, it is this innocence that makes Photography so appealing to him. Without new memories to distract him from his wifes murder, his photographs are the only form of innocence available to him and make up a large portion of the puzzle that he live in. As for the source of this innocence, Camera Lucida suggest that the Photograph is indifferent to all intermediaries: it does not invent; it is authentication itself (87). It could be interpreted that Leonards trust in his photographs stems from this indifference and the fact that photographs do not seek to invent. While the characters he interacts with are biased and can invent truth, his photographs are the exact opposite. They are neutral and passive objects, and Leonards power over them allows him to incorporate them into deciphering the puzzle with some sense of authority and verity. While photography may be perfect as a means to capture the visual aspect of a scene, it is imperfect in the sense that it is unable to provide a narrative to the viewer. As such, photography only make up a portion of the pieces of Leonards puzzle and as explained in the monochrome sequences of the film, Leonard fills in the rest of the pieces with a graceful solution, consisting of captions, notes, documents, and tattoos. Perhaps the most interesting point of analysis for the film is how these pieces interact with one another, and with Leonards remaining memory. These interactions are also the driving force behind the events of the film, which are a result of how Leonard chooses to connect the pieces.

Chong 6 The most direct way in which photography interacts with writing in the films is when Leonard captions his photographs by writing on the photographs produced by his Polaroid camera. With the exception of legacy peel-apart type films, most instant photographic formats in use at the time of the films conception leave a blank space below the actual image itself. This space seemingly invites the photographer to add something to the image, be it another form of art or in Leonards case, a written caption providing information related to the image. The captioning of his photographs appears to serve two significant functions to Leonard. The first of which is to identify the subject of the images. This is most commonly seen with his photographs of people that he deems essential in his quest for vengeance. On the front of these prints, Leonard inscribes the name of the person pictured. The prints then serve as a means of recognition and a way in which to communicate with the person pictured or to create reference to the subject pictured. The former frequently appears in Leonards interaction with Teddy and Natalie. In Camera Lucida, Barthes suggests, the incapacity to name is a good symptom of disturbance(51). Without memory, Leonards inability to associate a name, emotion or even the tiniest silver of information to a face disturbs him. By having his name and photograph as a physical object on his body, it satisfies his psyche and identifies the person pictured either as somebody he should trust or a person of interest. Later on in the film, when Leonard helps Natalie by dealing with Dodd, the importance of putting a name to a face is demonstrated again when he asks Dodd what his names is. By learning of this information and writing it on Dodds

Chong 7 photograph it seems to give Leonard a sense of comfort in that he can associate a piece of information to the bewildering sight of a bound up man. In addition, the photograph of the restrained Dodd helps to explain his still confused state to Natalie. In this case then, the photograph manages to not only capture a moment but to tell a short narrative of what has occurred. However, it is only with Natalie and Leonards memories that this narrative is formed. The second function of Leonards captioning of his images is to connect a specific action or guideline to the image. This function is much less innocuous than the first and leads to many of the significant events of the film. There are only a few occurrences of this use of captioning in Memento, and they are all applied to the photographs taken of two major characters, Teddy and Natalie. Unable to rely on memory, Leonard chooses to take these captions and their attached images with a sense of authority, guiding him through what he assumes is a quest for vengeance. However, there are flaws in choice to do so and it is these flaws that have caused Leonards downfall. One of the flaws is made apparent when Leonard holds up the reverse sides of Natalie and Teddys Polaroids next to each other. On the former, Leonard has inscribed, Do not trust her and on the latter, he has inscribed, Dont believe his lies. In this moment, Leonard is faced with a dilemma over who to trust and without any memory or further information to rely upon, he has to depend on his instincts and earlier memory to trust his description of Natalie over Teddys. He then crosses out the inscription on Natalies Polaroid.

Chong 8 It could be said that through the inclusion of this sequence in the film, Nolan has, in a visually striking manner, revealed a major flaw in the evidential nature of the written word, in that the actions that come about from the piece of evidence are still heavily dependent on the subjective view of a human being, completely nullifying any objectivity in the recording of information. In Leonards act of crossing out the words on Natalies photograph, Nolan also emphasizes the malleability of writing. As Lorraine York points out in A Message With a Code, there is mistrust in poststructuralist theory of any phenomenon as "Edenic," or captured forever in a perfect, pristine state. (10) However, Leonard has chosen to put a certain amount of trust into his own handwriting and as he reveals in one of the monochrome sequences, his handwriting has become a way in which he can tell something is true. It is clear that Leonard is holding on to handwriting as being Edenic and pristine but the act of second-guessing himself and choosing to obscure a piece of handwriting conflicts with his selfproclaimed faith in writing. With writing and photography ruled out as reliable sources of evidence in the film, the only remaining source of information to be discussed is that of memory itself. Although Leonard is unable to create memories, he still has his memory from before he become afflicted with his condition to rely upon. In addition, Leonard appears to have been successful in conditioning himself to perform several actions when he loses his memory, such as to search his pockets for clues about what is happening. In some cases, his past memories and his conditioning do serve him well and allow him to function with some sense of autonomy. For example, Leonard is

