Fact: But he can repress old memories. Everyone does it - even you.
Fact: He has flashes of repressed memory of his wife being diabetic and injecting her with insulin.
Fact: Since he can't create new memories, those flashes are obviously real - so why would he be repressing them most of the time?
Only logical answer: Because he accidentally killed her in the way that he attributes to Sammy Jenkins - exactly as Teddy describes.
These are all false conclusions.
He didn't kill his wife before the accident so he has no memories to repress.
He is definite that his wife was not diabetic.
He has an image created when John talks about his wife being diabetic.
His memory is of him pinching her.
One does not 'sneak up' on their spouse from behind and jab them with a needle.
the flashes can not be real because he can't create new memories.
why do you feel that he creates new memories when the film clearly shows that he can not?
Leonard is not "repressing memories of him killing his wife" as he does not have memories to repress.
Nothing is shown in the film that what happens to Sammy is exactly what happens to Leonard.
John says it is so, but he almost always is lying and is speaking when Leonard is holding a gun. Very suspicious.
You seem to have formed an opinion that is not directly based on evidence in the film but by your personal definition of memory loss, which is inaccurate.
However, you are not alone in your conclusions. I think this film is difficult for many to understand. In time, you may start to grasp what Nolan truly has presented.
Reading Memento Mori may help you address some of these flaws.
this thread is specifically about whether John is a police officer, not on memento theory. My statement is that if he lied about being an officer (telling the truth about being a snitch and having some sort of drug connections) then it is understandable that he knows Sammy's story will confuse Leonard by feeding him information about his wife's death fitting Sammy's story.
This issue has been discussed in many other threads. Sadly, conclusions without film evidence, have little value in my eyes.
Best unknown feature at
IMDB.comhttp://www.imdb.com/features/video/browse/
reply
share
m-madel
9 years ago
He has an image created when John talks about his wife being diabetic.
Man, you are in serious denial. I suppose you also don't believe in the holocaust, the moon landing, or climate change either.
As I've already mentioned
SEVERAL TIMES in these two threads - and is repeated on the IMDB page about the movie itself (do you remember I posted a link at the other thread?): Leonard has memories of his wife being diabetic three times - twice with no prompting from John (or anyone else) - in other words,
FILM EVIDENCE!http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/faq?ref_=tt_faq_sm#.2.1.9 "If Leonard's wife were not diabetic, there is no reason that he has memories (or even just thoughts) of her being diabetic at three separate times in the film: especially when two come about with no prompting about her being diabetic."
this thread is specifically about whether John is a police officer, not on memento theory. My statement is that if he lied about being an officer (telling the truth about being a snitch and having some sort of drug connections) then it is understandable that he knows Sammy's story will confuse Leonard by feeding him information about his wife's death fitting Sammy's story.
And my statement is that since you didn't even manage to see the film evidence left by Nolan in regards to Leonard's wife, you don't understand the themes and concepts of the film, so your conclusions about Teddy are nonsense; i.e. he's telling the truth and he's a cop.
reply
share
the-author
9 years ago
A needle is not the same as his wife being diabetic.
He uses a needle to make a tattoo.
You declare Teddy is a cop with no evidence.
He has no reason to say he is a snitch.
He has no reason to hide being a cop when discussing the police with Leonard.
He can not pretend to be a cop with Dodd. This was the perfect situation to be a cop. He denies even owning a gun. So, not a cop evidence.
Just saying what conclusion you drew is just your opinion. You try to argue without logic for some unknown reason. (well, it is the internet. but, I don't see you changing and really backing up what you say. We are supposed to believe you are the authority on this film? I had hoped to be challenged. )
You miss the whole point of what Nolan reveals when Leonard and Natalie talk in the diner.
Best unknown feature at IMDB.com
http://www.imdb.com/features/video/browse/
reply
share
m-madel
9 years ago
A needle is not the same as his wife being diabetic.
He uses a needle to make a tattoo.
Wow, you're really not very bright are you? You don't understand the difference between a sewing needle melted onto a ball-point pen in order to make a tattoo and a medical syringe? Or is it just that you haven't seen the movie in 10 years? Now I finally understand why you can't comprehend what the movie is revealing and the broader themes it's exploring - but just continue repeating your simplistic "Teddy isn't a cop and is lying" mundane "crime drama" nonsense.
Well, since you can't seem to formulate a cogent response to the film evidence that thousands of people - including the IMDB site itself - have understood, I've copied and pasted the entire IMDB explanation FAQ section for you instead. Maybe if you read it, you'll figure out how inane your responses have been, but in any case, I'm through wasting time on someone that can't seem to think their way out of a paper sack.
