Memento and narrative structure in memory-based cinema

Memento and Identity

To a great extent, memory enables us to be virtuous people. For example, because we as a species are capable of possessing memories, we remember that we are sons or daughters, and have obligations to our parents. Because we possess memories, we remember we are Catholic or Jewish or American and live according to a particular code of values. Virtue theory states that it is having a good 'character,' not abiding by particular rules, that enables us to be virtuous people. A good character enables us to know when to apply the rules of ethics and how. But without a stable identity and character no really consistent virtuous actions are possible. In Christopher Nolan's Memento the protagonist Lenny understands that he must remind himself of his obligation to avenge is wife, but only partly comprehends how his identity as a husband is compromised -- he has no memory of the real relationship he had with his wife, and relationships are part of what create the individual's state of virtuous 'being' in the world that foster his character and growth.

Relationships with other people and social roles are the usual reminders of identity in society. Relationships such as the obligations of parents to children define our lives, as do our obligations at work (such as the obligation of a doctor to heal the sick). When we mimic the social behavior of people 'like ourselves' when we are unsure of how to behave we are observing another implied guide for how to behave. Our perceived appearance thus also defines who we are -- whether we are male or female, for example, creates a different set of social roles and expectations. It also creates an impression of continuity of our actions for the people whom observe us. This sense of physically observed continuity outside of individual memory is why society judges us for our actions when we are drunk. This assumption of day-by-day continuity of the self (although allowing for slow changes of the self over time) is another 'fact checking' method outside of Polaroids and notes. However, if entering an 'altered' state is not willed, unlike drunkenness, people are sometimes deemed not responsible, even if they 'are' the same individual, as in the case of mental illness or sleepwalking. The individual's remembered 'past' by society that bears evidence that the crime was not his or her conscious choice clears him or her of moral culpability as a 'character.'