ABSTRACT

One of the things that elevates Memento above other films that raise such issues is the interrelation of these puzzles. If you have a different view of memory from the person next to you, it might affect your view of the plausibility of the various interpretations of the events presented in the film. Depending on how you think one’s past informs one’s present responsibility for one’s actions, you may find Leonard more or less

blameworthy for his bloody deeds. Thus, as with our understanding of the world itself, the typical viewer’s understanding of Memento is constantly changing: figuring out that one of the characters is lying in a particular scene might lead to certain details in other scenes becoming more salient, which might lead to another interpretive breakthrough, and so on.