Motif Of Memento Mori

Christopher Nolan’s neo noir thriller film, Memento (2000), follows the life of the protagonist, Leonard Shelby, as he searches for the person who murdered his wife, whilst dealing with anterograde amnesia, forcing him to use “memento’s” to retain new memories. Through the employment of mise-en-scène and sound design, the central theme of ‘the pursuit of vengeance’ could be conveyed. Additionally, the theme ‘the fragility of memory’, is illustrated to the viewer through cinematography and editing. These techniques and themes are most evident in the dramatic final sequence in the film, specifically when Leonard finally gets revenge and Teddy unveils the truth about John G to him.

Although the surface of the artwork has been fairly damaged by smoke from burning candles and incense, there is still a suggestion of the bright circular halos which had once ‘crowned’ both the Virgin and the child. Cooper relates the symbolism of the circle as “one which expresses archetypal wholeness and totality and therefore divinity” (1982:19). The upper body of Mary appears very large, especially in comparison with the Christ-child, whose body ‘fits’ into her bosom, which is generally associated with comfort. Almost as though she tries to console him concerning his future death (Tansey & Kleiner, 1996: 312).

Both of the paintings by Michelangelo are excellent examples of Renaissance era art. These two paintings are the Last Judgment and the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The ceiling was worked on from 1508 to 1512 and shows many themes common throughout Renaissance art. One of the most prominent is the stunning realism in both pieces. Despite there being hundreds of figures is both pieces each is extremely realistic. There’s a huge stress on the human figure in this painting and they look as though they could be real people. There’s also a fair amount of perspective, although this isn’t one of the most important parts of the paintings.

In the film Memento, written by director Christopher Nolan, the main character Leonard Shelby, is a confused and damaged man that wants the revenge for the murder of his wife. We can say that Lenny lives in his own world uniquely different from everyone else. The reason for this is his inability to store short term memory and convert into long term memory. This disability renders Lenny’s life into a repeatable lifestyle and has to start from scratch about every 15 minutes. The only source he has is to go back to is his notes and tattoos he discovers every morning on his body. It seems as though he only has his past memories but the only memories we learn about in the movie is about Sammy Jenkins and the murder of his wife. I think that

Caravaggio’s, however, was darker and more dramatic. Caravaggio started an intense style called tenebrism. Tenebrism is a more prominent form of chiaroscuro, where there are vehement contrasts between light and dark. Fred Kleiner best describes Caravaggio’s style, “In his art, Caravaggio injected naturalism into both religion and the classics, reducing them to human dramas played out in the harsh and dingy settings of his time and place” (Kleiner, 681). Caravaggio painted during the Italian Baroque in the 1600’s. Italian Baroque artists like Caravaggio embraced theatricality and extravagant ornamentation, while Renaissance artists focused more on precise classical models. Now Caravaggio wasn’t exactly an upstanding member of society, most of what the art world knows about him is through his police reports. Caravaggio’s Entombment was created in 1603 and, like Giotto’s Lamentation, depicts the death of Jesus. While they both depict the same religious scene and use styles that are new for their time, Caravaggio’s painting has some drastic differences from Giotto’s. Caravaggio’s painting is oil painted on canvas, which gives Caravaggio the opportunity to be more detailed in his painting than Giotto can with fresco. Caravaggio creates these intense dramatic scenes of diagonals and intense movement. Unlike Giotto, Caravaggio uses linear perspective to direct his viewer’s attention to the body of Jesus. Caravaggio does this by using a diagonal cascade of mourners descending towards Jesus’ body. Inclusively, Caravaggio started a darker, more dramatic movement that gave naturalism a new realistic element.

