People have different thresholds of what they’re willing to believe in movies.
A website called TV Tropes says, “What may break one person’s willing suspension of disbelief may not necessarily have the same effect on another.”
Suspension of disbelief is what allows us to enjoy movies about super heroes, magical children, and marauding T-Rexes. The same is true of zombie movies and space adventures. In real life, we may not believe in such things, but for the sake of two hours of entertainment, we temporarily let go of our disbelief.
For suspension of disbelief to work, events need to be true to the framework of the story. That’s why I’m less willing to suspend disbelief in movies that involve amnesia.
I’m okay with Hermione Granger erasing people’s memories, because the Obliviate charm she uses is part of the Harry Potter universe. It appears a number of times throughout the novels.
I’m not okay with amnesia in dramas set in the real world because it needs to follow real-world rules. When it doesn’t, suspension of disbelief becomes difficult.
A bump on the head causes memory loss. Then another bump on the head restores the memory. This has been used as a plot device in many films, but it’s not how amnesia works. Memory loss caused by a blow to the head won’t be cured by a second blow. Instead, the damage will be compounded.
There are two basic types of amnesia: retrograde and anterograde.
Retrograde amnesia is the inability to remember past events. This might be the loss of a few moments, such as the events of an accident that caused the amnesia, or might include days, months, or even decades of memories.
Anterograde amnesia is the inability to create new memories. Information from the brain’s short-term memory can’t be transferred into long-term memory. A person with this type of amnesia has trouble learning things or recalling events that happened since the onset of the amnesia.
There are many causes of amnesia and many subsets of the two basic types, but total loss of identity is rarely one of them. Don’t take my word for it. Look up the topic on major medical websites.
Mayo Clinic’s site, for example, says, “Though forgetting your identity is a common plot device in movies and television, that’s not generally the case in real-life amnesia.”
A movie called 50 First Dates is a prime example of the sort of movie I object to.
Sallie Baxendale, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Institute of Neurology in London, says, “50 First Dates maintains a venerable movie tradition of portraying an amnesiac syndrome that bears no relation to any known neurological or psychiatric condition.”
There, see? 50 First Dates is not worthy of suspending disbelief. It’s not true to life. Sure, I ignored Baxendale’s opinion and watched the film. Sure, Drew Barrymore’s character is charming. Sure, the story lured me in. Sure, I enjoyed it so much I watched it three times. Sure, I . . . .
Forget this whole column.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
