I'll have to re watch the film re all their conversations...
1) Someone suffers a traumatic event and as a result, represses/displaces memories connected to that event.
2) A stranger (because that's what Teddy is to him: a stranger) mentions fictitious events or objects (i.e. insulin) and it causes a second person to have vivid but false memories concerning those events or objects and their loved one.
The first hypothetical is something I've heard of and read of fairly often over the years. The second hypothetical is something that I've not only never experienced myself, I've never even heard of it.
yes, I agree that the first one is quite common and also what is known as retrograde amnesia or just amnesia...what Leonard has it's anterograde amnesia as I suspect you already know...
If Leonard is Sammy and the wife dies as described in the Sammy story, Leonard wouldn't remember this traumatic event as Sammy didn't. He just gave his wife his usual shot. Even if the shock of his wife's death would cause Leonard to forget how she died and who did it, it wouldn't cause him to forget the fact that she was diabetic...It is fairly explained re his aa illness(google it) that the long term memory is not affected by his state, actually the older the memory the cleaner it is in the patient's mind.
Diabetis has an extremely repetitive treatment. My mother has had it for 20 + years now so I speak from first hand experience. One takes 1-3 shots daily + pills every other meal. It would have been ingrained/silloned in his long term memory as a fact. Even if he knew his wife only for a short time before this attack happened, the nature of the treatment would have made it impossible for him to forget that fact given his own illness. He might very well forget he did once already do the injection but he wouldn't forget to do the injection (and thus by extension) that his wife is diabetic. So again, Leonard might have suppressed that he killed his own wife by od of insulin, or rather he forgot he did that, or that she survived the attack, but he wouldn't in any way forget that she simply had diabetes.
I find this article from the Guardian quite interesting especially this quote re the manipulation of memories (which is my explanation re the 3 shots from Nolan as a character trait reveal of Teddy-i wrote Lenny in the above post but I meant of course Teddy)
More recently, the work of Elizabeth Loftus has shown that our memories of events can easily be manipulated and distorted, with subtle leading questions or doctored photographs. All of this has profound implications for the use of eye-witness testimonies in the courtroom.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2012/feb/13/1?CMP=twt_guThere was another one that I read but can't find it anymore re the confabulation and the creation of false memories from anchoring imagined facts to real long term memories. So still down imo to: is Leonard's long term memory deteriorating or was it already completely destroyed from the beginning?
For me is much more interesting in the case that is happening during the film, we see how he decides things and his escalating hate of Teddy; the other version is all this with the retrospective view that he was actually screwed in the head from the start, so no real development then, just an aha! moment for the audience, for me it would be cheap.
Let's add another perspective, that of the wife.
I didn't question the behaviour of Sammy's wife profoundly. It was an extreme solution but her situation was also extremely difficult and painful. An old couple who has lived so long together and know each other well, I can accept that she's going to extremes to see if her husband is actually ill. The financial aspect of it too. Otoh, Leonard's wife is young, she has her whole live in front of her. Why would she go to such extremes to see if Leonard's really not remembering giving her the insulin? What is the point of that...
he has a diagnosed illness. If she was incapacitated because of the attack, who in the world would let Leonard take care of her?? They would both be followed by specialised staff in some institution wouldn't they?
The whole scenario of him giving her the shots becomes too much, not believable. If she wanted to die, would she use Leonard as a means to it? Would she make her husband a murderer even though he won't remember it?
For the sake of completeness, the dialogue of Teddy-Leonard in the end:
Here is the final dialogue between Leonard and Teddy, in the final scene, where most of truth about Leonard is being revealed:
Leonard: He knew about Sammy, why would I tell him about Sammy?!
Teddy: You tell everybody about Sammy! Everybody who'll listen! "Remember Sammy Jankis?" "Remember Sammy Jankis?" Great story. Gets better every time you tell it. So you lie to yourself to be happy. There's nothing wrong with that. We all do it. Who cares if there's a few little details you'd rather not remember?
Leonard: What the *beep* are you talking about?
Teddy: I don't know. Your wife surviving the assault. Her not believing your condition. The torment and pain and anguish tearing her up inside. The insulin.
Leonard: That's Sammy, not me. I told you about Sammy.
Teddy: Yeah, right. Like you tell yourself over and over again. Conditioning yourself to remember, learning through repetition. Sammy let his wife kill herself. Sammy ended up in an institution. Sammy was a con man. A faker.
Leonard: I never said that Sammy was faking.
Teddy: You exposed him for what he was. A fraud.
Leonard: I was wrong. That's the whole point. See, Sammy's wife came to me...
Teddy: Sammy didn't have a wife. It was your wife who had diabetes.
Leonard: My wife wasn't diabetic.
Teddy: You sure?
Leonard: She wasn't diabetic. You think I don't know my own wife? What the *beep* is wrong with you?
Teddy: I guess I can only make you remember the things you want to be true. Like old Jimmy down there.
Leonard: He's not the right guy.
Teddy: He was to you. Come on, you got your revenge. Enjoy it while you still remember. What difference does it make whether he was your guy or not?
Leonard: It makes all the difference.
Teddy: Why? You're never gonna know.
Leonard: Yes, I will.
Teddy: No, you won't.
Leonard: Somehow I'll know.
Teddy: You won't remember!
Leonard: When it's done, I will know.
Teddy: I thought so, too, I was sure of it, but you didn't! That's right. The real John G. I helped you find him over a year ago. He's already dead.
Leonard: Don't lie to me any more.
Teddy: Look, Lenny...I was the cop assigned to your wife's case, I believed you. I thought you deserved a chance for revenge. I'm the one that helped you find the other guy in your bathroom that night. The guy that cracked your skull and *beep* your wife. We found him, you killed him. But you didn't remember. So I helped you start looking again, looking for the guy you already killed.
Leonard: Oh, yeah? So who was he?
Teddy: Just some guy. Does it matter who? No reason, Lenny, no conspiracy, just bad *beep* luck. Couple of junkies too strung out to realise your wife didn't live alone. But when you killed him I was so convinced that you'd remember. But it didn't stick. Like nothing ever sticks, like this won't stick. I took that picture. Just when you did it. Look how happy you are. I wanted to see that face again.
Leonard: Oh, gee, thanks(!)
Teddy: *beep* you. I gave you a reason to live and you were more than happy to help. You don't want the truth. You make up your own truth, like your police file. It was complete when I gave it to you. Who took out the twelve pages?
Leonard: You, probably.
Teddy: No, it wasn't me, see, it was you.
Leonard: Why would I do that?
Teddy: To create a puzzle you could never solve. Do you know how many towns...how many John Gs or James Gs? I mean, *beep* Lenny, I'm a *beep* John G.
Leonard: Your name's Teddy.
Teddy: My mother calls me Teddy. My name's John Edward Gammell. Cheer up. There's plenty of John Gs for us to find.
http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/3234/what-really-happened-in-mementoP.s. I think I outdid my quota of posts for at least a month...good luck with the reading.
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You seem surprised, all your eyebrows have gone..
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