Portrayals of Remembrance: Representations of Individual Memory in Contemporary Cinema

Abstract

Films that feature representations of memory often offer insight into how humanity perceives its past and the portrayal of that perception in cinema. Although it is not altogether a neglected area, there is a lack of specific scholarly writings on the portrayal of the memory of individual characters – here termed individual memory – in contemporary cinema. The scope of the research addresses this gap by specifically providing an overview on how contemporary films released during the period 2000-2023 portray individual memory and how these portrayals differ from past cinema. The study groups twenty-eight relevant films into three categories related to individual memory (Prosthetic, Traumatic, and Memory Loss) that comprise the three chapters of analysis that the body of the thesis consist of. The thesis implements a qualitative textual analysis using theoretical frameworks and concepts, including “forking-path” narrative, “empty spaces”, the “modernist event”, “then and now” narrative, among others. The analysis helps to reveal how depictions of individual memory contribute to aspects of character and narrative, thus expanding the knowledge on representations of individual memory. The analysis also explores how the language of cinema is utilised in contemporary films in relation to the portrayal of individual memory, allowing for a specific recognition of cinematic representations of individual remembrance and their implications in a study primarily dedicated to them. Outcomes of the study are findings that regard the manner in which representations of individual memory depict the emotional authenticity of these contemporary portrayals: In the twenty-first-century, contemporary films candidly engage with the impact of prosthetic influences, iterations of trauma, and memory loss diseases on individuals. Further findings note the evolution of the cinematic language implemented in portrayals of individual memory and identify the risk of the progressive aspects of these portrayals becoming stagnant, leading to the risk of creating new stereotypes