The Memory Police.
With Charlie Kaufman, memory is a tricky thing.
In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), the erasing of memory brings bliss and torment as Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet slowly unravel the enigma of their identity.
For Kaufman, the memory erasure device that Carrey and Winslet use to forget each other after a bad breakup is a metaphor for technology destroying our selfhood–a deep concern Kaufman has about AI.
He's outspoken on this:
“It's the end of creativity for human beings. It's what it's going to lead to, and it's handing it over to a non-sentient, non-feeling, non-rebellious entity.”
Kaufman continued:
“If we stop creating ourselves, if we stop doing that and we're giving up something… that's primal, that's essential as part of that's been part of human experience and necessary to human experience as long as there have been humans. And I think it needs to be protected.”
Kaufman’s newest screenplay, The Memory Police, based on an award-winning novel, tackles the topic with an Orwellian tilt.
Here’s the official synopsis:
On an unnamed island, things have begun to disappear. However, a rare few are able to remember all that no longer exists, but the Memory Police are determined to make sure that what has been erased remains forgotten forever.
When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.
For Kaufman, the need to have experiences, to have memory is the soul of artistic identity.
And if our society prioritizes profit and technological utopianism, our lives are all going to be like the opening frames of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: grey.
I like the look of this latest story by Charlie Kaufman, how about you? What's your favourite Kaufman movie? Do you share his 'deep concern' about AI?
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I definitely share his deep concern, Geoff Hall. I'll never use AI to write a script.
This is my first time hearing about "The Memory Police." It sounds exciting! The plot reminds me of stories like "The Adjustment Bureau," "The Forgotten," "Minority Report," and "The Giver."
I don't think I've used the memory erase tool in a script before. I might try it one day.
My favorite Charlie Kaufman movie is "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Memory_Police
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Thanks, Arthur Charpentier.
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Maurice Vaughan I saw an ad for an AI programme to check your screenplay and then giving feedback, suggesting improvements. I was left thinking, why would I trust an emotionless programme to check and correct my screenplay?
Yes, A little of The Adjustment Bureau comes to mind. I’ve not seen the giver, though.
Yes, ‘Eternal Sunshine’ was a classic. I’ve seen numerous clips of ‘Synecdoche’ but never seen it. One of these I’ll have to see if it’s streamed anywhere or I may succumb to buying a DVD.
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Arthur Charpentier thank you.
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Yes, I like movie (ideas ) like " The Memory Police", "The Adjustment Bureau," "The Forgotten," "Minority Report," and "The Giver." Also like "Eon Flux", "Equilibrium, "Divergent", "The Island", "Gattaka" That what makes us human, complete, or incomplete, preserve it!
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Thanks for sharing, Geoff. I do share this concern. Creation is necessary, perhaps even vital, for human beings. If we abandon this last bastion to AI, what will be left that is truly human?
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Stephanie Munch indeed, Stephanie. The increase of technology into these areas creates a sterile vacuum, much like bio-chemical technology with our soil. The earth becomes a sterile environment where there are no storytellers nor food to eat. AI in the industry is to compensate those who don’t know how to write. Let’s keep the faith in writers and storytelling.
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I love this book and can’t wait to see the movie!