<메멘토>에 나타난 들뢰즈의 시간, 기억, 주체성

Abstract

This paper examines Christopher Nolan's Memento through the philosophical lens of Gilles Deleuze, focusing on the film's treatment of time, memory, and subjectivity. By employing a reverse chronological structure and fragmented narrative, Memento immerses viewers in the protagonist Leonard Shelby's experience of anterograde amnesia, while visually enacting Deleuze's ‘time-image’ theory, where past and present coexist in a complex, non-linear temporality. The film's use of external memory devices, such as photographs, notes, and tattoos, also illustrates Deleuze's notion of the ‘crystal-image,’ blurring the boundaries between reality and virtuality, and highlighting the instability of truth and identity. Leonard's continual reconstruction of his own narrative demonstrates subjectivity as a process of ongoing ‘becoming,’ rather than a fixed state. Ultimately, this study argues that Memento not only subverts noir conventions, but also offers a profound meditation on the fragility of memory, the uncertainty of truth, and the dynamic formation of selfhood, making it a significant cinematic realization of Deleuzean philosophy.