Sonal Madala, Week 15: An Ocean of Memories
When I was a kid, “Finding Nemo” and its sequel, “Finding Dory” always had a special place in my heart. Voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, Dory is a blue tang fish with short-term memory loss that often leads her on adventurous journeys. While Dory's story is entertaining and comedic on the surface, it serves as a powerful metaphor for the fragility and power of memory.
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| Image from The Michigan Daily |
“Finding Dory” dives deeper into the origins of Dory's forgetfulness and witnesses her journey to reunite with her long-lost family. Throughout her journey, Dory's memory lapses serve as both a source of comedic relief and a reminder of the challenges individuals face when grappling with memory loss. Memory is a fundamental aspect of human existence, shaping our identities, relationships, and understanding of the world around us. However, like Dory, our memories can sometimes be elusive or even unreliable. We may find ourselves struggling to recall important moments, names, or details, leading to frustration and confusion, often with those closest to us. Yet, despite these challenges, Dory teaches us that our memories, no matter how imperfect, are an integral part of who we are.
One of the most memorable scenes in “Finding Dory” is when Dory experiences a sudden flashback triggered by a familiar scent. In that moment, memories of her past come rushing back to her, showing glimpses of forgotten memories and connections. This scene serves as a reminder of the intertwined nature of our senses and experiences and the way in which they can influence our perception.
However, the most impactful lesson that Dory teaches is the importance of embracing our differences and accepting our weaknesses in order to find strength in our vulnerabilities. Despite her memory loss, Dory possesses an unwavering optimism and determination that enables her to find her way back home.
Hey Sonal! I remember the time when I first watched "Finding Dory," and I always questioned how someone could be so forgetful! It is ironic since nowadays I tend to forget more often then I would like to. I definitely agree with your point that Dory's character is not bringing a negative view toward those who are forgetful, I feel that Dory brings out the joy because of her "joyful personality." Like you said in your blog, our memories tend to not be reliable since they can become outdated and we tend to remember things incorrectly. I feel that as I had gone older, I had a better understanding of Dory's character. Despite being forgetful, she still appears happy and extroverted. I really like how your blog goes over Dory's character and how you were able to connect it with us and our memories! I Also really enjoyed your informative writing style. Thank you for your blog!
ReplyDeleteSonal, your blog was super insightful and took a deep dive (get it) into these two movies. I like how you touched on the fragility of memory and how important it was to chase for that fragility. However, your explanation about the inaccuracies of memory actually makes sense. There's a reason concrete evidence is required in court rather than someone's speculation of what they remember. This is also why multiple witnesses matter since memories can be inaccurate. These different witness views help find the most accurate depiction of what took place. However, these witnesses are all built upon the idea of memory in shaping out what happened. Memory is inaccurate at times, yet still incredibly important for situations. Overall, your blog was super fun to read and I liked the topic it covered.
ReplyDeleteHey Sonal. Firstly, I like how this week movies seem to have been used in blogs. Rushil used Get Out and you used Finding Dory. This has made reading blogs this week much more interesting. Anyways, Finding Dory definitely gives some interesting aspects of memory. Like in the example you give when Dory's memories come back, that shows a clear example of retrieval cues. The stimulus (perfume) triggered her memories coming back. This was a pretty big topic during the memory unit in my Psychology class, and I never knew retrieval cues were depicted in Finding Dory until I read about it in your blog. Based on your blog, I feel like Finding Dory is a really good movie to help understand the intricacies of memory. Considering Finding Dory is a children's movie, I feel like the movie would make learning about memory easy. Overall, I really liked your blog on what we can learn about memory from Finding Dory.
ReplyDeleteHello Sonal. First off, I want to commend the fact that you were able to remember (how ironic, given the theme of this month) the fact that Finding Dory has themes of memories and forgetting them. That's something I had totally forgotten about. Dory really is an inspiring character to have in our media especially as kids because of the way that she never gives up and she has such a positive spirit despite the major even that she had lost her family because of. I think you're right in the way that movies like Finding Dory speak to us about determination and positivity, and I also used to think that Disney truly meant something deeper with the release of the film. Short-term memory loss really is a thing and it made me start to wonder how people cope with loved ones or other even themselves having diseases such as Alzheimer's and Dementia that prevent them from remembering things like normal. It scares me but like Dory it's their reality and it's something I think we tend to take for granted. Really creative use of this film, and thank you for the reminder to cherish my memory. We really do need to make the best of it and make sure that we're making the best memories possible.
ReplyDeleteHi Sonal. Your blog reminded me of how precious our memory is. As you said, "Memory is a fundamental aspect of human existence, shaping our identities, relationships, and understanding of the world around us." If it is so important, why do we so often take it for granted? One of my dad's worst fears is developing dementia. He often voices this belief that it is "so sad" to live with it. Dementia is something that many of us have, a distant fear, as well as people who are on track with getting it, something inevitable for them. After taking AP Psychology I have learned ways of strengthing memory, well the neurons in our brain, and the textbook mainly points to working out the body for the solution. I do not remember the reason but I think it had something to do with the oxygen that we get from exercise. The textbook also proposed that the idea that oxygen helps maintain memory is mainly a theory. I like to think that maybe in the future we will be able to create a machine that guarantees the extinction of dementia. I wonder what kind of revolutions or breakthroughs will happen if this dream comes to reality. Thank you for writing, Sonal.
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