Collective Memory

Images can be a powerful tool for preserving memories. However when such images are mass produced and used as a representation of crucial events in history, a selective memory is formed where certain images and other information are deemed more important than others. In Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag claims, "All memory is individual, unreproducible-it dies with each person. What is called collective memory is not a remembering but a stipulating: that this is important, and this is the story and how it happened, with the pictures that lock the story in our minds" (86). What Sontag is saying, is that what we consider as collective memory or history is only a representation of what actually happened. The original memories, consisting of more than just images and words, are irreproducible feelings and thoughts that have been lost to the passage of time. What we are left with is a shallow retelling of a story. For example, think back to American history class. What comes to mind when you think of Washington crossing the Delaware? For most people, what immediately comes to mind is the famous image of Washington with his leg up on the bow of a small rowing boat crossing the river. For some people, the information from a textbook and "facts" about that event also come to mind. However, all of this history that has been passed down generation to generation is just a portrayal of what actually happened. As time passes and more history is accumulated, less and less of the information will be deemed important and our collective memory of American history will change.

Clint Eastwood's historical fiction, Letters from Iwo Jima, is another great example of Sontag's thought. The movie is a representation of the famous battle on the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. It was pieced together from the writings and memoirs of people that were actually there. However, the movie can never be anywhere near a true story of what actually happened. Somewhere along the way someone had to sort through all the information and deem what was important and unimportant. Letters from Iwo Jima actually serves to dictate what our collective memory of the battle is. If aliens from a distant planet were to learn about our culture and history, our representation of "the other" in this movie would be a reality to them. After seeing the movie I have formed my own memories of what happened at Iwo Jima. As I live my life, interact with people, and talk about the movie, my memories of this film will affect how others remember the event and thus shape our collective memory.

There is no solution to collective memory, nor do I see it as a problem; it simply exists. As world ages certain events will be deemed important, and others will be forgotten. It doesn't mean that the forgotten events are not important in other ways, but there is only so much we can collectively remember. I feel it is best that certain things are lost to the passage of time; just as people die so do memories. By the time these memories finally die they are so distorted from their original form they are practically waiting for the plug to be pulled.