Term Paper
on Short-Story Memento Mori-and Film Memento
The difference between the short story 'Memento Mori' and film 'Memento' came
out in the year 2000.
MEMENTO MORI: Remember You Must Die A Film by Dean Naday
Memento Mori is a reminder that you and all things, must die. Then we cut to a
figure of Christ on the Cross. We barely have time to absorb this religious
image when the figure on the cross steps forward, throws on white robes, picks
up a whip and becomes Jesus C. Klansman. Klansman and his redneck sidekicks
attack a black man minding his own business in the street, kicking, beating and
whipping him. This beating, a title card informs us, goes on for eight years.
Cut to a domestic residence, the protagonist, a black man identical to the
victim steps forth, inhaling the fresh morning air and at piece with the world.
In the background of Jesus C. Klansman and his thugs are still beating their
victim. The same actor in fact plays the protagonist and the victim.
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Something catches the protagonist’s attention. He is outraged. He steps forward
angrily, and for a second, we think he is reacting to the beating. But no, he is
simply upset that someone has left litter on his property. Angrily, he complains
about the world, but as he goes forward to the scene of the trash, he stops
shocked. There is a skeleton in jacket and park a sitting near the trash. The
skeleton, and the mortality it signifies appear to jolt him out of his petty
self-absorption. Shaken, he takes the skeleton back to his apartment to
contemplate it. He begins to see constant images and visions of death in
everything, even his matchbox. The protagonist tries to come to grips with his
mortality and the constant reminders of death. He reads, he contemplates; he
goes for walks in the cemeteries. Once again, there are numerous little homage’s
to previous mortality films, including something very like the chessboard in
Bergen's "The Seventh Seal." The protagonist tries to be a serious thoughtful
man.
But inevitably, his attention is drawn back to life and his immediate concerns,
and his attempted reflection simply becomes a lustfully appreciative stare at a
poster of Marilyn Monroe, herself a dead icon. Perhaps the protagonist has
chosen to involve himself with life rather than an obsession with death. Or
perhaps, like all people, he is fundamentally shallow, and simply cannot
contemplate weighty issues for any length of
time.
The Protagonist deposits the skeleton in the trash bin, and literally wipes his
hands of the matter. He turns, to return to his self-centered life, and stops,
shocked again. A grinning Jesus C. Klansman stands before him, a hangman's rope
swinging
from his hands. Klansman has obviously finished with the Victim and is now
turning his attention to the Protagonist. The Protagonist realizes, perhaps too
late, that his mortality is upon him.... Perhaps the Protagonist should have
cared about the fate of the Victim, rather than mooning over the skeleton. In
the end, we see that the Protagonists obsessions with both life and death were
ultimately self-centered, self absorbed, sterile and ultimately
self-destructive. We don't know if the Protagonist ever realizes this, but in
any case, it is too late for him.
The next scene shows Jesus C. Klansman again, relaxed and happy. The Protagonist
has obviously been hanged and Jesus basks in the glow of a job well done. The
hooded figure of death appears. But Jesus is not unduly bothered. Death throws
off its hood to reveal a monstrous serpentine head beneath, and Jesus reacts in
horror. Jesus C. Klansman has casually inflicted death on others, never
considering that he too would die. He realizes now that death is not his ally or
subject, but that it will claim him too.
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The end
A Black and White silent film, it is replete with images of death and mortality,
skeletons, medieval plague woodcuts, sunsets, cemeteries and so on. Much of the
film can be seen as a tribute to previous films obsessed with mortality. It is a
complex film, and there are layers of meaning and visual references throughout.
However, there is a subversive undercurrent to the proceedings. The music of the
Throbbing Sombreros is at times curiously upbeat. A sly sense of humor animates
the film, and we slowly come to realize that Naday is not simply imitating
previous meditations on death, but is actually mocking or satirizing them.
Naday's message seems to be that an obsession with mortality is ultimately
pointless and empty. Even his protagonist comes to realize that. True life, true
living, comes from being a part of the world, embracing and participating in the
world outside oneself. The protagonist never comes to grips with this, instead
obsessing over his spilled trash, his found skeleton and his monroe poster,
ultimately, his self-absorption dooms him. (mts.net)
Comments
It was great to see Mrs. Scully again. She lets everything out from her
frustration of the thought of another daughter dying to her feeling of being
left out by Scully not telling her first about the cancer. Let's face it; it was
Mulder who had to tell her over the phone since Scully asked him to call her
mother to bring some things up. Most likely Scully did this so
she wouldn't have to face telling her mother. Having Mrs. Scully babble on about
driving up was just right in showing her worry about her daughter. You can see
where Scully got some of her strength. Oh yeah, once again there wasn't any
mention of Scully's so called brothers such as having Mrs. Scully mention them
in pasting to Scully. I think I've said this before, but I want to see these two
so-called brothers who are never around in emergencies or even have a picture of
them in Mrs. Scully bedroom. It is time we meet them.
All right now I'm an assassin so what is the best way to make myself less
conspicuous in a quiet neighborhood. Let's see Mulder leaves Hagopian house so I
think I'll turn my car on with its parking lights on and drive up a few yards
then stop the car and get out. Oh, did I tell you there are some people walking
their dog across the street who will seem doing all this, but they won't wonder
why I'm going into a dead woman's house. Just getting out of the car and walking
up to the house would make it too obvious. I liked how Mulder after Scully's
phone call from the hospital just gets up and leaves without telling Crawford
where he was going or when he was coming back. It's good to see he doesn't just
do it to Scully, but to everyone else.
Considering Crawford feared for his life you would think he would be a little
bit worried being left alone in the house. Also, wouldn't the now decomposing
body of Crawford have left a mess on the rug? Considering what it did to
Scully's shoe in "Colony" one could imagine what it did to the rug. I guess
assassin had in the trunk of his car a super duper rug cleaner so when Mulder
came back not only did he find all the files were gone, but a damn clean rug.
Did anyone else love the look of
utter fear on Byers face when Mulder told him to go back alone to tell Scully
about Dr. Scanlan? Byers had the look of what you're going to leave me by
myself, I'm not used to doing this stuff. I always liked how in TV shows instead
of using a door they will use some other kind of entrance, hence, we get Mulder
and Crawford both coming through the window and not the door at the reproductive
center. Also, I did like how Mulder finds the computer on in the records room
and then Crawford comes in a minute later like he just came back from using the
rest room. I won't comment on how fast it was for them to find the password.
Anyone else creped out by the fact the Crawford's all had red hair meaning they
could be from Scully. I wonder if Mulder is going to tell her that one. I just
wanted to note it took four guys to write "Memento Mori". (pubpages.unh.edu)
Christopher Nolan's Memento thus deals only implicitly with tyrants, past or
present, and the efforts of tyrants, vain or successful, to suppress the record
of the deaths they've caused. With elegance and economy, Nolan cut the term
"Mori" from his film's title, in essence, removing death from us. In this way,
too, Memento invites us to contemplate the eternal costs of participating in our
culture's mad race toward imperial oblivion and disgrace. (lipmagazine.org)
Endnotes
MEMENTO MORI Remember You Must Die A Film by Dean Naday, November 7, 2002,
http://www.mts.net/~valdron/Mem1.html
MEMENTO MORI, 2/10/97,
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~csc/xfiles/xfmm.html
Memento, Reviewed by Rob Content 10.01.01,
http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/revicontent_139.shtml
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