Aesthetic of Beauty One of the Most

Aesthetic of Beauty

One of the most powerful passages found within Plato's The Republic is that which exists within the Allegory of the Cave. This passage comes near the end of this book and its description about the philosopher kings -- the chosen guardians who are to rule mankind with benign wisdom. Essentially, the Allegory of the Cave is about the notion that there is an intrinsic relationship between goodness and truth, but most men live their lives in an allegorical cave in which they mistake the representations of the true source of truth and goodness (the sun) and the shadows it creates in relative darkness for real truth and never progress to the level that they can see that actual source and live in its light. There is a relationship between this concept and the work of cinematic art known as Memento, a film which was released in 2000. Its protagonist lives in a metaphoric darkness clouded by a poor memory. However, unlike the implications in Plato's allegory, the protagonist of the movie makes it clear that he actually does not want to live in the full light of truth and knowledge.

The preceding thesis is best demonstrated by the ending of Memento. For the vast duration of the movie, the protagonist -- a relatively young man who used to be happily married and gainfully employed until an attacker killed his wife and rendered him with an incurable condition in which he cannot remember present things beyond 15 minutes -- is attempting to find the attacker. He is figuratively in the dark about who this person is and why the latter destroyed his life as it previously existed. However, at the conclusion of the movie, the protagonist finds someone who tells him the truth about his life. This person tells the protagonist that the latter actually found the attacker a year before and killed him, thereby claiming his revenge. In delivering this revelation to the protagonist, this person exposes him to the truth about the day-to-day, 15 minutes to 15 minutes existence the protagonist has been struggling through for quite some time. However, when confronted with the truth and gaining the metaphorical light of the sun and living in broad daylight as Plato implies men (or at least the philosopher kings) are striving to do, the protagonist chooses to kill the person who gives him this information. In doing so he commits himself to living a life in the dark, because he knows that in 15 minutes he will forget killing this man and keep on looking for his attacker and living in the metaphorical dark.

Another aspect of Memento that helps to demonstrate the fact that some people do not want to actually live in the full light of truth and knowledge is the adept nature that the protagonist of the movie has with coping with his memory problems which are the source of his figurative darkness. He has an elaborate system of accounting for his short-term memory loss which he is able to manipulate well enough to not only function, but also to aid him in his inquest. For instance, he has a habit of taking Polaroid pictures of people, events and scenery that he deems relevant to his quest. In the film he has compiled a great deal of these photographs. He also has a penchant for tattooing important phrases and bits of information that he deems vital to his quest. For example, he has tattooed certain words so that he will never forget the fact that he is looking for the man who killed his wife -- despite the fact that he has already killed this person. It is crucial to note that these reminders are not nearly as effective as the full revelatory light of truth. Many of the phrases that the narrator writes on his Polaroid pictures are cryptic and help to jog his memory, yet do not fully restore it in regards to certain events. In this respect, he is definitely living in the shadow of a larger truth. Yet he is doing so with moderate success, which proves that there are some people who are so adept at living in the metaphorical dark that they do not seek the truth.