The Amnesia Trope: When Hollywood Gets It Right and SO Wrong
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ส.ค. 2024
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So often on screen, amnesia is used in stories to help create mystery or give a character a thematic hurdle to overcome. But memory loss in real life isn’t much like what we see on screen... So what are the real thematic reasons filmmakers keep returning to their exaggerated vision of amnesia, time and again?
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CHAPTERS
00:00 The Amnesiac, explained
00:48 Did Hollywood forget how amnesia works?
03:46 Rocket Money
4:50 Why writers love to use this trope
09:46 The trope's main takeaways
CREDITS
Executive Producers: Debra Minoff & Susannah McCullough
Chief Creative Director: Susannah McCullough
Associate Producer: Tyler Allen
Writer: Ellie Slee
Narrator: Jessica Babineaux
Video Editor: Michael Gawronski - บันเทิง
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Neuroscientist here. 50 first dates is anterograde amnesia. It is less common, but it does exist and is more often than what the article led on. Plus in the movie they spoke about short and long term as working independently, but in reality anterograde amnesia is damage to neural pathways connecting the two allowing memory consolidation to move short term memory into long-term memory. And retrograde (wolverine in the xmen) is failure of the neural pathways to retrieve long term memories into working memory. And in almost every form of memory loss, motor function and simple skills like writing and reading remain because those are muscle memories.
What I do appreciate about Regarding Henry is he doesn't just lose his memories of his life. He has to relearn to walk and talk. That's the part that is often most frustrating about amnesia plots. It's a bad enough injury to lose your memory but not to lose any other mental or physical facilities.
I think Memento proved to all of us that accurately depicting things that real people have to deal with doesn't mean you can't make a compelling story about them.
Amnesia is typically depicted by the character getting a mere tap on the head, and all it takes to restore their memories again is by receiving another hit to the noggin, usually via a similar incident.
The only piece of media that gets amnesia right was a book called Charlie and Dia(not traditionally published). Dia suffers from post-traumatic amnesia from a suicide attempt and tries to forget about her past.
@@kamsismith Thank you so much for introducing me to much better novels which explore concepts in more detail. 💖😘
That doesn’t work lol 😆
Like when Jerry hit Tom on the head, and Tom thought he was a mouse, then he got hit on the head again and became a cat again so Jerry has to hit Tom and make sure he stays that way
Every time I see this ridiculous display or memory loss and memory return, it makes my head hurt.
In 7th grade I had a traumatic event that I was told to forget because it wasn’t a big deal. Then as a junior in high school I couldn’t figure out why my behavior was so strange. I was going through my life in memories over and over again. The event popped up and hit me hard. I had blocked it from my mind for years. It was a defense mechanism of my brain.
I think because the notion of memory is such a fragile thing that using it at the driving plot in media is interesting. Memories are complex and delicate things. 4 people who experienced the exact same thing at the exact same time can remember the same event completely differently.
@footlova isn't that Rashomon?
I've worked in Geriatrics for years, and I gotta say...
I hate Hollywood Amnesia.
When you work with a population of people with chronic, degenerative memory loss, the romanticized idea of this trope is just uncomfortable.
Most of these movies have the amnesiac magically get their memories back during plot convenient flash backs and that's just not how it works.
Because to be honest about this kind of health condition would make it too depressing to a general audience.
Yeah. Most people who loose their memory loose I for good and they have to create new ones. The brain is very complex
Absolutely seconded.
They had a lot of films to choose from, I wish they had included Julianne Moore's "Still Alice"
It is easy to use, great for stories and writing. Plus, if they are older or a warrior or accident, it is fun to write a character. Like Wolvervine, etc.
Fun Fact: In Memento, uring Teddy's line "You don't have a clue, you freak!", director Christopher Nolan felt that Joe Pantoliano (Teddy) did not quite nail the end of the line, so he decided to re-record the last two words to his liking, delivering them himself. Therefore, in the final film, the words, "you freak", as we hear them, are actually being said not by Pantoliano, but by Nolan impersonating Pantoliano's voice. Pantoliano was unaware of the dubbing until an interview for Memento (2001).
