Now you've seen the film, you're homework is to discuss what you've seen by posting comments about it. You each have to post at least one comment and keep it clean. I also want to see you trying to use the media terms you've been introduced to so far. So what do I want you to write about? Overall I want you to give your opinion of the film. In particular, I want you to comment on how you feel the use of a non-linear narrative structure and colour impacts on the audience. You should also discuss how you feel the film does or doesn't meet your expectations of a thriller. You're comments should be posted by Wednesday 1st October - before class.
29 comments:
HIII EVRYONE!! Didn't like da film at all, thought it was good until the end, got confused as I didnt even know what happened at the end, thought it was a waste of time, some bits were good but ending killed it....
Annie....
Well. It Really confused me untill the end i thought i was imagining seeing things over and over again overall once i understood it i found it very interesting and the effects such as black and white on flashbacks made the film more clear by the end. the close up on his notes made it clear to the viewer what was acctually going on. overall it was alright difficult to get into but alright.
Maariyah x
I am going to have to disagree. The film did meet my expectations of a thriller. Memento used the conventions of thriller movies, for example the psychological element such as Leonard talking to himself, the impact this has on the audience is that we try to understand his state of mind and pity him to an extent. I found the use of the non-liner narrative interesting, as the impact it had on the audience was that it made us more confused and allowed us to think more. I also liked the use of black and white that signified Leonard’s pass and the colour that symbolised the present and his new memories, which also created confusion for the audience. Over all I thoroughly enjoyed watching Memento, as I believe that the film allowed me to create my own interpretations of the characters and the narrative.
Fadila
I don't generally enjoy thrillers, but I enjoyed Memento. The non-linear structure and the change between black+white and colour confused me, to a point where I had no idea when anything was happening, but as the film goes on I got to grips with this and worked everything out. I thought everything was going to be revealed at the end, and we'd have known who John G was etc, but the film didn't give you a definate answer, so the end was a bit of a let down for me.
Georgia.
Some interesting comments so far. I'd be interested to see if your views on the film would change if you watched it a second time Annie. I watch it every year and find myself uncovering new details that add to my enjoyment each time. The main thing to take away from the film is to appreciate a 'different' way of telling a story, ones that play with an audience's expectations and uses editing in an interesting way.
I think Georgia's comment about not being able to follow the plot until well into the film is rather revealing. The non-linear structure is one that rewards the more committed viewer and therefore suggests something about the target audience that Nolan had in mind when he was making the film. He probably wasn't thinking that this would appeal to fans of Dr. Doolittle or other ultra-mainstream fare. Though, some reviewers have said that he wasn't thinking of his audience at all when he made the film but rather indulging his own ideas about memory, truth and film-making.
The unresolved ending also, as Fadila notes, rewards an audience that likes to be challenged and use their own imagination. By resolving all the loose ends the film would have imposed some kind of morality on the audience. How do you think we would have viewed the character of Lennie if everything had been neatly resolved? How do you think we would feel about the whole idea of revenge and natural justice if we'd been shown Lennie 'solving the case' and killing the 'right' man.
No Sir my views won't change, I liked some bits I am not saying all of it was rubbish I like the black and white effect and the memory sequence but after all that we didn't even get to see who was the killer or maybe it was just me being confused no offence to anyone who enjoyed it but I still thought it wasted time and I normally enjoy thrillers I think it was Teddy's face which made me not like the film I thought he looked like a pervert that's why.
Annie ....
I think that the film did meet my expectations of a thriller. the use of the non-linear narrative structure did confuse me at first but as we were being introduced to new secrets, which gave me a better understanding of the film. the colour impact did confuse me, I wasn’t sure if the black and white was being used for memories or the present. towards the ending of memento I understood film...but then after seeing the finishing scene i felt as if the film was a waste of time, I didn’t understand anything that had happened ( but this is what a thriller does).
Balpreet
I didnt like this film. I didnt like the ending whatsoever. However I did like the non-linear narrative, it made the film unique. I think this film would've been really good if the ending concluded the story and the audience could go away with a satisfying ending. It really frustrated me. I have watched many Thrillers and whilst they do leave room for the audiences imagination and do have that element of confusion, I think Momento didnt quite get the balance. If the directors intentions where to have such an abrupt and weird ending then he has done just that, but its extremley annoying!!!! I dont get a sense of fullfilment from watching that film, it feels like a waste of time. I mean who would volentarily sit down and watch a film that will confuse them and leave them feeling even more confused and tense. When i watch films i like to get really into them, this one, it just stresses me out! I mean lifes as hard as it is without films like these that mess with your mind.
