Going back to the RAM memory I mentioned in my first post: I think that we all experience those ‘what did I come in here for?’ ‘and now – what was I doing?’ moments. I don’t think that they are very important, they are just the result of busy lives and hectic schedules.
However, where do we file away the films we’ve seen at the cinema, on DVD or on T.V? Do we save them in our simple flash memory (such as the RAM above), or are they stored deeply inside our ROM memory for eventual recovery when re-watching and/or discussing the film with others? At what point do we stop completely remembering the films we’ve seen, their plots and their outcomes? (And is it important?).
Last night was my most worrying experience of film watching.
We’d recorded Avengers Assemble (2012) on our Humax (via the BBC) last week and found time to watch it last night. The film is over two hours long and there were bits of it that I knew I ‘HAD’ seen, but wasn’t sure when or where. As the film is populated by characters from other Marvel Comic films which I have seen, I wasn’t surprised to see Iron Man, The Hulk or Captain America as they gradually assembled, but I couldn’t place Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow (despite her having been in Captain America!) and could never remember ever having met the Hawkeye character before.
Now, I guess that it’s not unusual to forget having seen films until we see them again and I guess that most of us forget the titles of films we have seen when considering what to watch. I certainly couldn’t tell you the plots of those films I HAVE seen, mentioned above. But I know that I HAVE seen them.
Whilst watching the film last night, I wondered if I’d seen some clips via Graham Norton as I could remember several scenes from somewhere; but there were too many such clips for that to be the case. Failing that, they might have been scenes I’d thought were from those other Marvel films. So, at the end of the film, I had to ask Sharon if we’d been at someone’s house when/if we’d seen the film before as I ‘HAD seen a few, very short, bits before.
She told me that she ‘knew’ she had seen it after the first few minutes and that she was convinced that we’d sat here in this house (we’ve been here three years) and watched it.
I have no recall of ever watching this film before. But I must have.
Image Credit – via Google free to use search
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Failing to remember 
Not forgetting that the things we ‘practice’ become etched in our minds and unless you practiced being the Black Widow or Hawkeye, maybe it wasn’t so important to you and there’s less of a memory trace than for other significant events that you have revisited in your mind’s eye? I look back at things I’ve written and go ‘Huh? I wrote that?’ That’s much more significant than a bit of film entertainment so relatively speaking, don’t think it’s anything to worry about! We’re not lucky enough to have photographic memory. Main thing is to develop the habits that will sustain us. My mum went back and forth on one stretch of the ‘tube’ 4 times before she remembered where she should be aiming for.
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Thanks Lils. I guess that I agree with everything you say there and I do believe that films are just ‘fluff’ to help entertain us throughout our lives. I’m writing the blog to record failings that are, to me, significant – no having absolutely no memory of the film was a little alarming. You have to be aware however, that Sharon remembers films by name and by plot and WILL NOT watch one twice if she can help it – so I’m on the flip side there! However, put her on the tube with your mum and she’d never find her way off it (she has to leave breadcrumbs when entering shops and public toilets – so she knows which way she came in) 🙂
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