Thursday, August 21, 2008 Cajucom: Something to Remember By Regina Cajucom Serendipity Couch
WHAT will it be like if our mind functions like a computer and memories can be "saved" to and "deleted" from a memory chip implanted in the brain? This is the premise of the movie "The Final Cut", which I finally got to see over the weekend. This film features Robin Williams, in a dead-serious role which is a far cry from his usual hilarious characters.
In this movie, parents pay a considerable sum to have their children implanted with "Zoe implants", which record everything in a person's life from birth. When the subject dies, his memories are edited and featured in a film-showing of sorts, graced by the family and friends of the deceased.
Williams plays the role of Alan Hackman, the best "cutter" whose services are sought by prominent families to edit loved ones' memories. He is considered the best because with his excellent editing, he can turn sinners into saints, and forever delete bad memories that may damage one's reputation in the society.
Sadly, the irony of it all is that Hackman was not able to live his own life due to his blind devotion to his career. Hackman's own memories are merely fragments of the memories of others, most of which are the bad ones which he edited, but which stuck with him because of their shocking nature.
The film is said to be reminiscent of the George Orwell fiction, Nineteen Eighty Four, written in 1949, about a futuristic government set in the year – you guessed it – 1984.
In this novel, there is a branch of this futuristic government called the Ministry of Truth, whose function is to edit historical accounts to fit the government's policies.
People working for this ministry are tasked with editing – rectifying – historical records and past newspaper articles to make them conform to the declarations of the government, thus making everything that it says seemingly true. From this fiction originated the concept of Big Brother, an unknown person who watches people from his monitor, and from there was coined the phrase "Big Brother is watching you." Yes, dear readers, our PBB (Pinoy Big Brother), with all its editions, is actually based on something literary and philosophical, and not just a product of voyeuristic tendencies.
Can you imagine what it would be like if personal memories and historical accounts can be edited and deleted at will? True, past is past, and we should not let past actions control our present situation. But, isn't it from past mistakes and failures that we learn our lessons? If we are to forget our mistakes of the past, are we not bound to repeat them? This reminds me of yet another movie, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," where a couple (portrayed by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet) were able to have all the memory of their past affair erased in order to totally forget and stop being miserable.
Halfway into that film I was able to predict how it will turn out…the jilted lovers managed to find each other again, not remembering that in a not so distant past, they already broke each other's heart. In the words of the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
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Anvil Publications invites you to a book launching of Café by the Ruins: Memories and Recipes by Lia Llamado, Feliz Perez, and Adelaida Lim, with an art exhibit "Realms of my Mind," poetry reading by Celestina Arvisu, and music by Bubut Olarte, on Saturday, the 23rd of August, at 4:30 p.m.