A) She was a Hooah
B) She hit me
C) That wasn’t my kid she was carrying
I love that episode of The Nanny when Fran decides to deliver Liz Taylor's black pearls herself instead of calling a bonded courier but then gets amnesia after hitting her head on the taxi ride there (Rosie ODonnell was the cab driver 😂)
Don't forget that the cure to amnesia usually involves recreating the accident somehow. How do you fix a blow to the head? Why, another blow to the head, of course ;)
This trope doesn't bother me, but it can be a copout when used in a lazy way, like Harry Osborne in Spider-Man 3.
One movie where I thought it was cleverly done was in While You Were Sleeping. The amnesiac is neither the main character nor the love interest, but a third party. It still elicits a sense of discovery and change in both their characters.
In WYWS, he's not even an amnesiac. His family just thought he was because he didn't recognize Lucy, his supposed fiancee. The idea of amnesia was a plot device to get Lucy wrapped up in the family she really wanted, but there was no actual amnesia.
Forget Amnesia, a lot of media can’t even get basic neurotypical traits correct sometimes.
Sorry, I sound very bitter, don’t I?
No you don't, you're actually right.
Ditto what daisy said. And what you said.
Which ones?
I recall a scene from a cartoon where the characters begin hitting each other over the head, which instantly creates complete memory loss, until they're hit over the head again and regain their memories completely, before being hit yet again and so on. The irony is, I can't remember where it's from, but I think it was the end of an episode... 🤔
Can I just say. Seeing a new video from you guys is the best part of my day
I’ve been thinking about how amnesia is used in video games.
There’s a spin-off series of Pokémon called Mystery Dungeon, and a staple of said spin-off is that the protagonist is a human-turned-Pokémon without memories of that life. Story wise, this makes the protagonist a blank slate no matter how much of the plot they’ve already experienced. Game wise, it also means the protagonist needs friends to navigate this new world and discover their past.
I’ve heard Knights of the Old Republic also has an America protagonist. Even both the now fantasy element of total memory loss and non-fated ending, it emphasizes the requirements of personal change and the power of duplicity.
Bonus points for including Regarding Henry. Though I wish you would have included Dead Again as well.
Lol why include Captain America? That was a literal waking up in the future scenario, not memory loss.
Cool Down Nerd......
Its a Situational thing.....
It doesn't state MCU is Bad 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Good point. A better pick would be Wolverine. With his past, he's the superhero who is probably the poster child for amnesia.
I was wondering the same thing! He doesn’t have amnesia. Bucky does though…
I have to say that in 50 first Dates, when they visit the institute and meet ten second Tom, that is 100% exactly right. I know someone who had that happen to them. It was due to a traumatic accident, and it only lasted for a few hours, but they kept re-setting to a specific spot roughly every ten seconds. A little scary having that happen to a loved one. They were back to normal the next day, but didn't remember what had happened the night before. It was transglobal amnesia.
amnesia as a path to changing bad people is a very....let's say 'choice' trope. 'oh hey look this person absolutely can change! all we had to do was literally remove every memory they had of who they were to get them there :D '
A great meta example is how Krystoff brings back Truman's father in the show after he stumbles in the set: amnesia, very convenient, but it works for viewers of The Truman Show!!!
I am so surprised that ‘ That Take “ missed out the opportunity to include Kermit amnesia lost in Muppets in Manhattan - classic ❤
As someone who got diagnosed with amnesia after ECT this is spot on
There’s a couple of old Gregory Peck movies that explore this theme. Spellbound and Mirage. Not sure how medically accurate they are but they made great drama.
Several daytime soap operas like All My Children and One Live To Live used amnesia as a plot device.
Amnesia I loved the way futurama mocked it in soaps. I liked the show Samantha Who it was about an amnesia who wasent a nice person before and is trying to be better as she remembers.
I don’t consider the Hangover Amnesia it’s more blacking out after a lot of drinks and in their cases substances which can happen.