And sir, the whole point of films to tell a story. Each film should have a vauge Ideology behind it. So what was Momento's? Weird people who have memory loss write on themselves and like to fill their sad lives by making it impossible to find their wifes 'killer'? So the ending of the film should impose some kind of morality on the audience. Thats more or less the point of films. I'm not saying the film should've completely tied up all loose ends, it just needs to leave some room for the audiences imagination to dwell on and not go OTT and just hardly finish the film... What is it? Some kind of sequel??
ALTIMA :) !!
I am going agree with you sir because this was my second time watching Memento I definitely uncovered little details I never noticed before which adds to the enjoyment of watching Memento and thrillers in general. The idea that the thriller is such a challenge makes it more rewarding and enjoyable. Christopher Nolan in my opinion has done a great job of using the conventions of a thriller to create the confusion, as well as the non-liner structure that makes the thriller more unique because not that many psychological thrillers that I have seen such as Fight club which has a liner structure leaves such a great impact on the audience and allows us to appreciate the different ways of telling the narrative. I can understand why some people would be disappointed with the ending but if the ending had been resolved and if Lenny had resolved the case it wouldn’t have made it a good thriller because it would have just done exactly what an audience would have accepted Lenny to do and imposed some kind of morality on the audience. This wouldn’t have allowed us to judge Lenny or the narrative in as many ways and it wouldn’t have made it a unique thriller . Watching Memento gives you an idea that for some people the past is as mysterious as the future. The ideology is shown at the end of the film, which is that we simply believe what we choose to.
Strong words Altima. I'm glad the film got some kind of reaction from you - negative or positive. If anything this is what films should do, stir something in the audience. However, I would like you to try to write a little more formally. This is the skill you need to develop over the coming year - to voice your criticisms in a more analytical way. The first part of your first paragraph is more akin to the style of writing you need to use.
You do make an important point about audience pleasure though. One of the main pleasures derived from going to the cinema is escapism, the ability to lose yourself in a world apart from your own, one that allows you to forget about the everyday grind. If this expectation is not fulfilled then the audience leaves dissatisfied. However, there are other pleasures to be had from any media text and one of those is to be made to think. This ties in with the work you're doing on audience theory with Miss D'Silva-Collins.
I thought the film was very confusing. Dispite this i thought it was very interesting and kept me interested in what was happening throughout. I liked the twist at the end of the film though i would have liked to see some other questions in the film be answered.
Josie
I believe it’s a fascinating film one that if I watch again and again I would come to a different conclusion or see different aspect I hadn’t originally picked up. It has an unusual way of showing the occurrence of events starting from the death of teddy which lure you in from the very beginning. I believe that it was reasonably clear when going backwards to see the event before the death of teddy. I can understand that some people may believe it could have been clearer. My reasoning for why they might not have would be because the director wanted you to show how it must be for Leonard himself having no comprehension of past events and the confusion he goes through every 5minutes which make you relate to Lenard.
I don’t believe the black and white was present or future i think it was just his thought processes about Sammie Jenkins and the effect he had and how it can relate to his own memory problem which show the different between his reality (being the black and white)and ours (being the colour ).
Both the style of the film and the storyline are both very unique. It keeps you on your toes and constantly keeps you guessing. Each character is more diabolical than the other but together they guide you into a vortex of suspense and wander.
I believe the ending wasn’t as good as i thought it would be but it was thought proving on his idea of reality and left you thinking.
Which I think makes this film great. :D
Sophie
Sophie makes an interesting point about the non-linear structure being used to place the audience in a similar position to Lenny. Do you think this creates more sympathy, or even empathy, for him? Maybe this is why many of us feel slightly cheated by the ending. Throughout the film we are lead to see things from Lenny's perspective only to find that in the end he is using his disability to his advantage. Previous to this we think that everyone else is taking advantage of him and his disability.
Hi People
Momento was a very interesting movie but I felt i had to work very hard to understand what was happening, leonard was potrayed as a very confused and lonely man his tone of voice sounded confused and spoke really fast as if he was trying to figure everything out by speed talking.