The movie actually shows that Leonard does have memories of her being diabetic, so the real questions should be: If Leonard's wife was diabetic why does Leonard deny it? and If Leonard's wife was not diabetic why does Leonard have memories of her being diabetic? The first point is that on 3 occasions we see Leonard with memories of him preparing an insulin injection or giving her one. There are two distinct memories. In movie sequence, they are:
1) At 1:21:25, Leonard is alone watching the TV at Natalie's and has a memory flash of someone's hand tapping a syringe twice. It is a quick shot and we do not see who it is. It acts in the film as clue, a foreshadowing of a future truth. It is a supraliminal clue common with foreshadowing. We can see it, but tend not to notice it unless we are looking for it. When we see it, even if we would pause and review it, we still would be hard-pressed to know it is Leonard's hand. We learn it is Leonard' hand, later in the film when we are shown the more complete sequence. [This sequence, though earlier in the film, would occur long after Leonard would have forgotten what Teddy said about his wife, so it is clear indication that it does not come from just a "consideration" of what Teddy told him].
2) At 1:42:50, Teddy says "The insulin...". At this point in the film (or in time) we (viewers or Leonard) have not heard any mention about Leonard's wife being diabetic, we have only heard the Sammy Story about the "the insulin". Yet after Teddy says "The insulin..." Leonard has that same memory we saw earlier in the film of someone tapping a syringe twice, only this time we are shown that it is indeed Leonard who is tapping the syringe to move the air bubbles to the top. Leonard denies the memory we clearly see him have, claiming: "That's Sammy, not me". We are not shown any "alternate version" of this memory like we will later with the other memory.
3) At, 1:43:23 Teddy states: "It was your wife who had diabetes". We now see a different insulin memory than previously. It is a memory of Leonard injecting his wife's leg with insulin. Again we hear Leonard deny it: "My wife wasn't diabetic". Only this time when Teddy presses: "You sure?", we see Leonard think, and his denial is not just a lie to Teddy, but the "visualization" is essentially a lie to himself also, ignoring the memory and choosing to believe it was just a pinch and then claiming again: "She wasn't diabetic".
If Leonard's wife were not diabetic, there is no reason that he has memories (or even just thoughts) of her being diabetic at three separate times in the film: especially when two come about with no prompting about her being diabetic. The first one seems to be most likely due to the pervasive nature of his diabetic memories. It was such a part of his life with his wife, that he is bound to, while thinking of her, have some of these memories "pop up". If his wife were not diabetic, it seems odd for him to think about preparing an insulin injection. The second comes with just a prompting of the term "insulin". Again, it seems odd for Leonard to have this memory if his wife were not diabetic. The one that comes with the direct statement of her being diabetic (#3) is the one he most actively denies and the one Nolan even suggests through the "pinching visualization" that he is trying to actively deny and ignore it. It suggests the lying to himself, which we will be shown explicitly later that he does do. So since we know he does have memories of insulin injections with his wife, we can return to what should be the real questions:
If Leonard's wife was diabetic why does Leonard deny it? This one seems pretty clear from the film. Leonard does not want to realize that he killed his own wife. He seems to have misremembered the insulin OD as a Sammy memory and does not want to acknowledge the truth. The other question: "If Leonard's wife was not diabetic why does Leonard have memories of her being diabetic?" is something that does not seem to have an answer in the film or even through speculation. This lack of a reason makes it seem clear to many that Nolan's intent was to make us believe that Leonard's wife was diabetic. There is no reason why Leonard would have memories of a diabetic wife if she were not diabetic.
reply
share
the-author
9 years ago
I suppose their could be the coincidence of Sammy's wife and Leonard's wife being diabetic, Leonard sneaking up behind his wife to inject her, not remembering she was diabetic before the accident but magically remembering that he gave her shots after losing his memory. You are free to believe your opinions as I stated.
The 'coincidence' of a man named John G hunting for a man named John G is a million to one. I highly doubt Nolan would expect the audience to accept such a coincidence. its a writing no-no. But as discussed in a brilliant thread, Leonard's first tattoo could be a lie, meaning that John was not the rapist. Perhaps he was mad at Teddy for some reason and decided to target him to remove him from his life.
Best unknown feature at IMDB.com
http://www.imdb.com/features/video/browse/
reply
share
m-madel
9 years ago
The 'coincidence' of a man named John G hunting for a man named John G is a million to one.
Your odds-making skills are questionable. It wouldn't be close to a million to one. John is the first or second most common name in the English language - and G is 1 of 26 letters. I would say the odds would be closer to between 50 - 100 to 1; well within the boundaries of normal coincidence.
I suppose their could be the coincidence of Sammy's wife and Leonard's wife being diabetic
This would certainly be a million to 1 or greater odds - and well outside the bounds of normal coincidence. So what is the logical conclusion which is supported by all of the flashes of memories Nolan inserts in the film? Sammy Jenkins didn't have a diabetic wife - Leonard did.
...not remembering she was diabetic before the accident but magically remembering that he gave her shots after losing his memory. You are free to believe your opinions as I stated.
Leonard has memories of preparing insulin injections for his wife from before the accident. They are called "repressed memories" - and they're not my "opinion" - it's shots inserted in the film by Nolan - as repeatedly mentioned by me and thousands of other viewers.
We, the audience, know that Leonard has been lying or withholding information from himself (his future self) - we see a photo of him covered in blood, clearly having just killed someone. Why didn't he write a note/get a tattoo about that photo? He's been lying to himself constantly - ever since he accidentally killed his wife and couldn't bear the truth.
reply
share