memories
Today in my lit lecture on Hiroshima Mon Amour,
one of the main points was on the idea of remembering and forgetting.
that memories are a form of degradation and injustice to the past.
i found it utterly intriguing and thought-provoking.
I always thought that memories were something to be cherished, to desire and to treasure because it manages to capture that moment for you to relive over and over for as long as you want.
Instead, this idea made me think about whether memories should really be as celebrated as we think they should be.
Resnais provokes the whole concept of remembering, claiming that you can only remember something by first forgetting it. That ironically enough, when you think you're retaining the memory, what you're actually doing is first compartmentalizing the memory and then forgetting it. because that's the only way that you can recall it and remember. only then does it become a memory.
so really..
what is a memory?
The most horrifying idea that Resnais put forth was that memories were almost like an insult to the past. Memories are exactly that. Just memories. Contrary to what we think of them, they don't enhance or enrich the moment, instead they erode its essence because we are unable to recall fully, accurately, precisely the exact moment. The failure to recollect exactly renders the idea of memories as obscene because of the injustice done to the moment, because regardless of how many details u try to remember, u will still forget some and more importantly, because you're not there anymore no matter how hard you to try to be.
They say that living in your memories is like living in a form of discontinuum. You're living in a state of paralysis, neither moving forward nor moving back.
I find myself doing precisely that recently. Overcome by inertia, wanting to go forward yet being unable to, being held back at that same spot by something, memories perhaps? fear? After everything i was taught in lecture, i found myself wondering.. i wondered if everything could be compartmentalized and forgotten, would i want to forget it all? it may sound abhorrent initially, but then it made me think, if memories make me stop being able to move forward, would the lack of it make me live each day with greater passion knowing that it wasn't possible to have regrets?
So yes, while I've typed out this post that might possibly elude many...
I still have 2 term papers to write and 1 test to study for.
one of the main points was on the idea of remembering and forgetting.
that memories are a form of degradation and injustice to the past.
i found it utterly intriguing and thought-provoking.
I always thought that memories were something to be cherished, to desire and to treasure because it manages to capture that moment for you to relive over and over for as long as you want.
Instead, this idea made me think about whether memories should really be as celebrated as we think they should be.
Resnais provokes the whole concept of remembering, claiming that you can only remember something by first forgetting it. That ironically enough, when you think you're retaining the memory, what you're actually doing is first compartmentalizing the memory and then forgetting it. because that's the only way that you can recall it and remember. only then does it become a memory.
so really..
what is a memory?
The most horrifying idea that Resnais put forth was that memories were almost like an insult to the past. Memories are exactly that. Just memories. Contrary to what we think of them, they don't enhance or enrich the moment, instead they erode its essence because we are unable to recall fully, accurately, precisely the exact moment. The failure to recollect exactly renders the idea of memories as obscene because of the injustice done to the moment, because regardless of how many details u try to remember, u will still forget some and more importantly, because you're not there anymore no matter how hard you to try to be.
They say that living in your memories is like living in a form of discontinuum. You're living in a state of paralysis, neither moving forward nor moving back.
I find myself doing precisely that recently. Overcome by inertia, wanting to go forward yet being unable to, being held back at that same spot by something, memories perhaps? fear? After everything i was taught in lecture, i found myself wondering.. i wondered if everything could be compartmentalized and forgotten, would i want to forget it all? it may sound abhorrent initially, but then it made me think, if memories make me stop being able to move forward, would the lack of it make me live each day with greater passion knowing that it wasn't possible to have regrets?
So yes, while I've typed out this post that might possibly elude many...
I still have 2 term papers to write and 1 test to study for.