Overall I believe this movie was targeted at people who usually love cliff hangers and liked to do a lot of investigating and who like to participate in the movie.But i like to sit backand enjoy a movie, and not find it hard to figure what particular point is being made across.
XXXXMULKIXXX=]X
To Mr Gibbs:
I thought that although this film was quite confusing at the start, the non-linear narrative structure made the film much more compelling compared to a thriller with a linear narrative structure. At the end of the film, it was interesting to piece the images together and find out/guess what happened to Leonard's wife.
I think Memento met my expectations of a thriller. This is evident in the sound which is used - most of the music is monotonous, with the exception to some diagetic music coming from the radio, or the tv, for example. The extreme close-ups at the beginning also accentuate the thriller genre - they make the audience feel dishorientated, therefore creating a scary atmosphere.
The black and white effects was a useful one, because it presented a different time zone, usually when Leonard was trying to remember something that had happened in the past. I thought this technique made the movie easier to decipher which parts of it were happening in the past, and which were happening in the present.
All in all, I thought this film was much more thought provoking than other thrillers I have seen, and I'd probably watch it again.
Jasmine
For Mr Gibbs:
Overall i did not enjoy Memento. I found the film to be quite pointless, it lacked in any climax or basic structure. However the absents of structure and non -linear narrative drew the audience into Lennie's mind and memories.It added to the effect of his confusions and struggles.
I liked the use of flashbacks in black and white to convey his memories, thus making it clearer for the viewer to know what was present time or his memories.
I did however enjoy debating who killed his wife and who all the characters were in relation to Lennie and the plot.
What are the conventions of a thriller?...
To Mr Gibbs:
I think that the film did meet the conventions of a typical thriller. I liked the film at the beginning, although the non linear structure did make it hard to follow. However, I didnt like the ending, I thought that it was unclear and that confused me.
The non linear structure kept me engaged throughout the film. I wanted to see what happened at the end to uncover the plot. I was dissapointed at the end when I was not able to do this. I felt that it was a bit of a clifhanger, and that I was left to imagine what I thought had happened.
The colour effects, such as the black and white flashbacks, helped me follow the film much easier. The way that his notes to himself were emphasized made the viewer understand much easier.
Samantha x
For MR GIBBS:
I feel the use of non-linear narrative helped me concentrate on the film. The producers used so many techniques to keep the audience interested and a bit obsessed (to a point) with the film such as Sammy Jankis. At the beginning of the film we all know who he was, a client or case that Lenny had to investigate but towards the end Teddy was say that there isn’t a Sammy that Lenny was Sammy. Are we supposed to believe that Lenny killed his wife with insulin? Or is it more mind games to help us understand his character better? I felt like the producers robbed us of justices in a way because one of the main characters was John G, a criminal who raped and murdered Lenny’s wife and I was never caught. Then they tell us (well Teddy tells us and we already know not to “believe his lies”) that he already killed John G and that he makes other John Gs, his John G. which makes him kinda the bad guy.
Jibola
Personally i feel that the film was unsatisfactory.Though it maintained suspense, it failed to deliver results in terms of a not so good ending, leaving the audience guessing as to what actually happened. the suspense in the film kept my attention, but the ending was very disappointing..
Leena...
To Mr Gibbs ..
I thought it was very effective to run the film back-to-front. I felt that this put us, as the audience, in the same position as Lennie to some degree. Like Lennie we are trying to put the peices of a puzzle together having no idea what to expect. In a Film like this the audience is required to take note of every detail no matter how big or how small(just like Lennie). The non-linear narrative and change of colour in the flashbacks added to this effect.
As the film developed it became easier to understand what was goin on, however there were scenes which disproved this idea. Basically by the end of the end i felt more confused then i did before i even saw the film ( don't ask me how that's even possible but it happened!)
The ending was very unclear and left us in a state of confusion, i felt it was an anti-climax ending and this disappointed me, however the good thing about it was that it allowed the audience to go away and make up an ending of their own!
(I know this lacks media terms, but i will get better i promise :D)
Xx IQRA xX
P.s. Who's John G and who killed Lennie's wife?
(I am so angry, i just wrote a whole blog and my internet cut out, and it got erased, so here i am writing it again.)
