“Who changed my diaper? You most certainly did not change it. I’m pretty sure I did it myself!” yelled my 80-year-old bedridden grandfather, post a fall, at my grandmother, who had been taking care of him every hour of every day for the 7 months before he passed. Yet, in moments like these, we often dismissed these outbursts as jokes or ingratitude. What concerned us, though, was the fact that this was something that occurred relatively frequently. Additionally, he seemed to distinctly remember the major memories of his life, and he’d still tell us stories from his childhood without a lapse. It was the formation of anterograde or new memories that would rattle his brain. What we had assumed to be ignorance turned out to be a genuine memory impairment.
The hippocampus, a small but vital part of the brain that lies underneath the inner part of the temporal lobe, is responsible for the addition of declarative memories – the kind of memories that involve facts and/or events. It became evident that my grandfather had lost hippocampal function, likely as a result of the fall, leading to what appeared to have been clinical amnesia. While all of his post-fall treatment had been physiological, the doctors somehow failed to realize that the root of the problem also possibly lay in his neurobiology.
While witnessing my grandfather’s struggles firsthand, I couldn’t help but realize how the reality of brain disorders, amnesia in particular, often diverges from their portrayal in cinema. Films like 50 First Dates and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind undeniably offer entertaining narratives but often gloss over the complexities of memory disorders and oversimplify important issues.Â
50 First Dates
50 First Dates, starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, speaks of “amnesia” – a medical condition wherein Barrymore’s character is stuck in a cycle where she is unable to retain short-term memories, which reset every morning. If she watches a small montage (that her husband created) on a daily basis, she’s able to retain the information for a day. Finally, toward the end of the movie, she’s able to remember her husband. While it certainly is a fun premise, with brilliant acting on both the leads’ parts, from a neurobiological perspective, the intricacies of the disorder were fundamentally flawed. The film essentially suggests that through repeated exposure to information, one can retain it temporarily – a notion that oversimplifies the intricate workings of the mind. Real-life amnesia doesn’t allow for the formation of new memories, by which logic, there was no way she would actually be able to remember her husband.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Similarly, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind opens with Joel, played by Jim Carrey, feeling despondent after Clementine, portrayed by Kate Winslet, unexpectedly ends their relationship. In a moment of despair, he learns about a controversial medical procedure offered by Lacuna Inc., which allows individuals to selectively erase specific memories. In the film, Clementine has memories of Joel intentionally erased by a doctor, and upon knowing, incredibly hurt, Joel tries to do the same. The employees supposedly erase the memories from his brain when he is asleep in his apartment, so that when he wakes up, he wouldn’t have any memories of Clementine, and additionally, wouldn’t even recall the procedure, which is neurologically not yet possible. While it is possible to erase memories that trigger anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder or dampen those memories, it isn’t possible to selectively erase the memories of a person.
Salaam-E-Ishq
While cinema often falls short in its portrayal of brain disorders, there are the occasional films that offer a glimmer of hope and don’t disappoint in terms of their attempt to capture the essence of these conditions. Surprisingly enough, a multi-starrer Bollywood film, Salaam-E-Ishq, inspired by the Hollywood film Love Actually, demonstrates a more nuanced understanding of amnesia, which, while not entirely accurate, certainly does align with reality more closely. The film portrays the lives of six couples, one of which is portrayed by Bollywood stars John Abraham and Vidya Balan. The character played by Vidya Balan loses her ability to form new memories after a train accident but retains her past memories. This depiction seems to be accurate since while her previous memories have remained intact, i.e., she has complete memory of her parents and her past life, she fails to recall her recent years, causing a complete omission of any memory of her husband whatsoever. Even on Abraham’s repeated attempts at evoking her memory, he consistently fails to do so. This is a very realistic representation of the disorder. Toward the end of the movie, however, Balan asks Abraham to leave her since she may never remember him, and that he’s wasting his life trying to get her to do so. To this, Abraham claims that in the case that she fails to remember him, they’ll make new memories, the possibility of which is rendered impossible since amnesia doesn’t allow one to develop new memories. The loophole in the plot is the fact that the reason she cannot remember him even in the future itself is based on the fact that she cannot form new declarative memories.
What I’m trying to bring across is that while such films captivate us with their engaging plots and emotional depth, they often strip down the complex realities of memory disorders. This is where it becomes crucial for us to realize that behind every cinematic portrayal lies a real-life story filled with challenges, resilience and emotion. Reflecting on my grandfather’s experience and its representation in the media made me realize how subjective experiences can be and how vital it is for media creators to strive for accuracy in their portrayals of issues of such importance.
“We are more than the sum of our parts.” – Oliver Sacks