Chong 9 still able to perform many of the same tasks that he performed before he became afflicted with his condition, be it driving, firing a gun or interpreting a police report. However, it is his conditioning that allows him to perform those tasks with any sense of meaning. When he reaches into his jacket pockets and pulls out his photograph, he instinctively know that they are an atlas of sorts for him and that using them as points of reference will result in meaningful outcomes. For example, when he looks at the photographs of the Discount Inn and the Jaguar automobile, in connection with his past memories, he knows that the meaning of having these photographs is that he either owns an object or resides at a place. It could even be said that it gives him a sort of agency, a concrete sense of veracity. For example, early on in the film when Teddy tries to convince him that another car belongs to him, he takes out and presents the photograph of the Jaguar, holding it as if it were a police badge and giving him a sense of certainty. However, the film suggests that not only can Leonard condition himself to perform certain actions; his earlier memories are still perfectly malleable. When Teddy is having a meal with Leonard in a diner, Teddy warns Leonard that he has to be careful with his actions because his notes could be unreliable. Leonard then challenges this statement by asserting that memory is unreliable and that Memory can change the shape of a room. It can change the color of a car. Despite his assertion, Leonards critical flaw is that he continually fails to see that it applies to him as well. As a result of this, Leonard lives his life with a set of assumptions that are unknowingly false to him. These assumptions are best reflected in his story of

Chong 10 Sammy Jankis. In this story, Sammy ends up in a nursing home, forgotten by the rest of the world. As we discover at the end of the film, this story is a fictitious creation by Leonards mind, as a system of self-preservation. Leonards greatest fear is to suffer a similar fate as Sammy and the only way in which he can avoid it is through actions with reasoning behind them, even if the reasoning is false. As a result of this, Leonard has somehow created his system, which he believes allows him to understand the world around him. For example, he has great confidence in his ability to tell if people are lying to him but he is blatantly lied to in the film countless times, by Teddy, Natalie, and even the desk clerk that works at the motel. While reading people is a complex task, Leonards imperfect memory also jeopardizes his ability to interpret and create clues for himself. While there are many points in the film where he wrongly interprets a photograph or piece of writing, perhaps the most damning example of his imperfect memorys detriment to the other forms of recording appears at the very end of the film, when Leonard writes down false clues that lead him to kill Teddy. This act confirms that Leonards system is flawed and brings all the times in which Leonard relies upon photographs or writing into question. As such, what Leonard merely achieves when he takes a photograph or writes a note is to create pieces of a puzzle for himself to solve, and it is this puzzle that keeps Leonard sane and satisfied in his existence. Furthermore, it could be said that Nolan intended to represent not only Leonards predicament through this puzzle but the predicament of our culture as well. As York suggests, culture has entirely transformed human beings conception of nature, of visual truth. (13) Looking at the film from this point of view, what

Chong 11 Memento could really be suggesting is that as a culture, we all manipulate the truth and create fiction to our advantage. We may not suffer from the exact same disease that Leonard does but we do have flawed memories to some extent. Despite the evidential nature of photography and writing, they are incomplete in the sense that they are still left to be ultimately perceived by a human being whom is reliant on memory to give meaning to them, to create a narrative from them. Rather than merely showing this to its audience, Nolan has chosen to challenge the audience by giving them their own puzzle to solve, laying the pieces in a non-linear order. When the audience finally solves the puzzle at the end of the film, they are shown through their own attempts at interpretation that the imperfect relationship between the mediums can drive a person away from the visual truth, towards a truth that is influenced by culture, other people and most importantly, our own fears and desires.

Chong 12 Works Cited Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections On Photography. New York: Hill and Wang, 1981. Print. Memento. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Joe Pantoliano. Summit Entertainment, 2000. DVD. Sontag, Susan. On Photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1977. Print. York, Lorraine Mary. "A Message with a Code." The Other Side of Dailiness: Photography in the Works of Alice Munro, Timothy Findley, Michael Ondaatje, and Margaret Laurence. Toronto, Ont.: ECW, 1988. 9-17. Print.