I enjoyed the film , i liked the way it was in an non-linear fashion, it kept me thinking all the time, however i wouldn't recommend it for means of diversion as it can be quite confusing and frustrating at times. During some points of the film i had no clue what was going on and i started to lose focus. i like the use of black and white during the film and how they not only used it for the past, they used it for present as well. This creates a puzzle, and is left for the viewer to work out. I also like the way that the viewer decides what kind of character he is, throughout the film with think the character teddy is the 'bad guy', but at the end of the film, we are left questioning as to wether he's actually just made up this part of his life, just so that he has a purpose. The end of this film was very disappointing for me, i felt very unsatisfied. Overall i think it is a very clever film, and i would definitely watch it again.. I would like to watch it in linear form to see how much more sense it makes to me.
Phoebz.
well i really liked the film and was expecting a really good ending but it wasnt..i liked the effects of black and white and all the flashbacks as it showed some things to come in the film, lennys past, and some unanswered questions. i dont think this film met my expectations of a thriller but i would watch it again!
Melanie.
For Mr Gibbs
I thought the film was alright. It really confusing yet it kept me gripped and kept me quessing. What made the film interesting was the fact that some scenes were done in black and white and also the change in day and time after those scenes.
Overall, I think it was a really gripping thriller, that with the ending leaves the audience guessing and I wouldn't mind watching it a couple more times.
Christine
HUMA SAYS TO MR GIBBS:i believe that memento fulfilled all the conventions of a thriller by using: the same sadistic music all the way thruogh the film, also the colour of the scenes, for example when leonard remembers his wife its in colour, but when he is talking to himself the scene is black and white, its almost as if the memories of his wife are more recent than those of his own.* personally, the use of non linear narrative structurewas the winning touch down as it,because it made me as well as the audience realise what it is like to be in his shoes.
*i think that the whole point of the films non linear narative structure was to show that he was trying to remeber, and the way he remembered was confused and disorientated.
even if i don't watch these kind of genres so often, i quite liked the movie it really meets the convention which a typical thriller movie has to include to be perfect.
I really liked that he had to write everything down to memories things this keeps the audience guessing all the time, as well the movie played all the time with our minds and confused us.
The way the movie used the black & white effects was really good ,they used it in the opposite way so that it symbolized what h appends now (present) and the color was used to show the past. It always switched ,when he learned, got new ideas or when he was blank.
the way they used the Narrative Structure like fadila and some others students thought as well, tells us that the movie doesn't move from the beginning to the middle, it always keeps on jumping back & forwards which they used the black & white color to present it, which really confuse you and that was the point of the movie, to build confusion & disorientation.The Thriller movies want the audience to put themselves into the position.
This was a really good thriller which always keeps you thinking and guessing what happens next, it helps you to not just to think about what you see as well what you don't see, it strength your mind and can help you to tackle situation differently.
It helps you to think wider and can make you more understandable of things.
Finally i think everybody thought the same about the movie & the way it was constructed.
Although the film was confusing, it gave a brought a sense of thriller to the viewer. Elements such as non linear structures of script and reverse flashbacks may confuse the person watching, however if the future has already been revealed as something bad for instance, the present would build the tension towards this point. I enjoyed this movie because of the story line and how his life was portrayed. Based on revenge, he was set on bringing himself justice, in any way possible, resulting in him killing the wrong people.
Jermaine Matovu
i feel that the movie was quite interesting although it totally confuses the audience. At first we start to sympothise with lenny as we feel sorry for him because of his 'condition'. yet by the end we are confused about how to feel about his character as we see that he uses his 'condition' to manipulate his way out of situations.
the movie itself was disturbing as we thought that the black anf white represent the past, then his flash backs started to be shown in colour. this made things more complicating as we get confused about what time we are in (present or past.)
It would be easier for us to sympothise with Natilie's character as we are draqwn into thinking that she is an innocent victim to the loss of a loved one. yet the script is twisted again as we see that she is a manipulative bitch who is using 'lenny's condition to get what she wants.
in total i think the movie was good but jus to much to take in at once, until you watch the linear narrative.
kris
Jasmine-
Very sensitive and switched on response to the film. Your expression and control of media terminology shows you to be a smart, eloquent and engaged student.
Natalie-
Although you did not enjoy the film you have made some insightful and technically astute comments in an appropriate register. Research the conventions of a thriller!
Samantha-
The intention of the director was that you were left with spaces in the narrative for you to move into and write your own narrative and so be more engaged so I am glad you felt that. Try thinking outside of the box more-open your mind to new experiences.
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