Once upon a time did a lot of amnesia with curses and memory potions. It worked well in the begining but in the second to last season it was a little overkill.
It is a good trope for mysteries
Momento and 50 First Dates are described exactly the same, just more exaggerated and comedic in the latter
It’s been used so many times that it’s honestly not accurate in the way it’s portrayed
The ironic thing is that in video games, there seems to be a better grasp on how amnesia works than in movies. In fact, there are many philisophical theories from Existentialism shows that a previous you from a different timeline can remember things that the current you can't. Of course it's not in the example of amnesia, but even if it were amnesia or not there is a subconcious feeling that you have met this person before even though it's your first time seeing them.
I want someone sweet and kind who becomes horrible 😂
That's just regular dementia, a sad amount of the time.
Can you please do a video on Yellowstone? Love your videos and would love to hear your perspective on how the Midwest is obsessed with Yellowstone but the coasts love succession and White Lotus, while essentially they talk about similar issues but from different perspectives. The new season will be coming out in November.
It's a very old trope in movies. Surprised you didn't mention Random Harvest .
I was getting it, about the sort of rip-off use of a serious complaint: When the ad suddenly said ‘forgetting to cancel’? and then the line; “when you do ‘remember’ to cancel..." After all that self righteousness!
Such a play on words...? Then I remembered it wasn’t serious... Yeah, because: Hey, this is all Hollywood it will even criticize its own (if there’s a buck)....
I love the ending of Overboard
Mulholland Drive!! The ultimate amnesiac film.
I wish you had also done 1997 Anastasia but good video
*Hypoxia* from prolonged intubation (tracheal intubation) can impair several cognitive domains such as attention, learning and memory, procession speed, and executive function
Hollywood amnesia is away to address the issue of nature vs nurture..
Are we who we are by some inherit factors, ie just who we are, or are we who we are based on our memories, so we could be different without those ...
I personally do like those stories, but i prefer them in fantasy setting where they do not perpetuate harmful medical misinformation..
Memento is a masterpiece.
Now that Never Have I Ever is done, do the Mother In Law and the role of cousins in media (Cousin Serena, the Patty Duke sitcom, Cousin Oliver, Myrtle Urkel, Kyle Schwartz, Arnie in Hey Arnold)
I’d argue when discussing amnesia being misrepresented in media, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind doesn’t count. It’s isn’t labeled as amnesia, it’s a sci-fi mind wipe.
How is memento different than 50 first dates? Both can't form new memories. But one is more realistic?
I loved that tv show Samantha Who? 😂
Can you guys made a video talking about childhood friends in media and how they often lead up to officially becoming loverst some point.
Hollywood ain't got nothin' on Chinese shows, at least up until a few years ago. For a long time it was like obligatory that someone have amnesia at some point during the drama. The worst I saw though was when several people got it, successively, from different accidents. One will have just recovered their memory after being cared for by the other when the person caring for them lost their memory. It was honestly painful to watch so I gave up, lol.
except I don't have to have amnesia to wonder who I could be, just ADHD lol
Isnt it a plot device and not a trope?
Shepherd's Chapel Network !!!!!!! Stay Humble / It's Never Luck !!!!!!! Amen
When Kelly on original "90210" got it, I quit watching, oldest soap opera plot in the book.
I watched a girl fall off a scooter 🛴.
Her head started bleeding out.
The EMTs asked her if she knew what year it was.
I'm pretty sure it's a reasonable trope
Short-term confusion can be due to a concussion, which is not the same thing as the kind of long-term amnesia often portrayed in film.
Could you also do a Take on how abortion is viewed in movies. Also there are many films where a person is given the chance to see how different their life would have been had they taken a certain action. They always change for the better.
The Little Mermaid remake used the Magical Amnesia trope because feminism or something? Ruins the story!😅
Michelle’s amnesia from full house in the series finale is bad
I know The Take are hypocrites just because they hock for RocketMoney. Knowing RocketMortgage and QuickenLoans business practices, its fucking horrible.