Question about Memento (possible spoiler)

The famous 2000 film that put Christopher Nolan on the map tells the story of a man on the hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife.
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If you were Leonard Shelby, lost you're memory etc.

Would you lie to yourself and set yourself on a quest that will never end?

I wouldn't tbh.

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rbevanx wrote:If you were Leonard Shelby, lost you're memory etc.

Would you lie to yourself and set yourself on a quest that will never end?

I wouldn't tbh.
How can you be sure that Leonard was lying to himself to do that? I mean we only know that information from Teddy, but what if Teddy was the one who lied to Leonard? We can't know that :D The film's goal is to put the viewers into the perspective of Lenny, so we experience just the same as he. So the viewers have no short-time memory too, just like Lenny, and therefore we can't decide whether Teddy was telling the truth or not. That's my opinion about the whole movie :D We cannot know the truth, because Lenny doesn't know it either.

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rbevanx wrote:If you were Leonard Shelby, lost you're memory etc.

Would you lie to yourself and set yourself on a quest that will never end?

I wouldn't tbh.
I wouldn't remember. :P

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In my mind the quest will end and we see it end. Once Teddy is killed he no longer has anyone feeding him information and therefore he will not continue to kill John G's.

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DHOPW42 wrote:How can you be sure that Leonard was lying to himself to do that? I mean we only know that information from Teddy, but what if Teddy was the one who lied to Leonard? We can't know that :D
I never thought of that :shock:
chee wrote:I wouldn't remember. :P
Lol :lol:

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Eternalist wrote:
DHOPW42 wrote:How can you be sure that Leonard was lying to himself to do that? I mean we only know that information from Teddy, but what if Teddy was the one who lied to Leonard? We can't know that :D
I never thought of that :shock:
You see? In fact that's the way I see the movie. We can be only as sure as Lenny.

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quote="Eternalist"]
DHOPW42 wrote:How can you be sure that Leonard was lying to himself to do that? I mean we only know that information from Teddy, but what if Teddy was the one who lied to Leonard? We can't know that :D
It depends how you view the film tbh, and thats why I love it so much tbh, because it changes like human memory. Which is why I love it so much.
But would you lie to yourself to make yourself happy is the question.

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rbevanx wrote:But would you lie to yourself to make yourself happy is the question.
It all goes back to the argument of whether ignorance truly is bliss. Does knowledge, or, knowing the truth, make you happy?

I think that's one of the themes of Memento, possibly one of the strongest.

For Leonard, ignorance IS bliss. His quest for his wife's killer gives his life meaning. It's not the truth that gives his life meaning, the truth is meaningless to him, it's the quest which is meaningful.

If I didn't know as much as I did, would I be happier? It's a question that I myself can't solve.

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As Nolan himself said in one of the endings of Memento's directors commentary, "To me it's amazing that people don't question that character. They just accept them, because they are so desperate for answers in the story." and I find that to be true and that we subconsciously watch these standard elements of story without realizing that we do accept the first answer we hear, regardless of whether it is in a fictional world or the real world that you and I inhabit.

and if you read my very first post on the site you would know that i am writing a paper using a thesis of this sort.

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DHOPW42 wrote:
rbevanx wrote:If you were Leonard Shelby, lost you're memory etc.

Would you lie to yourself and set yourself on a quest that will never end?

I wouldn't tbh.
How can you be sure that Leonard was lying to himself to do that? I mean we only know that information from Teddy, but what if Teddy was the one who lied to Leonard? We can't know that :D The film's goal is to put the viewers into the perspective of Lenny, so we experience just the same as he. So the viewers have no short-time memory too, just like Lenny, and therefore we can't decide whether Teddy was telling the truth or not. That's my opinion about the whole movie :D We cannot know the truth, because Lenny doesn't know it either.
i know
for all we know there was 10 years in between the death of lenords wife and
possible
The death of Teddy

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