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Memory, Amnesia and Identity in CODE 46 (Michael Winterbottom)
Amnesia, identity and memory are the themes we come across in many film noir and science fiction films. We might say cyberpunk for Code 46 may be because it is a film noir which takes place in near future and an alternative dimension. Firstly, we should ask what identity is. Identity has different meanings such as; sameness of essential or generic character in different instances sameness in all that constitutes the objective reality of a thing : ONENESS. First definition is used as the genetic likeness, finger prints and scientific definitions of people create their identity. the distinguishing character or personality of an individual: INDIVIDUALITY the relation established by psychological identification. Second definition of identity is used in Code 46, to show these characters individualities and their psychology. Samantha Morton is a kind of anti-hero, she is having a tendency to crime, she is excluded from the society and she struggles to survive. She gives illegal visas to some people and they usually die as a result. They say “sphinx knows the best.” For instance, Samantha Morton has her own dreams and she expects something from life related to this dream. She is trapped in the system and her dreams are the only way to get “out”. These are the typical features of film noir. Tim Robbins is a family man and some kind of detective who has the empathy virus however he acts beyond the rules because of his individual desires and complicated feelings. We must question what makes us “us”? We all have a social identity. For instance, our nationality, religion, the class of the family, our education and our gender is our social identity. However, all of these things are given to us as soon as we are born and we dont have any chance to choose these things. It is written on the identity card your nationality, gender and religion. Further than these things we all have a unique identity which makes us different rest of the people. Mostly, our identity is based on our character and our character is based on the experiences we earn through our lives. Our identity is based on our memories. To understand who we are, how we act in different situations is based on our memory. For instance, remembering a scene from your childhood or remembering your first love. Time passes quickly and we can only hold on to our memories. We dont remember most of our past. Only some scenes come in front of our eyes like scenes from a movie that we watched long time ago. Photographs, home videos and our diaries help us to keep our memories fresh. What if we lose our memory? Do we lose our identity when we lose our memory?
Most of the science fiction films and film noirs are interested in this question. The main characters are in a search for their identity, they try to find out their inner selves in many ways. Whenever I hear memory and identity issues I recall Blade Runner. I think its one of the best films about this issue. In that film replicans were filled with fake memories and it was questioned if our memories create our identity.
I will analyze memory, amnesia and identity issues from a film, Code 46 for these questions because this is a film which both involves science fiction and film noir elements in it. Film begins in Shangai but its like the future. This is related to post neo noir. A dystopia which we are living already or if this goes on There is a society which is built on repression, there is Sphinx resembling the “big brother” and there are multi-national co-operations. They speak a language which is a mix of all the world languages which is a message to the globalism that we live in todays world. In globalism people lose their own national identities too and become a part of the bigger system. They forget their own cultures characteristics, isnt it also a kind of amnesia? Losing the communal memory and national identity? A detective comes to the city to solve a crime. This crime is giving illegal visas to people. Then he falls in love with a woman and decides not to give her to the police. Samantha Morton is like a femme fatale because she directs mans thought by attracting him. Tim Robbins is like a typical detective in film noirs. He falls in love with Samantha Morton which is a forbidden love in many ways. It is forbidden because of their genetic similarity and because he has a wife and a child. Actually, there is obviously a reference to Oedipus complex because the woman he falls in love with is a copy of his mother. He falls in love and desires his mother without knowing it. However, when he learns that this doesnt change the love he feels to her. In this film identity is based on our genetics. Yet, it also questions if our genetics is what makes our identity? Emotions of people are very complicated so I believe neither genetics nor our memories are enough to change our behaviors in different situations. Sometimes we know that we shouldnt do something, we know from inside that making something is wrong but sometimes we cant just take ourselves from doing it because of our complicated feelings and emotions. People change all the time and so their ideas and emotions too. Some people think it is simple just like the binary oppositions but its not. Unfortunately (or may be fortunately) our feelings arent based on ones and zeros.
Main character in the film, Tim Robbins, has a virus of empathy and he can read peoples minds. He asks them to say something about themselves. For example, their birthday or something. Just reaching their memory, he manages to crack their identities and solve their memories. They spend a night together and without even knowing it they admit a crime. In this world being with someone of your own genetic code you should not make the baby for the future generations. When detective leaves the town and has to turn back he finds out that the woman is not in the same job, and he cant reach her. When he reaches her he learns that there was an abortion in the hospital and they erased her memory about him. She remembers everything but she doesnt remember him. Yet, she falls in love with him again. Because just by getting the memory doesnt get the identity of a person. They fell in love madly and make that crime again. In the end they get caught by the police and they erase the memory of the man and send woman to the exile. She becomes an outsider.