Stylistically, his painting is an example of the “smooth” manner, characterized by fine technique in the portrayal of illusionistic form. In this painting, Calabrese uses strong directional lighting from the top, left corner of the painting to highlight the scene. It is Caravagesque in the way

Painted on a panel, this painting was done in tempera, a pigment dissolved in egg. The chief medium till the late 1400s, tempera dries very quickly and when it does it gives a flat and dry appearance. This painting has sharp brushstrokes that do not fuse together and the forms have very sharp edges. All this is attributed partly to his style, and partly to the limitations of his medium. Artists at this time did not know much about the study of perspective, and Barna di Siena’s image reflects this flatness and lack of dimension. Not only are there different people on different scales supposedly in the same plane, even individual

The period of Baroque art was from 1600 to 1750, and relates to the style

Most forms of Catholic Baroque art are assertive and, as intended, assault ones senses. The evolution of religious art from the uniform composition characteristic of the Italian Renaissance through the evolving Mannerism in to the bold and striking Baroque was striking to say the least. The stylistic changes from Da Vinci's The Last Supper to Tintoretto's version in the 1590's bear a perfect example of this transition. The point of view in Da Vinci's was central and allowed for a

Time can be a thinker’s most thought-provoking yet infuriating concept to grasp. Infinitely complex, time plays a crucial role in everyone’s life. We do not know much about it, other than that it is there. What is before time or after time? Most movies move through a linear fashion. There is a beginning, middle, and end. Narrative structure can slightly be bended or modified, but for the most part it follows the same basic formula. The movie Memento (2000), directed by Christopher Nolan, follows Leonard Shelby, the main character with short term memory loss, trying to avenge his fallen spouse. He only remembers up until the time his head was bashed into a mirror after his spouse was sexually assaulted. The movie is told in a unique way through two stories that do not make complete sense until the end. Memento’s unconventional narrative structure puts the audience into Leonard’s shoes, which is apparent in the movie’s convoluted flashbacks, out of sequence story, and bleak ending.

Memento is a movie directed by Chris Nolan. It was released in 2000. The leading actor is Guy Pearce. Carrie Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano are also in this movie. Memento is a perplexed thriller.

During this semester’s course we have studied various styles of art throughout Europe, and what has intrigued me the most is Baroque art. Baroque, as we have studied it, is a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, in sculpture, and painting. Baroque style began in Rome, Italy in the 1600s and quickly spread throughout Europe. The Baroque style was endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church, in their response to the Protestant Reformation. The Church encouraged artists to create works of art that would connect their audience intellectually and emotionally with religious themes. For my final visual analysis I have chosen Hero and Leander, by Peter Paul Rubens (Figure 1). Rubens created this oil on canvas painting between 1604 and 1605 in Lombardy, Italy. Ruben’s painting features Leander, a youth of Abydos, who used to swim across the waters at night to Sestos on the opposite side to meet his lover Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite. The painting measures 96 X 127 cm and is currently located in the Yale University Art Museum, in New Haven, Connecticut. (Early mythological paintings)

During the late 1590’s and early 1600’s Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, father of the baroque period not only heavily influenced the artists around him, but also influenced thousands of artists of future generations, one such artist is Valentin de Boulogne. This influence is evident as Boulogne would use many of the same religious themes and concepts in his work as Caravaggio implemented in his art. Caravaggio’s use of realism, violence, torture, vulgarity and decapitation resonated deeply with Boulogne as he expanded on these themes. One such piece that bares a unique resemblance to a work Caravaggio painted in 1599 is Judith and Holofernes. Painted by Boulogne in 1626, this painting contains many characteristics associated with the

Memento is an American psychological thriller adapted from a short story, Memento Mori written by James Nolan. The story displays the life of Leonard Shelby. Shelby has anterograde Amnesia brought about by an injury to his head. He suffered this injury while confronting two people who attacked his wife at their home in the middle of the night. Leonard kills one of the attackers during the attack, although the second one escapes. Due to the injury and resultant amnesia, the last thing Leonard remembers is his wife dying. He is unable to remember new information after that day. The movie shows how he devotes his life to finding and killing the second attacker.

Michelangelo Merisi, known as “Caravaggio” was known for introducing realism and drama by using theatrical lighting and gesture to Italian Baroque art. Caravaggio’s paintings were focused on religious matter commissioned for the Catholic Church. Georges de la Tour was well known in his own time but then forgotten until well into the twentieth century. His work consisted mostly of candlelit subjects, and he commissioned paintings for royal aristocrats such as King Louis XIII and Henry II of Lorraine. George de la Tour is one of the most important examples of the many artists during the seventeenth century who were greatly influenced by the work of Caravaggio.