What Is the Importance of Leonard’s Body Tattoos in Memento?

Memento (2000) is a picture show directed by Christopher Nolan that follows the life of Leonard, a man who, subsequently an accident, suffers from short-term store loss. When Lenny tries to save his wife from a possible rape, he hits his head on the floor damaging the way his brain functions, losing his capacity to raise new memories. Every action of the film is set around a single objective the relentless pursuit of the alleged implementationer of Leonards wife.In assemble to be able to follow up the mystery, Lenny has developed a system where he writes up notes to himself, takes pictures of important people and planets, and, most importantly, stains his personate with important facts to call in clues as he tracks his wifes murderer. Lennys stains are extremely important in Memento (2000) once they provide a memory institution for the protagonist, building up his feelings of anger and revenge they are rudimentary in character development and inbred for the framework st ory.Lennys tattoos are a memory source for the protagonist, allowing him to remember the murder and building up mixed emotions regarding the case. The character has different tattoos in the front part of his body representing what he intrusts are facts and key pieces on the murder of his wife. One of them in particular, located on his chest and written backwards says John G. raped and murdered my wife. Lennys tattoos not only helps the protagonist remember his goal, to catch and kill whoever it was who hurt his wife, but also feeds his feelings of revenge and anger towards the killer.When Lenny believes he has uncovered Teddy as organism the killer of his wife, for example, he quickly catches sight of his tattoo establishing a casual connection that motivates him to go after Teddy and kill him. Lenny has a visual memory, even though he must relearn daily who he has met and what he has learned since the incident, he still finds strength and is encouraged by the power of his tattoos to remain looking for John G. In the movie, tattoos have hidden meanings and help reveal and develop the character.One in particular, the Remember Sammy Jankins on Leonards hand, provides a miniature of the movie as a whole, as it has multiple meanings. Leonard believes that the tattoo is there to remind him that unlike Sammy, who has the same condition as him, he has a system and fanny therefore, control his disease. However, further in the movie we discover yet another hidden meaning in the tattoo. Sammy has never existed the way Leonard believes, in fact, the tattoo is a reminder that Lenny lies to himself, not only the fiction of the cautionary tale of Sammy Jankins, but also of his inability to tell when people are lying (Heuser, 2011).The tattoo represents Lennys lies and struggle to believe on what he wants to see as the truth, it unwinds a closer understanding of the protagonist giving meaning to the movie. Tattoos are essential for the flow and understanding of the story. They are introduced without many explanations, throughout the movie however, different events and flashbacks allow the viewer to have a closer understanding of them. The viewer set-back discovers the various tattoos that cover Lennys body as he undresses in front of a mirror.In the same scene, medium, close-up and point of view shots fragment Leonards body into readable tattooed statements which align the spectators knowledge with Leonards sense of being in the world (Molloy, 2010). The viewer starts to slowly become familiar with the facts tattooed on the protagonists body and connect each tattoo to each other, making sense and framing the story. Leonards tattoos are essential in the hap of the framework story in Memento (2000), it is key in character development and it is a source of memory trigger for the protagonist.Leonard lies to himself, and his tattoos are simple excuses for him to believe on what he wants to be the truth, embracing his feelings of anger and revenge. Beca use he is covered in tattoos, his subjectivity is made obvious, whereas culture and memories are literally inscribed onto him (Blake, 2004) additionally, the military strength of tattooing is what helps trap Leonard in his limitless search for his wifes murderer.No matter what happens, Lenny wakes up every day, facing the facts and goes off on his search. Therefore, tattooing his body helps Leonard accept the murder and enhances his feelings of anger influencing his unstoppable search for revenge. Leonard is a locus of signs and his tattoos are important in the development of the story, making the final connection to what is believed to be the truth and the genuine truth, reinforcing character development as well as the spectators identification with Lenny.Reference Blake, L. (2004). Snapshots of Memento Angles of Interpretation. George Washinton University. Heuser, D. (2011). Memento What was this movie about again? Retrieved from http//www. davidheuser. com/Memento. html (Feb 2 2, 2012). Todd, Jennifer (producer) & Nolan, Christopher (director). (2000). Memento. Motion Picture. (Available from Helkon, USA). Molloy, C. (2010). Memento. Adinburgh Edinburgh University Press. ?