Masha wrote:Professional Tourist wrote:
I must admit, Masha, that the science behind this scenario is beyond my understanding -- so I'll have to bow out of the discussion. Sorry.
I am very sorry that I make it confusing.
I do not know if it will help if I try to explain in other terms:
My fiance does not trust women.
Under the form of amnesia which is the basis for my post:
He would not trust women.
He would lose the memories which show that his distrust came from his childhood when he often suffered injuries because of his sisters' activities.
It is knowing why he has a tendency to distrust women that allows him to overcome it most times. It is only when a woman is particularly nice to him for no apparent reason that his distrust can not be subdued.
I believe that a major reason for distress exhibited by amnesiacs comes from their not understanding why they are the way they are as would be the case if my fiance became amnesic and did not have access to the written accounts of the incidents he experienced.
My psych-101 philosophy is that the movies we consider most significant are ones of which we identify strongly with the characters' troubles or experience and their reactions to same. We will surely not have had precisely those troubles or experience but they mirror in important ways ones which we have had.
I believe that if I became amnesic and were shown movies which I had considered important to my sense of self then I would have a better understanding of how troubles and experiences and actions may have moulded my personality.
Masha, you needn't have gone to so much trouble to explain yourself to a dim-bulb like me, but I do understand now. It sounds like this amnesia situation is similar to people who have repressed traumatic memories. Those traumas cause a certain type of problematic behavior, where the person is indeed aware of the problem but does not understand why he/she has it or what to do about it. The example you gave of your fiancé would be like this.
For the movies + amnesia situation, if I'm understanding, let's say a person is a big fan of Judy Garland and loves her to bits and pieces. With the amnesia, the person would still remember the love for Judy but would not know why, and might find this troubling. If there were a note advising the person to watch "Meet Me in St. Louis," or "A Star is Born," once this were done then the person would understand the love of Judy (presuming that his/her taste has not changed) and so would feel more comfortable.
For myself, I can't think of any movies that would define who I am, or that would help me to understand myself better if I developed this amnesia. There have been films that I've seen many times, which may have influenced me for a while, even for several years, but generally speaking their influence will wear off eventually. But, if I tried to define myself or my major personality traits as I see them or wish that I would be, and then tried to think of movies that illustrate those traits, I might find a few.
The Passion of the Christ, for my christian faith
A Man for All Seasons, for the importance I place on honesty and personal integrity
La Grande Bouffe, because I love to eat, sometimes too much
Don Quixote (the 1957 russian film adaptation), because I'm a little crazy, a little iconoclastic, and often self-serving in the process.
For your other inquiry, to list six movies which I would treasure the opportunity to watch as if for the first time, this is much easier (although difficult to limit to six):
El Amor, Brujo
Million Dollar Baby
Babette's Feast
The Godfather
Rosemary's Baby
Captains Courageous
Hooray, I think I've done it!