HUEN 1010 Dr. Fredricksmeyer
Memento as a Modern Oedipus Story
I. Introduction/thesis
Memento as a modern iteration of Oedipus Rex
II. Summary of the film in forward chronological sequence (see the back of this sheet)
III. Correspondences between the two works
plot, setting, characters, and narrative structures
IV. Further correspondences: logos/ergon themes
first theme
language as indeterminate (ambiguous or misleading)
logos has no inherent relation to ergon-
Gorgias: On the Nonexistent
Oedipus Rex
Partial disjunctions between logos and ergon-
sôtêr/miasma
Total disjunctions between logos and ergon-
“From words a false appearance arose” (680).
“What reason did Polybus have, then, to name (onomazein) me son” (1021).
onoma/soma
Memento
Partial disjunctions between logos and ergon-
Facts 1-4
Total disjunctions between logos and ergon-
Facts 5-6
second theme
language as an irresistible force in human affairs
logos effects ergon-
Gorgias: The Encomium of Helen
Oedipus Rex
answer to the riddle of the Sphinx
both oracles
Memento
Tattoos: “John G. raped and murdered my wife.” “Find him and kill him.”
esp. Facts 5-6
V. Influence of postmodernism
Derrida and de Saussure
signifier vs. signified (parallels first theme)
Foucault and other post-colonialists
language and reason as hegemonic tools (parallels second theme)
VI. Ontological, epistemological, and linguistic issues revisited
Summary of Memento (in forward chronological sequence)
Leonard’s wife was raped and ostensibly murdered by two men, one of whom escaped after knocking Leonard unconscious. From the blow to his head Leonard received anterograde amnesia, or the inability to commit experiences since his trauma to long-term memory. Relying especially on police notes, and clues he has written on the backs of photos and tattooed on his own body, Leonard tracks down and kills the supposed second culprit at the beginning of the story. Teddy then tells Leonard that the man he just killed was not the second culprit. According to Teddy, Leonard killed the second culprit a year earlier and since then has killed several innocent people with Teddy’s help. Further, according to Teddy, Leonard’s wife survived the rape and Leonard himself killed her when, as a result of his anterograde amnesia, he overdosed her with insulin for her diabetes when she was in a suicidal state. Leonard now hates Teddy and responds to his revelation by destroying some clues and fabricating others that inevitably lead him to misidentify Teddy as the second culprit and kill him at the end of the story.